My moral theory.. for now

In trying to determine what a satisfactory moral theory might be like one must first confront the question 'what is right & what is wrong?' Morality is governed by what is right and what is wrong and one cannot construct a theory for morality without first answering this question. A philosophy professor at Northwestern University Chicago, IL by the name of Richard Kraut defines what is good or right as "what causes human beings to flourish." This idea would also help in determining what is wrong by simply flipping it to the opposite, something causing a detriment to human beings.

I want to first look at why anyone would perform a 'rightful' act? Unlike Thomas Hobbes idea that "without government to restrain people the 'state of nature' would be 'a war of every man against every man,'" (Morris 55) I will show that humans are fairly altruistic by comparing and contrasting man to the altruisms of the animal kingdom.

"In evolutionary biology, an organism is said to behave altruistically when its behavior benefits other organisms, at a cost to itself. The costs and benefits are measured in terms of reproductive fitness, or expected number of offspring. Altruistic behavior is common throughout the animal kingdom, particularly in species with complex social structures. For example, vampire bats regularly regurgitate blood and donate it to other members of their group who have failed to feed that night, ensuring they do not starve." (Samir Okasha, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Human beings show a plethora of altruistic behavior. In example: Communities & Societies divide duties amongst individuals in those communities and societies to establish the said community. Without an individual constructing the turbines to power the further constructed power grid that is maintained by further individuals our alarm clocks would not be active to scream in our ears every morning. And while some of us may wish that there wasn't someone to keep these objects of affection maintained every day, they do work, and they do better our communities. There are countless other examples such as running water, traffic lights, clothing lines for our extravagant linens or simply the humble employee's at your McDonald's there just to make sure you get to school on time and still fill your belly.

"humans are social by nature."
Wikipedia

According to William Patrick the author of the book Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection humans "[h]owever wealthy and technologically adept[,] are the same vulnerable creatures who huddled together against the terrors of thunderstorms sixty thousand years ago." (Cacioppo & Patrick 53) But then why do people deviate and engage in 'wrongful' acts?

There are several reasons, the first being ignorance of potential harm or situation. We've all heard the cliché "knowledge is power," if one does not understand what it is they are engaged in then it was probably not intentionally wrongful. This ignorance could be created and sustained through conditioning at an immature level and is also known as indoctrination of youth. A prime example of indoctrination could be given by looking at Hitler's youth where they "were told to study certain passages from Mein Kampf [and] would be questioned about them in the next session." (Williamson 37) Of course indoctrination is not limited to Hitler's youth. It always seems that children in a general since take on the characteristics and beliefs of those around them and as the old Jesuit philosophy goes "Give me a boy until he is seven, and I will give you the man." (the free library)

Another reason might be that the individual is experiencing a temporary or permanent mental disorder. Mental disorders place an individual in lapse of cognitive thought and "thinking enables us to direct our activities with foresight and to plan accord to ends-in-view." (Dewey 17) There is one disorder that attaches to my theory of humans being a social creature directly and that is the popular personality disorder known as being anti-social. This as well as Borderline, Histrionic and Narcissism all have symptoms involving "dramatic or erratic behaviors (counter-social behaviors)." (Medicinenet) These disorders can prevent a person from acting as a normally prudent person would act in everyday situations with other individuals.

The next question I asked myself after I wondered on what is right and what is wrong was "if I now understand what right and wrong might be, what is our real duty?" To this question the answer came simply as a flip side version of what right and wrong is according to Dr. Kraut. If right is "what causes human beings to flourish," then our real duty would be to encourage human beings to flourish.

That encouragement might be found in developing new ideas for society as Dr. Martin Luther King did not so long when he gave a real push towards real change in cohesion of people as a whole. A discouragement or detriment would be found in ideas that are unmoving, because if an idea cannot be moved society cannot move forward or backward, thus a detriment towards a forwarding of society. We as a people cannot let ourselves get stuck on traditional values and must always be open to new ideas or the society will not progress and that is an incomprehensible stagnant.


Of course this idea, or moral theory is just the first push towards mine understanding of things and I'm sure it will be altered continued or even discarded by myself at a later date as I learn more of the way we as a species have evolved and what makes us "tick."