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DirtyOldPanties t1_ivgb970 wrote

Reply to comment by BluRayHiDef in /r/philosophy Open Discussion Thread | November 07, 2022 by BernardJOrtcutt

I'm not talking about "moral standards of civilizations". I'm asking whether an individual alone needs moral standards at all - not specifically the standards of civilizations you refer to.

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BluRayHiDef t1_ivgbiln wrote

Humans are animals and animals' main function is survival, which does not require morals. Hence, a human being does not need morals.

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DirtyOldPanties t1_ivgei7s wrote

How do animals facilitate their survival? How does a human facilitate their survival? Why bother using the animal as a primary? Animals don't wear clothes, humans are animals, therefore humans don't need clothes?

Also doesn't this fall into a naturalistic fallacy? Just because man can act for their survival doesn't mean they explicitly should. As opposed to an animal which lacks the means to merely sit around, wallow in filth and choose to stagnate and die.

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BluRayHiDef t1_ivgglic wrote

All strawman arguments and whataboutisms. You have no actual counterarguments.

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DirtyOldPanties t1_ivgylv9 wrote

Distinguishing man from animal isn't a strawman but that's kinda funny.

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Hobbyfilosofen t1_ivkq6m8 wrote

Amorality is certainly possible for individuals, by which I mean a lack of concern or interest for moral reasoning and discourse.

I am amoral and do not have any morality. I do not view the world through a lens of good and evil, moral right and wrong, moral fairness and non-legal justice. Nor do I think of virtues and vices in a moral sense, but only if the actions and traits are instrumental to what the individual cares about herself.

When deciding what to do, I think of my desires, values and interests, and with no reference to what is morally good and right. There is no deeper or categorical "ought" in my decision-making and so I avoid the naturalistic fallacy. I take a pragmatic approach to language and simply find that hypothetical reasoning is useful to express my inner motivations.

When possible I try to use non-moral language when talking with other people, but morality is so commonplace that I often have to pretend to have moral beliefs. Moreover, my amorality becomes confirmed by the fact that the difference between my own and other people's way of thinking of—and motivating—our values and actions are drastically different from eachother.

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incorrectphilosopher t1_ivwzgke wrote

So, if it became legal to kill anyone on Purge day, you would not believe it to be an injustice, since you "do not believe in non-legal justice"? I think there are limits to everything, and I think I understand why you have run from natural morality, but it's in the name. It's *natural* morality. People have, for thousands of years, believed in good and evil, moral right and wrong, moral fairness and non-legal justice. Just saying you don't believe in those terms will not convince me: I think you do believe in them, you just don't think you do. You don't have to have a religion to believe in right and wrong.

I think you believe in your rights, for instance. You would find it unjust--morally wrong--if you were reported by Redditors and banned by Reddit for what you said, since you believe in your right to speak in the public forum.

Maybe you would tell yourself instead that they had the right to do those things. Perhaps you need stronger examples. Let's say you had someone steal $10,000 from you and then brag about it online. They had every paper trail you can imagine, their own family testified to the effect, and they even admitted it in court. The jury goes to deliberate, and come out with a not guilty verdict. Would you not find that unjust? What word would you use to describe, not the feelings you have as a result of the situation, but the wrongness you know happened in court?

Courts are fallible, and the empires they are built on rise and fall. But what remains throughout the centuries is human morality, no matter whether people deny it or not.

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