2012-04-20, 10:10 PM
LongShotJohn Wrote:Good and Evil are all relative. There is no such thing as inherent evil, nor is there such a thing as inherit good. We are born with the simple instinct of self-preservation; which can be viewed by some as greed, and by others as something completely natural for living things. Attributes like this "greed" can be taken to the excess to be viewed as an inherent evil, however in the minds of those who perpetuate it, it is just another part of their self preservation. I don't believe this is limited to humans though. Predators in the wild kill all the time in order to sustain themselves, and given the opportunity, will overindulge as well. Those who see it as simple violence and feel badly for those who are slain will hold their perspective, and those who see it as self-preservation of the predator itself will see it that way. Once again, coming down to perspective (again, in my opinion).
I couldn't agree with you more. The way I see it, the concept of morality initially stemmed from self-awareness, not necessarily as an intrinsic aspect we're born with. The moment we begin to analyze concepts such as "Who am I?" and "What do I want to achieve in life?" we develop the "foundation" of morality.
At that point onwards, whether or not we are aware of it, our minds will divide scenarios and experiences into two fields; the first field will contain scenarios that are counter-intuitive with our desire to live, the achievements we want to pursue, or that contradict our ability to control those intentions, and the second field of scenarios that result in gratification, satisfaction, or seem to actually reinforce our desire to live and our desire to achieve something tangible will go into another. These serve as the "building blocks" of morality.
The mind is a prepetually-calculating machine, and as you exist, it will always be plugging in events and scenarios in your life, blending them in with circumspectual events and perceptions. The opinions of those around you, the influences you receive and absorb consciously and subconsciously, the way you associate those events with those base desires, and various other factors construct that morality.
Because there is no intrinsic degree of right or wrong, nor is there any way to fully control how you perceive events, there can be no such extreme.... But that's just as I see it...