Hard Wired Morality
We are familiar with the argument from some people that we cannot legislate morality and so we cannot have laws that make abortion, euthanasia and many other abominations, a crime. The converse argument is that we have laws that criminalize robbery, murder, drunken driving and sexual harassment that no one argues regulate morality. The people who argue against morality regulation also often throw up the argument that morality is very personal and differs from one person to another.
In the May 14 issue of Time, Frans de Waal is listed as among the 100 Most Influential People in the World. De Waal is a primatologist who studies apes to understand humans. He believes that morality is etched into our instincts and is not a high trait. He has written a book on this, Primates and Philosophers.
I think his opinion that morality being part of our instinct, means that it cannot be left to an individual to decide what is immoral and moral. There must be a higher authority that decides on such things. Christians believe that God’s laws are the basis of such morality. Therefore moral values can be legislated as we have already with current laws in every country, although there are certain values that are interpreted differently around the world.
What I don’t agree is de Waals contention that morality is not a high trait, implying that apes have moral values too. Humans have moral values because we are spirits and therefore our actions can be construed as being bad or good. Animals’ actions cannot be evaluated in the same way.
