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Are humans born with their own set of values?

Are humans born with their own set of values?

No way, impossible.

Values, morals, ethics, etc. - all constructed entirely by society. How could anyone possibly be born with something that requires LEARNING to understand, conceptually, in the first place?

I'm sure there are genetic traits that make you more likely to behave a certain way within a societal structure, but without that structure existing we're just animals.
 
I put this in another thread but i believe its equally as relevant here.

"To heal- thats what is right/good/moral; you can apply this option to any situation.
To harm- thats what is wrong/evil/immoral; you can apply this option to any situation.

The basis of all religion is to cause healing in all forms to oneself n others."

You dnt have to learn this.
This law of nature is revealed in every choice we make
Thats how the whole concept of morality takes root; in the self-evident.
 
HeWhoHowls said:
I put this in another thread but i believe its equally as relevant here.

"To heal- thats what is right/good/moral; you can apply this option to any situation.
To harm- thats what is wrong/evil/immoral; you can apply this option to any situation.

The basis of all religion is to cause healing in all forms to oneself n others."

You dnt have to learn this.
This law of nature is revealed in every choice we make
Thats how the whole concept of morality takes root; in the self-evident.
Click to expand...

Right on brother! I agree. I also believe, that of which is good/healing/moral is that of which is harmonious with the universe. and the other is that of which is disharmonious.
 
I put this in another thread but i believe its equally as relevant here.

"To heal- thats what is right/good/moral; you can apply this option to any situation.
To harm- thats what is wrong/evil/immoral; you can apply this option to any situation.

The basis of all religion is to cause healing in all forms to oneself n others."
Click to expand...
So it was irrelevant in the first thread too? ;)
 
High Yogi said:
Right on brother! I agree. I also believe, that of which is good/healing/moral is that of which is harmonious with the universe. and the other is that of which is disharmonious.
Click to expand...

Does the thread title say "What is ethically good?" Does it talk about prescriptive ethics at all? God you guys are annoying and stubborn. This thread asks whether the existence of ethics, whatever these ethics may be (but asks nothing about the content of these ethics themselves) is innate or external to humankind. You don't belong here if you can't understand that.
 
Vader said:
So it was irrelevant in the first thread too? ;)
Click to expand...

I believe HeWhoHowls is essentially trying to say the same thing that I am trying to say. It sounds like he is saying that at any situation you will ever meet in your life, you will have but two choices: The first choice is to act in harmony with the universe, that is, to follow the heart and to act in accordance with others, making way for healing and other acts of divinity. The second choice is to act in disharmony with the universe; to not follow the heart, but the head. To not make way for healing or divine influence, but rather, selfish motives and or ignorance born of maya/illusion.

This is all perfectly relevant because the title of this post is "Are humans born with their own set of values" and the answer we are giving you is "Yes!." The proof and evidence supplied here is found in existence itself. Nobody can say what it is that is right or wrong, because that would be coded in language, and language isnt true to experience. Thats why we can only truly make the best decisions not judging from outside influences coded in language, but in our own hearts realized through direct experience. Only in direct experience can a decision be made right or wrong, never in any language or code or list of demands. One of the reasons for this is because language is too black/white, and also it is always outdated. If we all composed a list of what is right and what is wrong right now, by next week we would have already made several changes to it. this is because life is constant dynamism. So, The mere fact that only through direct experience can a decision truly be made right or wrong implies a sense of intrinsic moral values. This is why we are answering the question with "yes, humans ARE born with their own set of values"
 
IamMe90 said:
Does the thread title say "What is ethically good?" Does it talk about prescriptive ethics at all? God you guys are annoying and stubborn. This thread asks whether the existence of ethics, whatever these ethics may be (but asks nothing about the content of these ethics themselves) is innate or external to humankind. You don't belong here if you can't understand that.
Click to expand...

Maybe if you had read my other posts you would have more of a sense of what i was talking about or where I am coming from, or maybe you just dont understand
 
^^no dude we understand, the problem is you can't get over talking about what we should value or what we should do rather than just answering the question and arguing your point

High Yogi said:
Only in direct experience can a decision be made right or wrong,
Click to expand...

this I think contradicts everything your trying to say. If were born with values then we don't need experience to determine right and wrong, we would know

Once again: the question isn't where your values should come from, but whether were born with them or not

Yogi your saying we should follow the universe or w.e but when you were 3 years old did you think "damn, the universe is what guides my decision making" did the universe tell you to get a job? No, you did once you realized you needed money to live
 
My answer is obviously yes if you cant tell.
Theres your answer.

I still believe that it comes encoded in you from birth.
It all starts with the fact that a fetus that is uncomfortable "a slight form of harm yes, but harm none-the-less" will shift around, making a subconscious decision to make a change.
We kno harm n suffering from cradle to grave.
We kno what to do from cradle to grave.

C'mon practice some tolerance if you dnt agree, shit.
:\
 
I think we are born with a conscience. I think our conscience starts out immature, but that there are things that can help develop our conscience, and things that can damage it so that the perception of right and wrong is skewed.

The punative society we live in (in the U.S., anyway), I believe, rather stifles the development of conscience, and, instead, creates the illusion that anything is okay if you don't get caught.
 
HeWhoHowls said:
My answer is obviously yes if you cant tell.
Theres your answer.

I still believe that it comes encoded in you from birth.
It all starts with the fact that a fetus that is uncomfortable "a slight form of harm yes, but harm none-the-less" will shift around, making a subconscious decision to make a change.
We kno harm n suffering from cradle to grave.
We kno what to do from cradle to grave.

C'mon practice some tolerance if you dnt agree, shit.
:\
Click to expand...

Do you know how to ethically react to a man hitting you when you are 5 months old? I can definitively answer "no," for you because your physiology wasn't sophisticated enough to react in an ethical way. Our physical bodies, including our brains develop for quite a long time throughout our young lives, different characteristics (including ethically-related ones such as aggression IE) are being activated by that development in different ways at different points via epigenetics (genes activated by specific environmental factors) in different people.

At any rate, I suppose you could say we have the "starting materials" with which ethical codes are formed, but there is an element to ethics that is outside of us - other people, and the environment. Inherently, ethics cannot be a product of factors solely within us because they do not solely involve us (as individuals).
 
Interestingly enough my mom hit on one point when we where discussing something like this the other week. She said the first thing that usually comes out of a kids mouth is the word no. Apparently it was a word i was quite fond of :\

I believe that it is part nature and nurture. I think we are born with some set of values but is obscured by values set upon us by religion, society and personal interest.
 
I firmly believe that although we are 'taught' to adopt the principles of what society deems as right and wrong—moral or immoral—individual experience will influence these thoughts throughout the course of our lifetime. You asked if we are born knowing that killing someone is wrong, that is an interesting one to ponder given that when we are fresh out of the womb we have no life experience (well, except for coming out of the womb, haha). With that said, I think that the general core aspects of our mind, and eventually—'character' come into play. For example, a person born a sociopath may not feel that killing is wrong throughout their childhood. Whereas the 'normal' or non-sociopathic person will begin to develop compassion as a child. This previously stated compassion will then make that child feel as though killing is wrong. Now, as the child grows into an adult, experiences may arise that may affect the psyche. These influences brought forth via experience can IMHO, lead a person to feel as though their set of moral views may have shifted. An example of this would be if you look at a person who was abused in a truly barbaric manner. Often times, the person abused will either become more morally correct (in an attempt to never become like the person who abused them), or lose their morals—just like the person who abused them.
 
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