Moral Instinct Concepts - Essay Example

Moral Instinct Introduction The article is about the of morality in our body since very many people have different views concerning the subject. The author admits that morality is a universal phenomenon observed all over the world across all societies and people in general making it have a larger area coverage. The article states that morality is like a switch that people switch on and off as per the situation and it is within us. The article also states that people practice their moral behavior because they are afraid of punishments which are the consequences of immoral behavior and this pushes them to indulge in socially acceptable standards of the society. However, the author points out that there are no clear avenues of reasoning and rationalization of the moral behaviors as different societies have different views concerning behavior, as much as people know that some behaviors are wrong and does not meet the standards of morality in the society, others don’t understand and can not justify them in this case. The article further elaborated on the different genealogy which also influences our moral behavior in the society as they were ranked depending on the perceived consequences that are likely to be displayed. The above concepts will be the key focusing point in this essay. Concepts/Claims The author argues that morality is universal having experienced a number of situations for its justification. He states that people are born with universal grammar, which makes them understand the speech structures without any conscious awareness about the rules in the play. He further states that by analogy, human beings are born with universal grammar of morality which helps in analyzing the human actions in-terms of morality with little awareness (Compley et al 433). In this aspect, the author admits that human beings are born with morality part with them, and it can not be distinguished from them. Anyone who does not want to exercise morality does so because of his or her personal conscious. The author asserts that the moral sense is instinct in the design of the human brain, and it is very difficult to distinguish the morality in us from our everyday behavior. To justify the above concept, the author collected a list of universally accepted moral concepts and emotions. The collected moral concepts included distinctions between right and wrong, empathy, fairness, prosecution of murder, rape, admiration of generosity, shame taboos and sanction from wronging the community. The findings reveal that people are emotionally attached to the moral behaviors. The morality concepts start in early childhood as toddlers help their fellow by giving them toys and also comforting distressed persons. A four year old school going knows very well the dressing codes required in school and the dangers of hitting a fellow for whatever reason. The interviewed school children had the same response in regards to morality from the asked questions. From the above result from research conducted, morality is instinct and people are born with it making it universal phenomenon that everyone has to practice. Similarly, children are nurtured with morality when it is reinforced in them since it will stick and be part of them despite the external factors which might influence them. The second concept that the author puts forward is that morality is a psychological state of mind that can be put on and off. He argues that when the state is put on, the mind controls our thinking, which latter influences our actions in deciding what is wrong and right. The conscious mind, which is put on brings different hallmarks which are associated with morality as being perceived to be universal. Rape and murder are universally immoral which are accepted in different societies hence universally warranted. Similarly, people feel that those who do wrong or exhibit immoral behaviors should be punished. This is not only to inflict pain on the offenders but also as a show that it is not allowed in the society (Comley et al 430). In order to justify the above concept, a research was conducted on the toggle switch by comparing two people who engaged in the same behavior but with different toggle switch settings. The study included health vegetarians who do not take meat due to lowering of cholesterol, and avoiding toxins. Moral vegetarians avoid meat to avoid the suffering of animals. The findings reveal that moral motives set off a cascade of opinions. The perception is very different from person to person depending on the beliefs one has on the moral values. Everyone would like to influence others towards supporting their take as the toggle switch affects their preference. The implication of these findings reveals that even if people agree on the outcome which is desired, they may as well disagree on whether it should be treated as a matter of preference and prudence (Brandt and Rozin 387). As much as there is a general point of view, it is not easy to come into conclusion at one point since there are variations of views. Response Inquiry Although the author makes an interesting point when he states that moral behaviors are universal, and the values are universally acceptable, is not he missing the crucial point religious beliefs in determining the moral behavior? There are behaviors which are not morally acceptable in the whole universe and they vary with religion and different states. For instance, Islam religion administers jihad war which kills everyone who does not support Islamic laws. This is in contrary to the universally accepted standards of morals as they see nothing wrong with it. It is permitted by their religion. As much as the world condemn unjustified killings of the innocent, the Islamic religion tolerate jihad which contradicts the articles statement and concepts. It is equally important to tolerate everyone response in relation to different categories and measure different level of morals. Religion practices have been for over time been viewed to be promoting the moral standards of the individuals in the society which is in contrary to Islamic faith. This might perhaps justify why more terrorism is experienced in the western world where it is seen as immoral in contrary to the Islamic world where it forms the basis of being moral to the society. Compley et al (433) states that human beings are born with moral values, which control the behaviors they exhibit in their daily lives and their relationship with one another but this does not apply to every situation of human beings. It is true human beings are born with the moral instincts which allows them to judge what is wrong and right as well as what and when to do it. However, the power of environment in shaping the personality has been assumed by this concept as it assumes that people are born with the moral instinct. On would wonder where categories of people who have changed their moral behaviors to immoral behaviors and the factors which contributed to this factors. Brandt and Rozin (385) justify the different levels where morality occurs as cognitive and target person. Cognitive causes are related to individuals feeling of what is morally acceptable as one concurrently takes the activity. The second dimension of moralization is based on the target person if the moral issue is new to him or her. This implies that a person may not realize what is immoral and moral depending on the society he comes from since not all moral values are universally accepted. Even though Comley et al (436) suggests this concept about genealogy of morals, wouldn’t that contradict my notion of the socialization process of the members of the society? The genealogy of morals which makes individuals behave in the expected manner making them stay away from the unwanted behaviors is as a result of many factors. Despite the author pointing out at different levels where individuals withhold their unwanted behaviors, they all depend with the situation and circumstance under which the individual is involved. The circumstances have to a larger extent made very many people sleep hungry in their houses whereas their neighbors have plenty of food. The same circumstance leads people to stealing from their neighborhood besides the tough societal and states laws which prohibit these actions. People have been raped and many people committed incest in the eyes of the society with or without action being taken. This makes it difficult to agree with the author on the genealogy of morals since it is manipulated by factors at hand. The prevailing circumstances of an individual permit him or her to depict immoral or moral behavior, which is not linked to genealogy. A lot of research has been done about moral judgment, which has been to a larger extent dominated by rationalist. In many aspects of the study, moral judgment has been seen to be determined by moral reasoning. In a study conducted by Nadelhofer, Nahmias and Nichols (343) revealed that moral reasoning does not cause moral judgment but it is through moral reasoning, which involves post hoc construction which is generated after the judgment has been reached. This is a fact since people are controlling themselves towards immoral behaviors and behave in a manner that is desired as per their reasoning. Individual’s moral behaviors are largely influenced by their private reasoning as they emphasize on the importance of cultural and social influence. In many cases, individuals will make quick, automatic evaluations or the circumstances hence decide on the behavior that he or she wants to depict. It is evident that societal norms have minimal influence on the behaviors that people will display since most of it is pegged on their own reasoning. This might perhaps justify why those people who do not use common sense are prone to immoral behaviors. This is because they do not reason to come up with aspects of moral behavior which are desired by the societies. Conclusion Morality is a wider aspect that needs much focus in order to understand it better. Very many researches have been done in understanding personality with varying outcomes making it impossible to have one clear answer on various aspects of morality. As much as there are findings which reveals that morality is instinct, this may not be the case as human beings behaves as per the present environment. This makes many research to be bias as they do not tally in that morality part of individuals varies on a number of issues hence does not bring consistency. Similar research, which has revealed that moral values are universally acceptable has also been misleading since what is perceived moral in one place is immoral in other places. It is therefore, very difficult to agree on one thing in defining the concept and understanding morality. However, my understanding to morality is that it depends with the individuals reasoning. Individual reason and portray immorality and morally depending with the situation at hand. This can be the best approach towards understanding morality concept. Works cited Brandt Allan and Rozin Paul, ed. Morality and Health. New York: Routledge, 1997. Print. Comley Nancy, et al. ed. Fields of Reading. 9th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford, 2010.Print. Nadelhofer, Thomas, Nahmias Eddy and Nichols Ghaun, ed. Moral Psychology: Historical and Contemporary Readings. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Print Read More