[Prererularl]

There are only two ways to acquire morality:
1. Genetic - we are born predisposed to learn what morality is and learn it quickly (except people with mental problems). Most likely we have a compartment in our brains dedicated to morality. Same as with speech, learning and understanding speech for humans is easy, because parts of our brains are dedicated to it. Obviously, morality was essential to our evolutionary past, therefore it exists. The only universal aspect of morality is that it might be common to all or most group animals.

In a new paper entitled “The origins of religion: evolved adaptation or byproduct?”, Ilkka Pyysiäinen from the University of Helsinki and Marc Hauser from Harvard discuss the evolution of religion and morality. The paper discusses whether religion is a direct adaptation, that is, whether there are specific genes that favor belief in religion, God, the afterlife, the supernatural, and so on—or whether religion is a “byproduct,” that is, that religious beliefs grow naturally out of other evolved features of the human mind. Pyysiäinen and Hauser favor the latter. They seem to agree with Pascal Boyer (see his Religion Explained), that faith is an outgrowth of the natural human tendency to attribute intentionality to objects, forces of nature, and the like.

Here I think we can approach an answer, at least in principle. If morality tends to be similar among people of different faiths, or if morality is similar in atheists and the faithful, or if children brought up without religion but exposed to different cultural teachings tend to converge on the same morality, then we have some evidence of an innate “moral grammar.”

2. Learned - most of our morality standards come form influence of our societies. We know from history and from ways of life of different ethnic groups that standards of morality change, but all of them have one. Obviously it must be the nurtured component.

Both altruistic and antisocial behavior is to a large extent learned behavior, via both social learning and modeling of others. Studies and authors however tend for the most part to view morality as an inherently positive force however it is neither good nor bad, it is a set of beliefs and should not be confused with the behavioral component. For example, suburban families and prison gangs share the same set of moral values regarding 'protecting one's family'. However, how this value is expressed is a different issue altogether and falls firmly within the realm of ethics, not morality.

Humanity’s closest living relatives are common chimpanzees and bonobos. It is believed that these primates share a common ancestor with humans who lived four to six million years ago. These primates exhibit premoral sentiments used as methods of restraining individual selfishness and building more cooperative groups. Simply put, premoral sentiments have as their primary aim, behavioral control. Morality in a human sense differs from the premoral sentiments of our primate cousins in two primary ways: (1) Humans alter their moral code to suite their psycho-social needs (2) Humans are corrupt, seeking to bypass societal moral codes to further their own interests, to the detriment of society as a whole.

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Moral evolution in humans has incorporated various religious values as the church has sought to become more involved in politics and medical-legal issues. Religious institutions strive to make political institutions less secular in efforts to proselytize and increase their rank within high-ranking government and corporate sectors. Medically, religious institutions have begun to take part in the formulation of birth-control and pro-life policies that have as a consequence the swelling of their numbers, improving their position both politically and financially. What does all of this morality have in common, personal gain. Morality as an instrument for the controlling of individuals has as a direct result the extortion and corruption that feeds the moral code of each community. The more morality the less personal freedoms people enjoy and the more corrupt a society becomes.

In general, individuals agree that moral principles should be upheld by other members of society. Asked whether they believe the same moral principles should apply to themselves, most reply tentatively, feeling that by answering in the affirmative they submit themselves to abuse by those authorities who utilize societal norms to intrude on and restrict the freedoms of others.