[net.religion] Why Be Moral?

tim@cmu-cs-k.ARPA (Tim Maroney) (07/22/85)

To throw in my own two cents worth on the "why" of morality, my reasons are
purely pragmatic.  From introspection, it has become clear to me that acts
of deception and other interference with others leads to a more painful
personal mental state.  Being honest and not interfering with people leads
to a more pleasant personal mental state.  These are not absolutes -- even
if all I do is say honestly what's on my mind and stay out of people's way,
goons like Teresa Thomas and Ralph Mason at UNC still hassle me from time to
time, but in the long run the probabilities seem to work out in favor of
what is commonly considered "moral".

I anticipate the objection that I would readily throw out my morality if it
became a source of pain.  Not so.  I would rather be interred in a
concentration camp than live with the murder of an innocent in my history.
What sort of life could the latter possibly be, but one of pain and
inhumanity?  I could perhaps escape from the camp, but not from my own
history.

A secondary consideration is that if everyone behaved morally, that is,
people respected the wills of others, society would be considerably more
pleasant for everyone.  By acting as if this were the case, I cause society
to approximate more closely to that goal.  This is in my own best interests,
although I will not deny a certain amount of quixotism is involved.

As for the origin of the idea of morality, I quite agree with Mike Huybensz.
-=-
Tim Maroney, Carnegie-Mellon University, Networking
ARPA:	Tim.Maroney@CMU-CS-K	uucp:	seismo!cmu-cs-k!tim
CompuServe:	74176,1360	audio:	shout "Hey, Tim!"