Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link) NOTE: I do not disagree with GB’s post/article but I do question some particulars that inspired this article. She is right but my effort is to allow for more questions overall with emphasis on “Innate and Relativistic” etc.
It was written, “ … the innate goodness of Humankind, and/or moral relativism,” and I then asked self, “Self, is humankind good and is that an innate aspect of being human?” What about “Moral relativism?”
Is goodness actually inborn, natural to humans? When we are born, are we naturally inclined toward a form of goodness? I think not says I. When we are born there are certain things we have from nature, encoded in our DNA so to speak. We do have a natural tendency toward survival although as new borns that effort is useless ergo why we need parents and tribal participation to make it to an age where we can actually start to do things necessary for our survival.
When we think of philosophy when discussing goodness and inborn or natural, innate, human goodness a new born child has no concept of good or bad, they are just there. They tend, I believe, to form good and bad from their environment, their families and the social effects of the tribe to which they belong. I really don’t believe that one has an “Innate goodness” to them when born. I do believe there is an “Innate Ability to Learn” in all humans and therefore have the potential to learn, develop and apply goodness, or, badness.
How does one achieve the proverbial innate goodness of humans but through operant conditioning such as humans providing rewards and punishments according to the tribal laws, rules and requirements, i.e., we award behaviors and condition toward them in ways such as awarding a badge for an accomplishment in the Scouts. We award colored belts in karate when a practitioner accomplishes lessons well and hold back the same if they fail to achieve a certain level of results from said training and practices.
It takes a “Village” to make for human goodness. We humans, although it would be awesome to be born with an innate goodness, are born a blank slate where goodness and badness are up for grabs. The tribe, village, are the authors and creators of human goodness and kindness and empathy and enlightenment through social conditioning, the real source of human goodness. That is why we have “Social Conditioning,” because once we are brought forth into this world we child humans are extremely “Vulnerable.”
The only way we can build ourselves up to the survival levels is through the efforts our tribes and if that tribe, village, just happens to be built on badness then you can expect the offspring to develop badness.
Of course, all this is subject to what I, and certain philosophies call “Karma,” call karma where for some strange and unknown reason a person is able to distinguish between good and bad even when bad conditions them to feel and think their badness is actually good where that unique person is able to overcome the bad conditioning to be good.
GB’s quote as follows addresses how easy it is to be conditioned as bad while creating or conditioning their minds and spirits to feel, assume and perceive their badness as goodness or at least acceptable toward their survival:
OC refers to Operant Conditioning: “I did all my chores and still got belted” is OC. “I committed X crime and all my friends said I was super cool ” is OC. “I was hungry and stole some food and then I wasn’t hungry anymore” is OC. Over time, it can result in kids who get a buzz out of committing all kinds of illegal, unpleasant, or immoral acts. They don’t have to overcome an aversion beforehand and deal with their guilt afterwards: doing what we could class as “being bad” feels good to them. It’s their default setting, and its own reward.
This default setting has nothing to do with any human “Innate Condition” of either good or bad, it is a setting created by conditions from the moment a human is born into this world all the way up until they are exposed to other conditions that teach them about what most consider as, “Good vs. Bad.”
In a nutshell, “Innate Human Goodness,” is not “Inborn or Natural,” as the accepted definition of innate might indicate. It is a good meme and conveys a lot about what we as humans would like or want to be true to all humans but that is simply deluding ourselves of the fact that goodness and badness mostly depends on social conditioning, called operant conditioning. It all depends.
Now, about “Moral Relativism?” Well, when you add that to the original quote it kind of, from my view, contradicts the first half much like I do above concerning innate goodness. Moral relativism as defined states, “Moral relativism is the view that ethical standards, morality, and positions of right or wrong are culturally based and therefore subject to a person's individual choice. We can all decide what is right for ourselves.”
In this definition I would agree, mostly, and yet disagree, a bit, because of two items of concern. First is about individual choice, most often humans as they grow from infants to adults do not truly have a personal and individual choice in anything. As infants their conditioning, socially operant in nature, is being done through social environments such as parent, family overall, neighborhood as is those social connections that make up groups, tribes or villages. Add in a lot of socially driven beliefs systems along with cultural influences that come from historical conditioning then you begin to see how one may not actually, except in rare instances, have personal and free choices.
Remember, we humans need to survive, even in these relatively safer modern times. Survival for humans throughout human history is about “Groups or tribes or villages, etc.” Alone, it is very rare indeed for anyone to survive in this animal kingdom of which the human animal is a part. Our group needs even in modern times is felt through the absolute need of humans to be close to and associate socially with other humans. How often do you hear of research that says, “Humans live longer and healthier lives when socially connected, etc.” We need groups and tribes and villages.
In order for those tribes, groups and villages to connect and get along they have to develop thinks like group rules, group hierarchy, group status, etc. that govern and control group interactions and that means offspring have to be conditioned to follow those rules, etc. of the group. It starts with the immediate family and adds up from there.
So, in a nutshell there is actually no real influence from persona choice except the choice to follow the family and groups rules, regs, beliefs, etc. and in reality except in rare cases that pull, that group dynamic and that group connectivity coupled with a strong instinct to belong makes that a bit iffy at best.
Now, as to the first half of “Moral Relativism” of “Culturally based” conditioning that to me is “Spot on.” I do believe that the group at all levels is where humans become good, bad or a combination of both from the groups conditioning of “ethical standards, morality, and positions of right or wrong and so on,” are conditioned, called social conditioning that is about operant conditioning of social needs and requirements.
Read GB’s post here: https://godsbastard.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/shiny-lets-be-bad-guys/
Bibliography (Click the link)
p.s. Oh, and the definition of moral relativism states at the end, “We can all decide what is right for ourselves,” is questionable. All things considered can we really and truly decide for ourselves? Communications is one of those things that can manipulate humans into believing and doing some pretty strange things. In the end it is rare once a belief is set that a human can actually see it with clarity and then change it according to new knowledge and understanding. Oh, I am such an “???”
p.s.s. I do wish to say that at some level humans do have an ability to change and control but to what extent is up for grabs.
p.s.s.s. Nothing is written in stone, the future is not set and humans when least expected do the strangest, oddest and sometime very bad things.
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