I believe that human moral codes are a natural result of the evolution of a successful social species.
So, you believe that humans were originally "perfect" or lacking in "decay" or what? Sounds sort of Garden of Eden-ish!
I think devolution would indicate that is the case, However I think that some in society tend to follow their conscience which is eventually smoothed out or less inhibited due to constant bombardment. Take television for instance. Half naked swearing gun totin people fill our screens. Slowly it wears down peoples conscience like an emery wheel. To some kids, it becomes acceptable. What next?
To me it makes no logical sense, and there is no empirical evidence for it, that human morals and law are "a natural result of the evolution of a successful social species."
My opinion is that human morals and laws result from the fact that we have a God-given conscience that tells us there is such a thing as Right and Wrong. The categories of morality are nuanced by culture, but that there IS morality is intuitive and innate. That innate sense of morality is one thing that separates us from other social animals who are quite 'successful' without having laws and codes, so it's not something we "need" in an evolutionary sense. The only "need" we have arises from our imperfect nature, so that restraints have to be imposed on people to stop the whole world descending into anarchy and chaos. When law is removed, we end up with Mogadishu.
But is this thread getting too off topic and metaphysical?
