A Behavior-Based Moral Code
Actions come from bodily movements while our thoughts arise from our brain. Because morality is founded on acts and beliefs, it has a physical foundation.
Morality is difficult to define, but it generally deals with a code of conduct that governs right or wrong. It involves behavior, thoughts and emotions, and speech. Behavior and speech involve bodily movement, while thoughts and emotions involve movement in the brain. This means that morality relates to physical changes in the body as well as their physical outcomes. Such physical properties can provide a basis for morality within framework of materialist philosophy. Charity is one example of acting morally. Charity involves reducing homelessness, malnutrition, disease, and other physical states, thus charity is based on physical motives. Although religious groups engage in charity work, many religious groups also engage in warfare. Religions define morality as following the orders of the proper God, thus nonbelievers are viewed as evil. A physical-based moral code that defines morality increasing happiness and reducing suffering, however, only labels people as evil for causing immense suffering and would not motivate warfare against people on the basis of metaphysical beliefs.
Basis of Morality
Although there is much variation in what is considered moral or immoral, all moral codes deal with one or all of the following three issues:
- Behavior
- Thoughts and emotions
- Speech
Behavior deals with the movement of the body. Killing, for instance, is a behavior that involves body movement . Killing involves taking the life of a living creature, so it is impossible to kill air because air does not have life. An action’s moral worth is predicated on its bodily impact. Society considers an action moral if it causes happiness and immoral if it causes pain and suffering.
Thoughts occur in the brain and are about a person, object or concept. Emotions also arise from the hypothalamus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex of the brain. Damage of these regions can cause lack of concern for others while stimulation of these regions can cause expressions heightened love, sexual desire, anger, etc. Although we have voluntary control over our behavior, excessive alteration of of these brain regions can cause involuntary changes of behavior. The moral value of thoughts and emotions also deal with whether they cause happiness or pain.
Lying or insulting are forms of speech that society considers immoral. Praising others and verbally expressing love are forms of speech society considers moral. Speech involves movement of the mouth, making it a physical process. The moral value of speech is deals with whether it causes happiness or pain.
Moral Inspiration
Although behavior, thoughts, emotions, and speech are physical, most people believe morality arises from nonphysical beings God or other spiritual forces. People engage in charity work to make physical changes in the lives of poor people. Poverty is a physical situation characterized by homelessness, malnutrition, diseases, or other physical states. Charity work involves changing these physical states.
One motivation for acting morally is the desire to spread happiness and reduce suffering. Millions of people around the world support charity organizations such as Red Cross, CARE, Computers for Africa, Habitat for Humanity and many others out of the desire to reduce suffering. Red Cross and CARE provide disaster relief for the needy. Natural disasters involve the movement of water, air, and other physical objects. Such movement involves destruction of houses, plants, and other objects that are necessary for survival. People support such causes to reduce such suffering caused by physical and emotional damage.
In addition to disaster relief, CARE provides economic development to poor countries. CARE builds schools, provides job training, and gives micro-loans to the poor. Similar to parents’ desire to provide for their children, people give money to groups like CARE to help people who are now poor get a better life.
It is a Christian organization, although its objective is not religious. In order to serve the impoverished, Habitat for Humanity was founded. Housing, affordability, and poverty are physical as well as economic concepts. Building Habitat for Humanity involves changing the physical state of poor people. It is unrelated to Jesus dying on a crucifix, which is the basis for Christianity.
Religion and Division
Most religions prohibit actions such as murder and stealing. However, they still put faith as the most important aspect of morality while behavior is less important. According to the Christian Bible, people go to hell if they do not accept Jesus and heaven if they accept Jesus (Mark 16:15-16). Allah commands Muslims to murder unbelievers (Sura 2:191). In Hinduism, people are stuck in the cycle of reincarnation if they believe the physical world is real, and they re-unite with God if they accept that the physical world is an illusion (Mundaka Upanishad III 2:2). Most religions also preach love. However, because they define righteousness by faith rather than actions, they provide motivation for people in power to persecute nonbelievers. Crusades, jihad, and other religious warfare occurs because religions show hatred for nonbelievers.
A physical moral code based on the idea of increasing happiness and reducing suffering, however, does not base itself on beliefs as much as on actions. This system only judges beliefs immoral if they cause suffering. For example, this system would judge the belief that all blacks are criminals as immoral. However, it would not judge people based on their belief on who created the universe and other metaphysical concepts. Although such a system may conceivably motivate somebody kill another person for being racist, the act of killing causes suffering, thus the person would try to find a way to stop racism while minimizing suffering. Such a moral code may be open to interpretation regarding what causes suffering and happiness, but it could still unite people under the common cause of spreading happiness as the ultimate goal. Perhaps such a system may be the answer to world peace.
