Origins of Morality

How do we know right from wrong? I believe it is a combination of multiple things but, at the core, we just naturally know. Our morals require a certain level of cultivation and most of them are specific to our society and culture. But, overall, I believe that humans possess an instinctive ability to know right from wrong – especially about things that relate directly to survival of our species. This ability has been embedded in our brains and today truly is natural (at least for most of us). It, by no means, explains the reason for every human action but I believe it generalizes the origin of human morality.

Homo sapiens have been on planet earth somewhere between 200,000 and 250,000 years. Their only real competitor was Homo neanderthalensis, who was last seen on planet Earth some 24,000 years ago. The late versions of Neanderthals were highly evolved physically and did not vary all that much from Homo sapiens in terms of appearance. They did however lack creativity and did not possess the mental capacity to produce useful tools or create projectile weapons. Their demise was inevitable. Homo sapiens of the day most likely had no desire to help Neanderthals survive since there was nothing to be gained from doing so. The two species could not communicate with each other and Neandertals were not intelligent enough to follow examples laid forth by Homo sapiens. In the end, keeping Neandertals around would only hinder the chances of survival for Homo sapiens. Why would they have wasted resources on Neanderthals when they would not receive anything in return? The common theory for the extinction of Homo neanderthalensis is that Homo sapiens out-competed them for the same resources. Indeed Homo sapiens (humans) are selfish in their desire to survive.

Humans have always lived in groups (as pack animals) out of necessity for survival. Surely it would not have been in the best interest of a group to constantly be engaged in confrontation with other groups in the same geographical area. Other pack animals in nature exhibit this behavior as well. Simply killing off your competitor (or trying to) would only have caused turmoil for your group – therefore distracting your abilities to meet your primary goal of survival.

One can obviously see that a necessity for survival was for groups to get along with each other, to reciprocate generosities, and to help your fellow man in need. This concept is really the foundation of human morality. Simply put, getting along with competing groups in your area was an essential attribute of survival 200,000 years ago – and this way of thinking has been gradually engrained in the brains the countless generations of humans that have existed on planet Earth since then. Today, certain things can be considered innately moral or immoral. This can be seen by comparing the common actions of cultures from around the world. There is a natural sense of right and wrong and it has been programmed deep into the brain of our species.