Why do we have morals

Definition:

The term “morality” can be used either

1. descriptively to refer to some codes of conduct put forward by a society or,
   1. some other group, such as a religion, or
   2. accepted by an individual for her own behavior or
2. normatively to refer to a code of conduct that, given specified conditions, would be put forward by all rational persons.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/morality-definition/

If everyone would be allowed to steal from each other whenever they could, then everybody would have to watch their possessions constantly. This costs a lot of time and effort. More time and effort than an individual would gain by stealing from others.  That is why most people eventually agreed that it is not okay to steal from each other. So the people who agreed enforced their idea by putting in charge people to protect their properties.

The same applies to murder. If it was okay to murder someone, everyone had to watch out constantly in order to protect himself. The benefits of not being murdered outweigh the benefits of being able to murder someone and get away. Therefore at a certain point it was agreed that it is not right to murder someone, so that everyone can be safer.

What is happening here is that things that don’t benefit the community overall are being banned. Things as murder, theft or inequality. This can only happen if a majority of the population has come to an understanding of the value of a certain principle. This is how morality evolves. Every moral code is evolving towards a better one. Sometimes moral codes from different cultures merge. This usually speeds up the evolution, but is often met with a lot of resistance.

 

Most people do not steal, rape or murder, because they know that in the long run it will not be benificial to them. Most people will recognize that the chances are pretty high that they will eventually get caught, and that the trouble is usually not worth the gain.

There are other principles that not everyone understands as good as the former three. These are principles that usually do not have severe consequences when violated, or principles that have no laws against them. These are principles like being respectful, helping someone out, or trivial things like diner rules.

When we consider a person’s morality, we point to someone’s ability to understand and apply these principles in his life. However, it is often very hard to determine which moral code is better, since the world is complex and the results may be difficult to predict.