What is morality?

[Askthepizzaguy]

One could argue there is no such thing as morality if it is determined by a vote or by the sword.

What makes something moral is not whether it is popular or whether someone will imprison you or kill you for doing it, because then morality is fluid, subjective, and determined by humans, who can't seem to stop killing each other.

Morality I feel should be based on logic, on objectivity, on cause and effect consequences for actions, motivations, and the precise circumstances. These are factual, neutral things which don't change whether they are popular or under threat.

If there is a God who created this universe, which seems to based upon some kind of logical premises, then that very logic applies equally to religious folks as non-religious folks. And if there is no God, but the universe just happens to be based upon laws and consistency, then the underlying logic applies equally to religious folks as to non-religious folks.

Whichever the case may be, if there is a big man upstairs or not, I tend to agree that morality doesn't change, our perception of it and our understanding of it does. Much like mathematics or physical sciences; the nature of reality has not changed, but our understanding of it has, and so we have reached different conclusions over time. But it never was based on our opinion; it was always wrong to burn a child to death or rape someone or enslave someone. We are now understanding the principles behind human rights, but those rights aren't based on what is popular, because what has been popular since ancient times is that most people didn't have ANY rights. What overturns the majority and causes human rights to exist is that we all yearn for them, because there is an inherently logical part of our minds which cannot stand oppression and injustice, because it is better for society and for the survival and happiness of all if we stop oppression and injustice.

In the end, morality even reflects on trivial things, like what and how much we eat.

If we allow ourselves to become a junk food addict, and eat nothing but Whoppers and french fries, we are committing an excess against our body which is unhealthy and unbalanced. The result is that we get obese and die early. It is a more minor offense to be sure, than a serious crime; but unhealthy and self-destructive behavior could be considered immoral.

The question is; do we as a society have a right to step in and prevent immorality? Or should we only focus on criminal behaviors which we deem dangerous and destructive to society itself? I vote no to the first question and yes to the second.