Terahertz

Do morals go up or down?

The theist argument tends to be that morals are derived from a higher place.  Without a supernatural deity, who is by definition good, we cannot have objective good or evil, morality or sin.  This is essentially the top-down approach to morality.

Most atheists would argue that morality is a bottom-up approach however.  Humanity evolved a conscience (to use Austin Dacey's terminology) and has since worked to form a rational justification for what is considered moral.

The benefit of the top-down approach is simplicity.  We need not look any further than higher authorities to know what to do.

Unfortunately, this also leads to its downfall.  Looking at the Bible one can find many lessons that are at the very least confusing to the initial reader, and looking to priests and religious leaders can often provide poor examples too.  So although we can say morals might be top-down, we have no reliable way to guarantee that, or to determine which morals are best for this existence.

However, using the bottom-up approach we can construct a rational and just system of morality that can accomplish the same thing as the top-down approach, without causing undue confusion caused by immoral would-be role models.

So what does a bottom-up form of morality look like?

Let's assume that we can sit as an infinitely-knowledgeable impartial observer (this is a philosophical construct, not a deity/god) who sits and watches humans interact.  For an action to be fair for all individuals involved, it should be the action which causes the least harm to all of those involved, likewise, it is the most moral action if it causes the most benefit to all involved.  As the impartial observer I would be able to make the call as to which action(s) are moral and which aren't.

Why? I have assumed that all affected people are equal, by causing more harm than necessary to any of these people an imbalance of suffering has unnecessarily been caused.

Are all of the people equal? I like to think so.

There is a lot of ground that can be covered in moral "bottom-up" philosophy, but I think this is good for now.