Okay, so this one kinda equally applies to philosophy and science.
Lately there’s been a lot of talk here about the nature of morals as they apply to the human race. Many feel that morals are arbitrary or enforced, that moral constructs are just that, constructs: a product of people who don’t otherwise have them innately. They are built, many say, and without making them, they don’t otherwise exist. Much of the argument is based on the social behavior of our primate relatives.
It seems to me that there is a biological seat for morals, that they are real and a consequence of our physical structure. I arrived at this conclusion after some careful thought, so look it over and tell me what you think.
I work with people with disabilities. I’ve been assigned to one of the autism teams, and over the past eight months I’ve gotten to know a variety of men with varying degrees of autism. I recognize it so well that I can point to a person out in public and know that’s exactly what they have, and with little clues other than stance, voices, or conversations.
I’m not talking about Asperger’s here, but autism further down the spectrum.
People with autism present many similar characteristics. They engage in “stimming,” or self-stimulating behavior, which is usually rocking, noise-making, or hand flapping. They also have peculiar language structures, if they possess the ability to speak at all. Some only know four or five words; others only know concrete terms. Along with a failure to understand time, they characteristically have trouble with most other abstract concepts, things like love, money, and friendship. They are usually always obsessive about their usually limited interests, and their relationships with people are generally closer to dependencies, an addiction to the predictability of familiar people.
And, with all these things, they have no moral structure. None whatsoever. They don’t care if what they do has a negative impact on you. They don’t sympathize with your problems, and generally become irritated if you show any discomfort with their obsessive behaviors. They don’t even have much in the way of insight to their own problems, leading to tantrums and the like. Some will attack you if they’re frightened, and when they do they show no recognition or remorse for the action. They don’t have any understanding of the terms “good” or “evil,” even if it seems they do because they use the words correctly in a sentence. What understanding they do achieve comes as the result of hard work, and rarely extends past simple and solid rules of thumb, not at all like the nuanced and intelligible moral constructs we can see.
A person can learn more about typical behavior when examples of atypical behavior are found. Oliver Sacks is a perfect example - by studying people with brain injuries, he sheds light on what it means to be fully functional. Much has been made of the genetic triggers for autism, as well as environmental triggers like thimerosal in inoculations, and the effects of oxidative stress on a developing child. Autism sets in very early, and when it does, it’s basically permanent. As imaging technology improves we’ll have more insight as to what, structurally, is different, but there’s little doubt in my mind that there’s something going on at the cellular level.
So really, what I’m getting at here is that, since healthy people always have some kind of moral imperative, whether for or against “virtues,” those with autism never do. Since it’s possible that through disruption and damage there can be a person without a moral code, and that these cases are exceptions, it’s easy to conclude that, on the whole, the human population does have one, and its seat is intimately tied with biology, regardless of cultural factors.
Cultural factors, when they come into the realm of morality, do much to shape it, but without them, if such a thing were possible, the structure would in all likelihood remain. There seems to be a real, physical root and ground to morality. What its nature might be I haven’t the slightest, but just because we can’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
Your thoughts? Feel free to turn this upside-down. I’m here to learn.
Which are both biological stimulants.