Right and Wrong

[rcgreen]

Do "right" and "wrong" exist as objective standards
above and outside all human authority?

If not, is it "the individual" who ultimately determines what is right or wrong,
good or evil? Could you do anything you please, if you decided that it
was right to to it?

If it isn't the individual who has this authority, is it "The State"?
If the legally constituted government says that genocide is good and right,
does it become right?

Do we "control" and "decide" what is right and wrong,
or do we only "discover" an already pre-existing
standard?

[Alcatraz]

I don't really think there is a definite, tangible description of right and wrong. There is a huge gray area in between the two. (Yes, I think they are opposites.) And the gray will be lighter or darker at points, depending on who's opinion you ask.

The state definitely does not decide right and wrong, since it is composed of people, and they have different opinions tainted by different experiences. Right and wrong is outside our control and is, like time, a relative measurement.

[thesecretfire]

People/the state do have some say in what is right and wrong, but mostly its society that decides. If you were raised to believe that stealing is okay, and everyone else stole, you'd steal too, without any moral objections. You might think that things like killing are obviously wrong, but don't be so sure. We've seen many examples of people with "strange" ideas of right and wrong (strange as far as we see it).

[zaggy]

I think that right and wrong exsist but definately are a result of culture that you live in. The laws you have in your country/society are defined by the culture you live in. We have a say in what is right or wrong but we base our opinions of right and wrong by the way we are raised, by the culture we are raised in.

[Tedob1]

i really should be sleeping and i might be tripping out from lack of it and ill hate what ive written tonight, tomorrow, but tonight:

It’s been my observation that law comes out of order. Once people gather to live together to accomplish a common goal, they make concessions to form an alliance. Someone comes along who wants to be a part of this, they look, instinctually at how others act with one another to ascertain what is acceptable behavior and what is not, or what is right and what is wrong. You can see a minor example of this in the posts of young newbies here on AO. They state as dictum, opinions they’ve gleaned from some of those who have been here longer e.g. “don’t ask questions about Trojans”. I know this is a silly example but im very tired and that’s all I can think of.

The basic forms of human interaction are predetermined, IMO, by our species and can be seen in peoples that develop with out contact with each other. Things like ‘we’ll get along fine as long as you keep your hands off my shit’. ‘Call me a wimp and I’ll kick your ass’ and ‘nobody messes with one of mine’. These are emotions common to us all. Now that we’re all educated we have the problem of deciding, what exactly is “your shit”, what exactly defines a ‘whimp’ and just who constitutes “yours”?

A problem arises when different people influence different groups as a society grows and a difference in ideologies comes into being. At this point it becomes necessary for some form of government to arbitrate. The larger the area that comes under the jurisdiction of this government, the less likely it is that the individuals involved are satisfied by its decisions and the more likely it becomes that different ways of thinking and living are threatened.

So I believe that the individual has a say in what is considered right and wrong, as long as the existing form of justice remains decentralized. Once control goes beyond a certain area, justice becomes a cold and impersonal process in which the individual plays no part and laws grow and transform like stories passed from person to person.

Thank you for letting me share.

/me -v

[debwalin]

I think that our concept of right and wrong is a combination of nature vs. nurture. You are born with the knowledge that hurting someone else is wrong...it doesn't necessarily stop you from doing it, but you know it is wrong. Anyone who spends time with small children knows this. They may do something to hurt someone, but most of the time, they wait until no one is looking.
I think we are all born with an innate knowledge of what should and shouldn't be done, but it is profoundly influenced by the situation in which we live. What may be acceptable behavior in one household will cause uproar in another. We all have the basic ideas of what is correct behavior, but it is open to debate between one group of people and another.

Deb

[hellbringer87]

i think that right and wrong is defined by the perciever if you believe something is right than that thing to you IS RIGHT. and vice versa. just like Bin Laden or Hitler they believed that what they were doing were the right thing... although in the people who where dying and injured felt that they were wrong. it's all in the Point of View...
that's my two cents...

[lord_darkside_x]

right and wrong are relative terms. the individual determines his or her own right and wrong. when large groups agree on something being right or wrong, it usually becomes the norm.... this however does not make true right or wrong out of it. how do we know we aren't all crazy and the people in the insane asylums aren't normal? we don't, we are just the majority. really you cna't pin there to be one absolute right and absolute wrong. morals and ethics are all determined by human beings. there is no "greater good" that runs through people where they all agree that one thing is right or wrong.

***note: this is all without adding god to the equation. if you put god in, it gets more confusing.

[preacherman481]

Right and wrong is determined by God's will. This is stated as the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament and in Jesus' command to love God and neighbor in the New Testament. All true laws and morals come from these. So yes, right and wrong is absolute. God gives clear standards.

[thesecretfire]

Preacherman481, not everyone believes in god, as far as I'm concerned the 10 commandments are just reccomendations in a book. And according to what you say, moral standards are determind by god, which thus makes them laws set down by someone else, as opposed to inherent qualities.