There Is Evidence in Nature for Natural Law

Chapter 9.2: Where does it come from?

Why this book | Title Page | Table of Contents
Preface | Introduction
PART 1
Chapter 1 (1.1) (1.2) | Chapter 2 (2.1) (2.2) (2.3) | Chapter 3 (3.1) (3.2) (3.3) (3.4) (3.5) (3.6)
PART 2
Chapter 4 (4.1) (4.2) (4.3) (4.4) (4.5) | Chapter 5 (5.1) (5.2) (5.3) (5.4) (5.5) (5.6) (5.7) (5.8) (5.9)
Chapter 6 (6.1) (6.2) (6.3) (6.4) (6.5)
PART 3
Chapter 7 (7.1) (7.2) (7.3) (7.4) (7.5) (7.6)
Chapter 8 (8.1) (8.2) (8.3) (8.4) (8.5)
Chapter 9 (9.1) (9.2)
Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14
PART 4
Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 |
PART 5
Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Conclusion
Appendix | Works Cited

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Note: This is an installment of The Freedom Scale: An Accurate Measure of Left and Right. See here for installments of The Distributed Nation: A Plan for Human Independence.

Chapter 9.2
Where does it come from?

♪I know for certain the one I love,
I’m through with flirtin’, it’s just you I’m thinkin’ of.
Ain’t misbehavin’, I’m savin’ my love for you.

—Andy Razaf, “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” 1929

So here we are, seemingly unique among all the creatures of the world. Some of us are misbehavin’ and some of us ain’t…but we all have this sense of morality—the idea that there is a right and a wrong. Where does this sense come from? Why do we have it? How does it help us?

In broad strokes, we can identify four reasons why we have a moral sense:

• It’s natural.

• It’s useful.

• It feels right.

• We’re taught it.

It’s natural

(biological, evolutionary, innate)

Humans regularly engage in moral thinking. We weigh actions on a scale of right and wrong, and we develop moral codes to guide our actions. We may not all follow the same codes, and we may not all live up to whatever code we espouse, but as a species, we have a highly developed capacity for moral reasoning. This capacity forms the basis of our moral aptitude, allowing us to process ethical questions and experience the emotional, intellectual, and practical consequences of various actions.

Our moral capacity is rooted in at least six natural characteristics:

The Brain

Scientists have learned a great deal about the human brain in recent decades, and the discoveries just keep coming. It would be a mistake to hang our philosophical hats solely on a body of knowledge that is still in its early stages, but some basic conclusions about the human brain can be drawn.

Something about it appears to be exceptional.¹ After all, it is our cognition that sets us apart. We’re not particularly strong or fast. Other animals have much more highly attuned senses. What we bring to the table is our smarts.

However, as Neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp has determined, through years of experimentation, those smarts are, in turn, informed by an ancient emotional system we share with all mammals. Describing the brain as a “nested hierarchy,” Panksepp gives us

a way of looking at the brain, looking at its layers and how they developed over the course of evolution. Humans go back to the Pleistocene [about 2.5 million years ago], but the emotional part of the brain goes back much further, all the way to the time when ancestral mammals evolved away from reptiles. Primary processes, based in deep subcortical regions, manifest evolutionary memories that are the basic emotional operating systems of the brain. Secondary processes, based on a series of way stations known as basal ganglia, are enriched with the mechanisms for learning—for linking external perceptions with associated feelings. Then on top, the tertiary level is programmed by life experiences through the neocortex, engendering our higher cognitive processes such as thinking, ruminating, and planning. Our capacity to think is fueled by our storehouses of memory and knowledge acquired by living in complex physical and social worlds. But the ancient feeling states help forge our memories in the first place. New memories could not emerge without the underlying states that allow animals to experience the intrinsic values of life.²

Much of the higher-order cognition that sets us apart takes place on that tertiary level, but those sophisticated cognitive processes are informed by basic emotional impulses that we share with other animals species.

Reason

Chief among these sophisticated cognitive process is rational thought—the ability to create and follow inferences, solve complex problems, and analyze concepts to seemingly endless levels of depth. Reason enables us to process questions of right and wrong and systematize those concepts into sophisticated moral codes. Neurological research has shown that multiple areas of the brain are responsible for this powerful human ability.

Emotion

Morality is not all rationality and logical analysis, however—reason alone does not get us to the complex moral understanding we so abundantly display. We are also emotional creatures, and certain emotions are essential in grappling with ethical questions.

Our sense of compassion allows us to perceive the negative consequences of suffering, and to draw a connection to the actions that cause it. Empathy enables us to place ourselves in the shoes of others, which further incentivizes the development of moral norms intended to reduce the incidence of suffering and misdeeds. A sense of indignation is triggered when we are harmed, and remorse is an unpleasant sensation that disincentivizes causing harm to others.

Recent research has discovered that particular structures in the brain are responsible for processing and mediating these emotions…

In 2013, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human and Cognitive Brain Sciences released a study identifying the right supramarginal gyrus as a seat of empathy and compassion.³