Basics and Basis of "Right" and "Wrong"

[tylersch]

I wrote this this morning. Let me know what you think.

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The Basics and Basis of "Right" and "Wrong"

Why should we do what is "right"? What is the basis of what is "right"? Is it what you read in a sacred text like the Bible? the Qur'an? maybe some Buddhist texts? Many people follow these books and writings as a guideline for life. But why? Why follow what century old books say? Some people make excuses to not follow these books by using the age of the books against them and say they do not apply to life today. But what if we didn't have these books, no written guideline for life. Just plain action and consequence. What would happen? Would things be better? worse? the same?

Many people claim that humans are "imperfect". Imperfect to what? What is perfection? There are many different definitions for perfection, but what we'll discuss is the concept of "Moral Perfection". If you look up "morals" or "morality" you'll see it refers to the concept of human ethics, which pertain to matters of good and evil, also know as "right" and "wrong". There are many different moral codes and codes of conduct, but for the sake of a shorter article we wont go into every moral code, but we will simply translate "right" into "positive" and "wrong" into "negative". You might hear a lot about "positive emotions" and "negative emotions". Some basic positive emotions can be love, happiness, confidence, and kindness. As with most things there is always another side of the spectrum. In this case it would be such negative emotions as hate, sadness, anger, and pain. You might have heard of causality, different from casualty, causality is the relationship between cause and effect, sometimes known as karma.

So we come back to the question of, "why should we do what is right?" Doing "right" onto to others creates a positive connection. Whether it is holding the door open for someone, or helping them out with a problem. People often become friends after this positive connection. But this friendship can also be tainted or destroyed with a simple negative or "wrong" action. Such can be telling others a secret a friend might have entrusted to you, or as extreme as causing emotional or physical pain onto that person or a friend of theirs. So you might say the right or positive thing to do, is to do things that bring positive emotions to yourself and to others. Also, you could say that the wrong or negative thing to do is to do things that bring negative emotions to yourself and to others.

Its not always easy to do good or do what is "right" in this sense. A lot of times young children and even adults tend to follow along with what their peers are doing, whether or not there is verbal or active pressure. Now this can be a good thing and a bad thing. If your peers are positive and do positive things, you can learn that from them and apply it in your own life. Also, if your peers are negative and do negative things that harm themselves or others emotionally and/or physically you can pick up on their attitude and actions.

Making a conscience effort to improve your life and the lives of others takes a lot of character. It should be admired and respected.

I think people can follow this path of doing "wrong" or being "negative", thinking that they are just fine. A lot of people do this until one day something major happens, and then realize that what they are doing is creating a major negative effect on their lives and the lives of others. They realize they have to make a change in their lives. But yet some people that have this attitude are lazy, ignorant, and might not see it as worthwhile. But there are those who take a active and conscious decision to fix in there life what is causing that negativity. Some may need a little help to get them in the right direction but ultimately it should be them putting in the conscience effort to make a positive change.

People that are negative just make life harder on themselves, sometimes causing them to become even more negative. It's a vicious cycle.
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[Matthew Shea]

Since you asked what I think, I'll be straightforward: it needs work. Please take my criticism in the constructive spirit in which it's given.

For one, your conclusion is weak and doesn't relate to the ponderings in your introduction at all. Also, the introduction and most of the body of the text don't relate to the title. There's no structure anywhere and you seem to ramble from one thought to the next without any attempt at organizing those thought patterns. You have a lot of good ideas in there, but you need to add some structure and logic to them. For example, you don't clearly tie in your points on peer pressure to how it affects our morality. After that, you jump to the next two paragraphs with no effort to tie them to any of the previous content.

Perhaps what you've written should be broken up into half a dozen postings, each of which can be expounded on and further explained. I think that's probably the root of the problem here: you're not fully explaining yourself. Right vs. wrong is an extremely complicated topic, after all, and trying to cover it all in seven paragraphs isn't going to do it justice.

[Parthon]

Something which helped me clarify what is right and wrong, and whether or not I should do right or wrong is visualising what the world would be like if everyone in the world did what I did.

Things like murder, stealing, adultery, and bearing false witness are immediately shown as inherently negative, could you imagine what the world would be like if everyone went around trying to steal all the time?

Other things like paying bills late, jay walking and speeding are also put into perspective using this method. With a good imagination you can see what impact these sorts of activities would have on society if everyone did it.

And of course the legally acceptable actions of talking about people behind their back, keeping secrets from people, telling lies and cheating would still be bad when applied on such a level as the whole world. Everyone cheating and trying to get away with secrets and gossip. In fact it's not that hard to imagine, just watch TV.

Now imagine what would happen if everyone was honest, caring, sharing and treated everyone else equally. That would be a world I would want to live in.

This is how I sharpen my moral compass so to speak, and if one person can make a difference, then I know how I want to make that difference.

ps. Sorry to hijack the thread, I just thought as you were inquiring into right and wrong you would like another perspective.

[wolfgang]

Originally Posted by tylersch

Why should we do what is "right"? What is the basis of what is "right"? Is it what you read in a sacred text like the Bible? the Qur'an? maybe some Buddhist texts? Many people follow these books and writings as a guideline for life. But why? Why follow what century old books say?

Because those texts were writen by wise people that understood something and wanted to pass along what they thought in hopes that others will suffer less.

If we didn't have history or people writing about possible antidotes to suffering, then we'd have to learn right and wrong along the way from sctrach, sort of. I tend to think right and wrong is related to how much pain you cause for yourself and naturally one would choose less pain. Although there are ways to be numb to hurting other people and not realizing the pain that is occuring in their selves too.

[skydust]

perhaps you could also mention that right and wrong have no real existence in their own right, but are created and defined by our minds.

[tylersch]

Thanks guys, its just a quick rough draft. Ive never written anything like this before. If anything its just a rambling off of the question "why am i even trying to do what is right " that came up when I started with self development. I tend to question almost everything in life. So I am just trying to start at what seems to be one of the roots of things.

Thank You guys for the criticism and additional p.o.v.'s
Ill keep working on it

[tylersch]

Originally Posted by skydust

perhaps you could also mention that right and wrong have no real existence in their own right, but are created and defined by our minds.

Could you elaborate more on this? I think I know what your trying to say, but I can describe it.

Thanks

[skydust]

Originally Posted by tylersch

Could you elaborate more on this? I think I know what your trying to say, but I can describe it.
Thanks

we define our own reality. the values of good and bad, right and wrong, are defined by us as individuals. right and wrong can mean very different things to different people. which one of them is 'right'? they are both right for they speak their truth.
this leads us to conclude that right and wrong have no solid existence on their own. they are just empty shells waiting to be filled with meaning, meaning which we create in our own minds, and which is individual.

many people can agree that something is a certain way, but does that make it true? when many people believed that the earth was flat, did this make it true? the point is, things just happen, things just are. there is no need to label them good or bad and sort through all lifes experiences in this manner, for it will only limit our experience and we will cause ourselves unnecessary suffering by nonacceptance.

We give events/things the meaning we choose to give them. so depending on what meaning we choose, we create our reality, because it determines what reactions and emotions it will bring out in us.

so, to sum it up, right and wrong have no actual existence outside the human mind. they exist for us if we choose them to, based on our definitions of them.

i hope that clarifies it a bit.

[ReallyGoodIdeas]

I agree with skydust on the concept that right and wrong are just human constructs. We judge situations as being right or wrong, when in fact they just are.

A friend had a great line to use when deciding how to go about things. It was the 3 R's. Respect for self, respect for the other, or others generally, and respect for the earth. I like it as a rule of thumb.

Joy to you
hazel

[Michael Chui]

I've noticed that particularly difficult topics can be written about easier when you break them into separate sub-topics and sections.

For instance, differentiate between "What is right?" and "Why should we do what is right?" The former is a question of morality; the latter is a question of ethics. Break perfection out into its own, dedicated section.

This website may be useful for you: Six Domains of the Polynomic System of Value Careful, it's not a terribly easy read, but most of the stuff on that website is incredibly informative, if difficult.

Keep in mind the goal of a post. Rants, ramblings, ravings... these are fine if you're not trying to make a point. If you want to make a point, study Aristotle's Rhetoric. Draw up your argument syllogistically: state premises, show that they're true, then draw a conclusion. When you have a purpose in mind, it can focus your writing astonishingly.

[b5fish]

What do you know about Maslow's hierarchy of needs?
I don't want to get into it, if I will just be repeating something you're already aware of.
I did write it once, here: [P] Moral Relativism - Asia Finest Discussion Forum

Be warned though, it's a long read.