Morality plays a crucial role in developing a person’s ethical foundation, which underpins all human behavior. One of the qualities morality aids us in creating is the ability to choose between being good or evil, honest or dishonest. Therefore, it is clear that morality is an essential aspect of being human. But what ultimately motivates moral behavior? Many philosophers have examined and discussed this issue, including David Hume, Frans de Waal, and Thomas Hobbes.
Hobbes contends that in their natural state, people lack all forms of authority, including laws, morals, a police force, property, a government, a culture, and a solid infrastructure. People in this condition of nature have no morals and can act in any way they wish without repercussions. As additional material
Both are potent factors that impact mortality. However, Hume concludes that human beings’ character is ultimately shaped by the sentiment, feelings, or pleasures they experience.
Hobbes and Hume both hold different opinions on whether or not morality comes naturally to humans. Hume thinks that character comes naturally to people. Hume believed morality comes from thoughts or sentiments that influence conduct and action. Hobbes, however, holds that because people are greedy, they lack moral principles. This is referred to as the natural state. He also thinks that because there is no universal moral code or system for people, they must look for a higher authority to guide their behavior. Hobbes contends that the government should have this authority since it creates the laws that all people must follow. This is what Hobbes refers to as the commonwealth.
Frans de Waal starts by posing the topic of whether or not moral behavior in humans is a product of our evolutionary forebears’ psychological and behavioral makeup. He ends this line of reasoning by asserting that our ethical behavior derives from our evolutionary forebears’ psychological and behavioral makeup. De Waal contends further that modern primates provide the basis for human morality. They are made up of behaviors and feelings and play an evolutionary purpose in helping humans maintain social cohesion.
Aside from noticeable anatomical differences, humans differ significantly from all other animals regarding their functional abilities and social and individual behavior. Advanced intellectual skills enable humans to categorize (view distinct objects as members of generic classes), reason, think abstractly, and create mental representations of realities that are not actual, which are the most fundamental. Self-awareness and awareness of one’s mortality, symbolic (creative) language, tool-making and technology, intricate and highly variable forms of social organization, political codes and institutions, science, literature, and the arts, ethics, and religion are additional distinctive functional traits.
I will refer to “moral behavior” as “ethical behavior,” and “morality” and “ethics” as synonyms of each other unless otherwise stated if it is clear from the context that they are used with somewhat different connotations. Some authors define “morality” or “virtue ethics” as broadly encompassing positive attitudes toward others but excluding impolite ideas or desires, such as harboring sexual fantasies about another person’s wife or wishing harm upon others. I shall exclude these wants or thoughts from my definition of “morality” as long as they do not result in deeds. I will not include in my report on “morality” any behavior that may be considered immoral or evil in specific moral systems, such as eating pork or masturbating, as long as it has no adverse effects on other people.