Consider that the feeding of squawking baby birds by its parents is genetically driven. Parental care is a common trait across many species; this is known informally as the maternal instinct. The parental ‘instinct’ can be seen in a wide variety of animals. It can be observed in all mammals; cats, dogs, horses, giraffes, monkeys and humans. Additionally, deviation from that behavior is considered a perversion. A mother who neglects or abandons its off-spring is seen as a vile aberration and is viewed as immoral or amoral; a moral judgement is made about such aberrant behavior.
Now, consider that the cuckoo (cuculus) uses that genetically motivated behavior - mothering - to trick other birds into feeding and caring for the cuckoo’s own young. We do not lay blame on the cuckoo for this seeming aberration but somehow we perceive its deception as inequitable and unjust. We find the behavior of the cuckoo reprehensible and unfair; that reaction comes as the result of our own sense of right and wrong; a moral judgement.
It is our own sense of morality which is activated in reviewing these well-known cases regarding the parenting instinct of birds. The deviation from the expected norm of parental care by the cuckoo and the trickery practiced by the cuckoo in its renegation of that norm is deemed suspect. Our reaction is derived from the sense of right moral action based, presumably, in our own genetic code.
Should a human mother depart from the expected mothering of her off-spring or other children in her care, that individual would be judged as being morally deficient. The Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis, cited motherly ‘instinct’ as an evidence for ‘god’. It is here cited as evidence of animal behavior determined, in part, by our genome. While it may be informally called ‘instinct’, morality is the emergent property of our genome. The only alternative explanation, Lewis’ explanation; god did it!, is untenable and without demonstrable evidence.
Moral codes and laws are not solely genetically based, of course. Each society has a specific mythic story which underpins the group; democracy, kingship, religion, tradition, etc. England has its own story about what makes the English English. France has a story about what makes the French French. China has a story about what makes the Chinese Chinese. It’s not only about language – which change over time – but all of the specifics characteristics of each societal and cultural identity. The society-wide story or myth serves as an accepted over-lay of morality.
It is the commonly accepted story or ‘societal myth’ which serves as an addendum to nuance social behavior. Such shared ideals of as those listed above may call for laws and regulations to be enacted and enforced. Exceptional, noncompliant behavior due to psychological and physical disorders such as psychopathy, schizophrenia, dementia, etc. are taken into account and are addressed by laws or local regulations. If a neighbor beats his dog or his children, or if the neighbor persists in lighting firecrackers late at night, for example, authorities might be called to quell the violence or the noise as prescribed by law or regulation.
Turning from the hypothetical and returning to the history of humankind and the refutation that Moses’s god was the law-giver from which our moral code is derived, consider these brief synopses of ancient civilizations:
Consider:
The Sumerian civilization is the oldest civilization known to mankind. The term Sumer is today used to designate southern Mesopotamia. In 4500 BCE, a flourishing urban civilization existed. The Sumerian civilization was predominantly agricultural and had community life. Could there have been a civilization without a moral code?
Consider:
Ur, the Assyrian city (c. 2030 to 1980 BCE) was once the largest city in the world. Its population was approximately 65,000. Ur was governed by laws which were based, most assuredly on a moral code; the Code of King Ur-Nammu, in this case. Imagine a metropolitan center of such size without, at the very least, a collective understanding that murder and theft were frowned upon.
Consider:
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age, Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean islands, whose earliest beginnings were from c. 3500 BCE, with a complex urban civilization beginning around 2000 BCE, and then declining from c. 1450 BC until it ended around 1100 BCE, during the early Greek Dark Ages. It must have had an inherent moral code and laws based on that code.
Consider:
Ancient Egypt was a civilization in ancient Northeast Africa, situated in the Nile Valley. Ancient Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3100 BCE with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under Menes. Could there have been a continuous culture if there hadn’t been a code of morality?
Consider:
Most Biblical scholars who accept the historical core of the Exodus, date this possible exodus group to the thirteenth century BCE at the time of Ramses II, with some scholars dating it to the twelfth century BCE at the time of Ramses III. Does that mean that the Hebrews had no moral code until Moses came down the mountain with the tablets?
Note: All of the aforementioned ancient civilizations (Sumerian, Minoan, Egyptian) pre-date this Biblical episode.
Consider:
How could the aforementioned civilizations, not to mention Babylon, Persia, China, India, etc. organize and maintain cities, cultures and dynastic, kingly authority without a moral code? I contend that they could not. As a thought experiment, imagine a town, village or tribal gathering of nearly any size in which theft was not considered wrong. Or murder. Or sexual assault. Or lying. Imagine a conclave of Neanderthals, Cro-Magnon or, indeed, any group of hominids which did not have accepted codes of behavior prohibiting murder and theft.
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