Fear and Morality???

[IDLEchild]

I was just wondering wouldn't it be a great experiment to pick people at random from the streets put them in a controlled enviroment, through some method purge them of any and all fear of everything and set them loose.

I wonder how much of our morality is dictated by fear? Fear of consequences, fear of pain, physcial and emotional. If there was no cause of fear of any reprecutions from actions undertaken then how would our morality be effected by such knowledge? Would the very definition of what is moral and ethical in the new enviroment change to better suit the new, potentially more dangerous enviroment where your actions have no negative consequences?

What if only one man was allowed free will upon his fellow civilians where he suffered no harm at all but could inflict any amount of pain and torture on others? Is he, by definition, still a "man" or "Human" if he chooses to be the judge, jury, and the executioner or is he just victim to the taste of something
unparallel to any thing known before to mankind, or is he the true "man"?

Can we really blame him for his "evil" he induces upon others or is morality just a way of keeping one's primitive tendencies aside, a way to tell ourselves that we are civilized and that even if we wanted to we couldn't due to the consequences we will suffer - the wrath of society.

Is morality for the most part dictated by fear or are we really that humane and considerate of others existence and presence in society?

 

[tonksy]

fuck fear, drink beer

 

[Ms Ann Thrope]

fear has always guided most of my decisions.... still does....

 

[freako104]

to some extent i think it does since as an infant our morality would be based on pleasure/pain(very basic) but as we grow it is governed mainly by that but is more internal(can we cope in society and such) as well as will it hurt us or anyone else.

 

[IDLEchild]

to some extent i think it does since as an infant our morality would be based on pleasure/pain(very basic) but as we grow it is governed mainly by that but is more internal(can we cope in society and such) as well as will it hurt us or anyone else.

Exactly...so that morality you describe seems to stem from fear and acceptence so if all that fear was stripped away would a man become his/her true primal self or still retain his/her better judgement?

 

[Gonz]

fear has always guided most of my decisions.... still does....

Oh man, there are so many places to take this. Too bad it's late & I'm still stupid from not smoking. Maybe this weekend I'll have you singing a new tune....or at least a more chipper version the current one

 

[freako104]

Exactly...so that morality you describe seems to stem from fear and acceptence so if all that fear was stripped away would a man become his/her true primal self or still retain his/her better judgement?

to be honest i am not sure but I think people can retain better judgement without fear although most if not many would revert to their primal self

 

[Bungi]

What if only one man was allowed free will upon his fellow civilians where he suffered no harm at all but could inflict any amount of pain and torture on others? Is he, by definition, still a "man" or "Human" if he chooses to be the judge, jury, and the executioner or is he just victim to the taste of something unparallel to any thing known before to mankind, or is he the true "man"?

That's called a dictator

 

[unclehobart]

I believe that innate human nature unbridled by the myriad of mortal fears and learned civility traits would be one serious juggernaut of consumption and quite the little dictatorial rampager upon society and the world.

 

[MrBishop]

It's called Schizophrenia - a thru lack of emotions (including fear) and is a test of moral teaching vs. fear of reprisal.

The issue is, how can you teach morality and moral actions without using traditional conditioning techniques?

Fear, although a great stimulant towards action/inaction, isn't the only stimulant available. The desire for reward is almost as strong. If you have someone who has no fear of reprisal for his/her actions, they won't necessarily degenerate into lawlessness and evil deeds. If such a person were also seeking acceptance and other rewards (monetary, sexual, food etc..) then their actions would more likely reflect what would most likely garner them such rewards.

There are numerous schizophrenics walking around, completely without fear, love, hate etc.. who manage to live near-normal daily lives and only a small percentage of them degenerate into the animalistic form of the mass-murderers, rapists etc..which make for such great press.

Take a person and remove their fears, release them back into the world, and you are more likely to see someone self-destruct through not well thought out actions (driving too quickly, jumping the cycles off of bridges, dying during a bad parachuting accident etc..) than you are to see someone suddenly snap from the lack of fear and become tyrannical.

Take this from someone who lives with the specters of schizophrenia on a daily basis.

 

[Oz]

fuck fear, drink beer

If I'd have used a lil' more fear and a lot less beer my life would've been much easier

 

[IDLEchild]

There are numerous schizophrenics walking around, completely without fear, love, hate etc.. who manage to live near-normal daily lives and only a small percentage of them degenerate into the animalistic form of the mass-murderers, rapists etc..which make for such great press.

Dont you mean Anti-Socials.

 

[freako104]

i was thniking that since Schizophrenia is also a mental disease it is one where the person sometimes cant control their behaviour whereas an anti-social can but wasnt socialised

 

[lacemyster]

fuck fear, drink beer

-Stone Cold Steve Austin

 

[MrBishop]

Dont you mean Anti-Socials.

Anti-socials are consciously choosing to act as if they have no social control. You're talking about removing emotions entirely...which led me to schitzophrenia.

 

[freako104]

schizos can have emotions but many times they either do not express them or express the wrong ones. and also there are other mental illnesses that have that same lack of emotions as well.

 

[IDLEchild]

Anti-socials are consciously choosing to act as if they have no social control. You're talking about removing emotions entirely...which led me to schitzophrenia.

Not emotions..just fear...no fear of consequence....Greed, Love, hate, anger all stay intact....infact i expect them to get stronger.

 

[MrBishop]

In that case IC, I fall back to my original arguement. Without fear of reprisal, people may still fall back into socially accepteable actions to fulfil their desire for the rewards of peer acceptance.

 

[a13antichrist]

Those whose morals are dictated by fear are generally the same people whose opinions are dictated by blind belief.
Besides which, they can hardly be considered to be MORAL limits if it's the fear of reprisal preventing the act. Morals refer to what you believe to be right or acceptable, not to what you actually do. If the only limits you have are those that your mummy told you you'd be punished for if you broke, then you're a VERY fragile individual.

 

[IDLEchild]

Those whose morals are dictated by fear are generally the same people whose opinions are dictated by blind belief.
Besides which, they can hardly be considered to be MORAL limits if it's the fear of reprisal preventing the act. Morals refer to what you believe to be right or acceptable, not to what you actually do. If the only limits you have are those that your mummy told you you'd be punished for if you broke, then you're a VERY fragile individual.

And i would love to test out that statement with this experiment.