Naturally Immoral

There is a saying that ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’. An examination of history supports this argument: from Louis XVI’s harsh treatment of critics to his execution, from Hitler’s totalitarian dictatorship to his suicide. Unregulated power leads to greed, egocentrism, and ultimately defeat. Dictators, despite knowing that absolute power is immoral, repeatedly make the same mistakes. This quality of immoral stubbornness is not caused by ignorance, but rather by human nature. Humans are naturally selfish and corrupted; their sense of morality is not inherited, but rather taught.

Since humans are descendants of animals such as monkeys, an analysis of animals reveals why morality is not innate to humans: it is not necessary for the continuation of life so it needs not be inherited. To explain this concept, humans lost their ability to dangle off trees because they didn’t need the function. Likewise, animals lost their morals because they mostly cared about surviving. Some of them can rip other animals’ flesh to pieces just to live another day. In other words, while selfish beasts survive, selfless creatures die. In S.I. Hayakawa's Language in Thought and Action, the author notes that the “fittest” are those people who can bring to the struggle superior force, superior cunning, and superior ruthlessness. In other words, the fittest species, humans included, lack morality. This concept is true upon examination: weaker species tend to protect each other while stronger species ruthlessly and immorally hunt for other animals.

According to Darwin’s natural selection, which stresses the elimination of incompetent species, the strongest species, or the least moral ones, survive and the weakest species, or the most moral ones, die. The contrasting outcome of two different species leads to the weakening of the morality gene represented by the innocent creatures and the strengthening of the survival gene represented by the beasts. As animals’ descendants, we thus are blinded by genetic instincts and priorities to survive; we will never possess an innate emphasis on morals.

Expanding on how the animal’s desire to survive justifies the disappearance of morality as a genetic trait, human’s selfish actions such as cheating and stealing support that morality can only be taught. In the ‘Parker-Hulme Murder Case’[1], a girl with the help of her friend used bricks to bash her mother to death, who wanted to separate the two girls because they were too noisy. Scared of isolation, the girls therefore killed the mother to stay together. Had the daughter had an ounce of morality in her, she wouldn’t have exploded so erratically. Evidently, the girl did not inherit morality; she needed to be taught. But taught she wasn’t.

Both examples demonstrate that morality is not congenitally passed down from generation to generation. If it were, animals would not be fighting and all humans would act peacefully. If it were, no laws would ever be needed because everyone would act orderly. If it were, the naturalistic mode of fiction would disappear for the description of evil would be completely irrelevant to society. Realistically, however, morality is not inherited. It is rather taught, for humans and animals alike are naturally selfish and corrupted.

http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/Digitised/ParkerHulme/Page26.asp