Morality and Relationships

What is Morality?

Moral behavior usually implies behaving positively to others. It is easy to see how selfish and self-assertive behavior arose in the course of biological and cultural evolution, for individuals who looked after their own interests would succeed in competition with their peers, but how could prosocial behavior (that is, behavior that benefits others but not necessarily the self) to potential competitors have arisen? Because early humans lived in small groups that competed with each other, it would have been to individuals' interests to behave positively and cooperatively with members of their own group because they would be promoting the success of their own group in competition with others and thus their own access to resources. Thus, conflict between competition and cooperation with ingroup members is a necessary concomitant of living in groups. Moral rules maintain a balance between cooperation and competition. But there is no cause to behave prosocially to outsiders, and moral rules may not apply to them. Early in human history the ingroup was probably defined by familiarity but the boundary can be influenced in other ways.

Certain moral rules are probably common to all cultures. Variants of the so-called Golden Rule (Do-as-you-would-be-done-by) seem to be [Page 1119]recognized in all cultures: If it were not so, it is difficult to see how the culture could survive. It is useful to distinguish such moral “principles,” which are common to all cultures, from “precepts,” which have some degree of cultural specificity. Most precepts are compatible with the Golden Rule but apply to a specific type of situation. For instance, “Do not steal from your neighbor” is compatible with the Golden Rule, because one does not want to have one's own possessions stolen, and is probably accepted in all cultures. But the Judeo-Christian precept not to covet your neighbor's wife is clearly not applicable to any culture that does not recognize the institution of marriage: In some cultures, women are inseminated by a number of partners, and in other cultures, women have only temporary sexual liaisons. Children must be looked after, and it is seen as morally right that parents should look after their children unless other practices, such as adoption or fathering by the mother's brother, have been institutionalized.

Precepts governing conduct in relationships differ between cultures and between relationships of different types within any one culture: uncles, for example, but not cousins, may expect respect. Precepts also change over time. For instance, a few decades ago in Western cultures, it was considered grossly improper for a couple to live together if they were not married. For a variety of reasons, including the ready availability of birth control, it became more common in the decades after World War II: As it became more common, it became more respectable, and as it became more respectable, it became more common. Now premarital cohabitation is even sometimes advocated as a wise precaution before full commitment. Such a dialectical relation between what people do and what they are supposed to do is probably the most important mechanism for both the maintenance of and change in the moral precepts governing personal relationships.

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