ANSWERS: 24
  • The golden rule
  • morality is not always derived from faith, athest tend to develope a compisite of the moarals that reflect the stmospher they developed around themselves through interactions with society.
  • Whoever's. I don't mean that as a condescending answer - you're just not going to find any specific philosophy or philosopher that commands the ear of all atheists... Some actually follow religious-based morality: the famous author Sam Harris adheres to a form of Buddhist morality, if I'm not mistaken. Others rely on pure science to shape their worldview. Others still, may be most influenced by political philosophies, ranging from Libertarianism to Communism.
  • Common sense .
  • my own If someone needs religion to have morals then somethings wrong with them. Empathy, I wouldn't do something to another that I wouldn't want done to me unless it was truly for their own good.
  • There are countless factors that have a hand in creating our morality: our upbringing, our rationality, our genes, experiences we've had, fears we hold, stories we've heard, social norms, our individual understandings and interpretations of what have you, the list goes on and on. It should also be noted that our morality, just like everything else in our lives, changes as we age by small and large margins. No one develops morality from simply reading a book or doing what one is told. No one is guided by the same morality from child to adult. All of this goes for everyone, regardless of religious belief.
  • I think a lot of our morality is decided by the society in which we live - I am an atheist living in a Christian country, a lot of my ethical assumptions therefore resemble Christian ethics. Also many other factors such as primary and secondary socialisation, education, our own personal experiences, the way we learn to deal with these experiences or interpret them, our level of empathy etc... I have read a fair amount of philosophy - there is no one philosophy, philosopher, or theory I think is even close to entiely correct.
  • I didn't get my morality from any philosophy. I got it from my personal experiences, observations, and personal beliefs based on those things.
  • You don't "learn" morality. It is an innate sense of right and wrong. I find the notion that you have to follow someone else's thoughts on morality (no matter how revered they are) disturbing.
  • I'm thinking there are a whole lot of different factors which shape one's views and personal philosophies and sense of morality. Things as already mentioned in this question, upbringing, environment, experience...even psychological disposition will, inevitably, alter or shape the thought process. I don't think that even religions stick to one single type of moral standard because then...why would there be so many? I think that, although it's a long process, religions are created in the same manner that personal morality is, only on a grander level. Religious conflicts may suggest this, or that we as humans are allowed, in most places anyway, to choose whatever belief that we want-whatever we choose adheres more to whatever we think is right or wrong. For example I'm an atheist, and although there has inevitably been plenty of sources to influence my own sense of morality, I pretty much just decided what I think is wrong or right by whatever logic I might go by. Isn't that what religions do, anyways? I don't think there's one straight up source for either atheists or believers. In society we all follow certain rules or manners because that's just how it works and that they were implemented, just as I'm sure plenty of Christians for example, have read The Bible but don't see eye to eye with everything it says. They still respect it cuz they believe in God, but this may also explain the many branchings which offer different spiritual stuff, and inevitably, different sets of morals and philosophies.
  • Well its simple, if you do something wrong, you and daddy take a trip behind the wood shed.
  • No doubt you meant Whose philosophy do atheists use to learn morality? So, I suppose that you aren't very well educated, and for this reason I will keep matters very simple. We have evolved to be social primates. We can only be social if we balance immediate personal benefit against the benefits of living with other people. We do this naturally because if we didn't we shouldn't be social primates in the first place. That is why we love and care for our children, why we mostly care about what happens to the people we live with. No need for gods, just our evolved humanity.
  • Everyone knows right from wrong. We don't lean on God when we screw up.
  • We belong to the Holy Church of Chuck Palahniuk, but rules number one and two forbid us from talking about our weekly masses.
  • you just figure out right and wrong, im an atheist and i just learnt it from experience
  • Everyone uses his or her own philosophy to learn morality. People can be "good" or "bad" but it really is all relative. Why do religious people sin?
  • Some follow Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Many were raised as Jews or Christians , but keep the same basic philosophy , but ignore the stuff they don't like.
  • I am probably more "agnostic" but find the question very intriguing. For me, it is mostly what I perceive as common sense. Like, if it hurts someone-don't do it, etc. The Golden Rule, in my mind is nothing more than your basic, everyday common sense. That's where my morality stems from.
  • great question! everyone knows from right and wrong, but there are certain morals that you can only learn from religion which are very important. dont' have to believe it but just use them.
  • It's the same as everyone else. We start by doing what we see others doing. As we grow older, we refine it to doing what makes sense, considering our goals and any possible consequences. In general, atheists' morality is superior to that of religious folks, who break their own commandments every day.  
  • Why is it that Christians who tailor their behaviors (allegedly) to the Scripture in order to earn a place in Heaven and avoid a place in Hell have such a hard time with those of us who treat each other as we hope to be treated without either the reward of Heaven or the threat of Hell? Here is a concept for you! Many people don't have to have a Heavenly reward to do right by their fellows and we also don't have to fear Hell to behave in a respectable manner. Churches in my view are for people who have such poor personal discipline they will act badly without the structure or for those who are afraid of Hell. I do right by others because it makes my present and the present of those around me better. Not because I am trying to earn a spot in Heaven or keep my bottom out of Hell. Quite a concept eh? Dogma Loki: That poem, "The Walrus and the Carpenter," that's an indictment of organized religion. The Walrus, with his girth and his good nature, he obviously represents either Buda, or with his tusks, the Hindu elephant god Lord Ganesha. Now, that takes care of your Eastern religions. Now, the Carpenter, which is obviously a reference to Jesus Christ, who was raised a carpenter's son. He represents the Western religions. Now, in the poem, what do they do? What do they do? They dup all these oysters into following them, and then proceed to shuck and devour the helpless creatures en mass. Now, I don't know what that says to you, but to me it says that following these faiths, based on mythological figures insures the destruction of ones inner-being. Organized religion destroys who we are by inhibiting our actions, by inhibiting our decisions, out of, out of fear of some intangible parent figure that shakes a finger at us from thousands of years ago and says, "Do it . . . do it and I'll fu**in' spank you!" -----
  • I can only speak for myself but my own morality is divided by a lawful/mass morality that I must observe to live in society and then my inner morality which I feel is another way to say logic or critical thinking or reason.
  • There is no general answer applying to all atheists. Some 'morals' are inborn (empathy to some extent), much of it is leanred from role models and society. Additionally, some people can actually think for themself and come up with a personal 'moral guide'. Mine for exmaple is pretty similar to Immanuel Kants categoric imperative, which is in turn pretty similar to the famous 'Golden Rule'.

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