Slartibartfast

I can think of a few.

1) It is just wrong. (why?)
2) Because I would not like to be killed (what if I would?)
3) Because the victim would not like to be killed. (how do I ascertain desire and prove desire posthumously?)
4) It is wrong insofar as it causes other people pain. (what if no one cares, or everyone wants the person to die)?

What is the REAL reason? Logically supported of course.

edit: by the way this whole post is assuming you kill them instantly and without causing any pain.

[ May 22, 2002: Message edited by: Slartibartfast ]</p>

tronvillain

There is no ultimate reason, but for me it is the emotions of empathy and fear.

Someone7

The reason is very, very simple.

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Jamie_L

We are a communal species by nature, and live in a communal society.

Generally speaking, such a society cannot hold together if people kill each other whenever they get upset or see some potential benefit from it.

A society based off of mutual cooperation, assistance, and protection fairs better than one where everyone is out for themselves, and people kill their friends and neighbors all the time. The former society provides benefits to the individual, so supporting it helps you in a general sense.

Over the years, natural selection weeded out humans that tended to operate in the "killer" mentality. We evolved brains that had things like empathy, guilt, and the like. Properly shaped by intelligent parents and a communal society, most humans grow into people who have more happy, stress-free lives if they don't cause their friends and neighbors pain.

Practically employed, the result of all this is that 1, 2, 3, and 4 are all reasons not to kill people. But they are derived reasons.

Jamie

Koyaanisqatsi

Because you've been brainwashed into thinking that one kind of murder is ok (war) and another kind of murder is not ok (personal desire).

Human beings do what they are told to do by a ruling elite. Some don't do what they are told to do.

We then kill those people and call it justice.

Getting the point?

Context is the reason it is "wrong" to kill people, nothing (I repeat), nothing more.

free12thinker

I agree with Tronvillian. It comes down to emotions and fear. It is wrong because of the negative reaction it bestows on others, but those negative reactions are emotional. They are part of our sensibilities.

You kill me, Tron sees it, Tron's emotions trigger fear, sadness and anger. Fear, Sadness and anger are bad. Killing is bad.

It's not a learned process. Take it a step down and look at hitting. If a 15 month old gets spanked from their parents, they feel the pain, we don't have to explain to them that spanking is bad. Spanking is bad because it hurt and triggered a negative emotion. Fear is inevitable and what's learned is to avoid whatever action brought on the spanking. I get hit, it hurts, I don't want to hit someone else. I may hit the person who hit me, but that's reaction.

Jamie_L

I'm going to take some issue with this. The 15-month-old understands GETTING SPANKED is bad, but it doesn't necessarily follow that the child makes the leap to "spanking others is bad." Fifteen-month olds hit other kids all the time because they get upset (over toys, food, attention, whatever), and it doesn't seem to bother them in the least. Empathy is partly nature, but it also requires some nurture, I believe.

Think about it though. If you never punished a child when he hit someone, but hit him as punishment for other things, would the child make the connection that hitting is bad? I.E. is the negative impact of getting hit enough to teach the child not to hit. I don't think so. Furthermore, hitting as a "learning tool" can teach the child that hitting is an effective way to obtain your desires. After all, that's what the parent is doing.

Slightly off topic. Sorry.

Jamie

abe smith

Um ... {perhaps] because until "they" prove themselves to be not-members-of-us, They are Us; the in-group vs out-group old-stuff. ... more to amplify; but I hate to keep jabbering.

Starspun

On what morals are you basing the question? Many different morals for many different situations. For example, under extreme circumstances I would take someone's life. Others would take a life without a second thought, and yet other's would rather be harmed, than harm another.
The communal society point by Jaime is a great example. Society provides it's own morals. A common trait throughout the animal kingdom, wouldn't you agree?

Happy Wonderer

One reason it is wrong to kill is that killing is irreversable. Any moral foundation must take into consideration the possibility that the foundation is flawed; experience shows us that what we believe today may not be what we believe tomorrow. If we harm someone, it may be possible to make amends in the future. If we kill them, that is the end of the story.

This is in addition to the obvious point that a moral foundation must take into account the imperfect nature of our understanding. Irreversable actions should be avoided simply because we may have the facts wrong. Executing a notorious, confessed, rapist-killer may seem like the right thing to do until you find after the fact that the confession was coerced. The DNA may match, but maybe there is an undiscovered twin...

Of course in the real world there may be situations where it is necessary to kill -- it may still be wrong but the consequences of not killing outweigh any moral considerations in that situation. A hostage-taker who has killed some hostages, for example. There may be no other apparent way to resolve the situation and in that case a decision has to be made.

It is interesting that some police sharpshooters who resolve nasty situations by killing the "perp" still feel anguish for years afterwords about their actions. I don't think that any normal person can kill and not be affected, spending their lives wondering if they could have done something different.

HW