Thursday, March 3, 2011

What is Morality?

This is a short "thought paper" that I wrote for my morality class.  The assignment was to give a working definition of morality in two hundred words.  A "thought paper" is a very informal sort of writing assignment where spelling, grammar, and construction don't matter.  The teacher just wants to see that you are, indeed, thinking about the question.

Here it is
To me, morality is a lot like having an exceptionally fast motorcycle, like face-melting fast.  The tremendous power to choose between good and evil, is a lot like having the tremendous power of a 1,000 cc racing bike at a turn of the wrist.  Furthermore, in both morality and motorcycles, there is a certain expectation to do good, to choose what is right, and not to hurtle down the road at 175 miles per hour.  Ultimately, morality is doing what is virtuous, regardless of your ability to choose evil.  Making the moral decision can often be hard, almost as bad as seeing a beautiful, straight, well-paved road stretching out in front of you for miles with a speed limit of 45.  As you look ahead, the road calls your name, begging you to get that engine up to 10,000 rpms, but alas, you cannot because you know that you must abide by the law.  You’re really going to want to make use of the raging machine beneath you, but you’ve got to do what is right, which is seemingly always less fun than doing what you want, just like making a moral decision.  Without morality,  the world would essentially collapse.  Humanity would return to its savage, primitive roots, caring only for themselves and no one else.

S1000rr

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