How Do Atheists Decide What Is Good And What Is Bad?

[goodlife]

Is it conscience or upbringing.( Romans 2:14)

[GetOverIt]

A bit of conscience, a bit of upbringing...but nothing to do with god.

[sandyRoe]

Their Guardian Angel whispers in their ear but they call that little voice anything other than what it is.

[Noth43]

How does a religious person know what is good and what is bad? Do you have to read if it's so in the Bible or do you listen to a voice in your head that tells you to push that person in front of that train or not?
Goodlife, you scare me.

[chrisgel]

Not by looking it up in a book, that's for sure.

[LazyGun]

@Sandy - so you take guidance from the voices in your head? Not a very encouraging thing to know... :)

We atheists do not have a holy book to guide us. Quite naturally therefore we are going to thieve and rob and maim and murder, since we do not have a book to tell us what to do - Bereft of guidance, we can only revert to a kind of feral, bestial outlook on the world.....

You religious types on the other hand- you guys are lucky! You get a book of words to tell what to do, forever and a day. And these holy books tell you that women are subservient, that the correct order of things is patriarchal, that girls should be shot if they want an education, that anyone whose gender orientation does not conform should be treated as a second class citizen, that men can interfere in the reproductive rights of women. They tell you that it is ok to refuse service to someone not of your faith or not of the right sexuality; these books tell you that losing your turban or cutting your hair makes you less a man. It tells you that there is a paradise awaiting you if you die performing gods will - and what god wants will be told to you by an earthly holy man.

I really wish us atheists had a holy book ( although which one?) with which to guide us, rather than having to rely on humanist teachings which are underpinned by essentially one golden rule - treat others as you yourself would wish to be treated....

[daisya]

Well said LG brilliant work and oh so true. Pity the brainwashed cannot understand...don't you feel sorry for them...hmmm.

[jake-the-peg]

Oh - an interesting question from Goodlife - Well done!

Concience isn't much of an answer - what does that mean, where does it come from - are we born with a concience are we taught it?

Personally I don't think you can seperate those two

I think empathy underpins it, the ability to see ourselves in someone else's place and feel their pain.

I think some of us are born with more empathy than others - some learn empathy from others and some never get it - these last people can be autistic or psychopaths (who tend to mimic it).

So I think it's a mixture of innante and learnt behaviour

However this is entirely apersonal opinion and I have very limited evidence to justify it.

I know that some primate like chimps demonstrate empathy and social rule following but it's not clear to me whether that's cultural or innate

[emmie]

i know the difference, acting on it is another thing, some things are bad for me, like cream cakes, but that doesn't mean to say i won't eat one.

[Kathyan]

Common sense.

[ll_billym]

Exactly the same way that religious people decide what is good and bad - except atheists don't project their natural or learned behaviors through some mythical entity.

God doesn't tell you what to do goodlife - you just think he does.

[Khandro]

Whether you are a believer or not, being good all the time is very boring and you can always opt out or defer, even if you are a saint, like Augustine of Hippo who famously said; "Oh Lord make me chaste, but not just yet".

[mibn2cweus]

For some, what they were taught as children adequate informs them of the appropriate choices to make under most circumstances and where to seek guidance when in doubt. Having personally been raised in a religious environment by deeply religious parents I found the moral precepts of sin and forgiveness woefully inadequate and self-destructive, as if specifically designed to ensure failure and reliance on others for the absolution of consequential guilt. So ill prepared was I to face the responsibility of living responsibly in the world at large that I was forced not only to learn but to discover, from the ground up, the moral precepts required to meet that challenge.

What I learned is that responsibility is inherently inescapable is any choice and action. But to live and act responsibly one must first learn what responsibility entails and how to acknowledge and act responsibly. Morality is not innate, it is a learned skill and one that responsible adults are required to teach their children.

As a highly intelligent and potentially rational species we do not live and survive by virtue of instinct alone but are presented with alternatives and consequently the need to choose among them which will ensure and promote our survival and well-being. Where there is no choice there is no alternative but to act blindly without the guidance of reason. The moral high ground is to know what alternatives exist and among them which of these sustain and promote the existence of those capable of making such decisions with reason and knowledge as the means and mutually beneficial relationships and rational self-interest as the goal. Altruism is the inability or refusal to see in others that which is worthy of our love, caring, respect and admiration.

What is right is that which sustains and promotes the freedom and ability for determining what is right; reason, knowledge and acknowledging personal responsibility for ones own choices, actions and their consequences.

[DJHawkes]

I get my guidance from TV soap characters and base what is good or evil on their comeuppence

[LazyGun]

@DJ Hawkes - A far better guide than a holy book! :)

[RATTER15]

All of the above ^^^^^

[doctordb]

Nowadays bad is good, wicked is cool and sick is great.

[vetuste_ennemi]

"Altruism is the inability or refusal to see in others that which is worthy of our love, caring, respect and admiration."
Are you sure you meant to say that, Mibs?

[WaldoMcFroog]

Yet another question right out of the bestselling book 'Lazy Questions To Ask Atheists The Answer To Which You Couldn't Possibly Work Out By Yourself'..?

[jomifl]

Do unto others as you would be done by.... is a good starting point.
I think Jake has got it summed up fairly well