Are humans born with a moral code? Does morality emerge from religion or does it precede it? Is there a scientific understanding of morality? And from the opposite perspective: are humans born with the seeds of immorality?
These are some of the biggest questions mankind has ever faced, and in recent years science has opened up enormous new ways of understanding the origins of morality. One of the most fascinating research studies came from Yale University in 2007, and earlier this evening Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes paid a visit to the scientists at the center of these exciting discoveries. At the heart of the team’s research is the Baby Lab which over the past several years has studied countless babies (between 3-6 months old) for any signs of a moral code. When you watch the beginning of this report don’t be fooled into thinking this is some sort of simple field of research. What this team discovered is some of the most remarkable proof ever found which proves we are indeed born with a moral code. But this is just the beginning of the story — it gets even more interesting when you keep watching it straight to the end.
In the second video Christopher Hitchens elaborates on the absurdity that morality must have been embedded in the human brain by the hand of God . Morality emerged out of evolution, and his argument is that something as basic as the Ten Commandments is already built into the human brain. And as Sam Harris explains in the third video, religion can often cloud our judgement of this pure, built-in moral code. All three are essential viewing.
