The Origin Of Morality

The origin of morality is a newer with time philosophical topic. It includes suspense of solving problem itself:what is the morality on earth? When is the origin? How does the morality happen?How to define the morality? The paper tries to give a broad definition on morality through historical combing, previous research and the topic itself of logical hypothesis. Morality is practice, culture creating and a kind of order, then it is an idea, ideology. The definition of morality can deduce the following problem:the origin of morality and occurrence of morality which are the different path on studing morality. The happening of morality is creating of structure of knowledge, the happening of idea. The origin of morality is events occurred, social practice. But the two are not separation, occurrence of morality solves the absolution which the origin of morality result in, and don’t explain the creating of structure of knowledge. If morality is man owning, it starts at the ancient time. It grows with human. So the origin involves the macro span of time and space. It must move from now to enlightment of mankind in the ancient time.Initial chaos is the mother in the primitive society. The chaos is not huddle, and it has own unique operating characteristic and order itself. In the research of morality, we can find some flash fragments from the mother which are the most representative and close relations with morality. At the same time, morality as a fragment, combines with the others fragments in the research of origin. Primitive thinking studies subjective characteristics in the research from the aspect of thinking and expression. Totem and taboo as primitive religion studies from the psychological cognition and value judgment. Sorcery, divination and sacrifice analyze the origin from behavior function. Myth is the carrier of and living fossil of the research. Custom studies it from norms regulation, it is the closest factors to origin of morality. Primitive thinking, totem and taboo, sorcery, divination and sacrifice, myth and custom are not isolation and kin relationship. All grow in the era of big background in the primitive society. Morality is a self-correcting course as the human society. Implements civilization as productive force affects the origin of morality in the social environment of primitive society. The development of material production is a process improving human living constantly. It can be seen from gathering, hunting, agriculture, animal husbandry which are been improvement in the production department. The improvement and development of material production is the basic conditions of the origin of morality, then the origin connects closely with people’s survival. In people’s production, family relation, kinship and kinship system building the marriage base are the initial form in the primitive society. A kind of order maintains in the human interaction. Original morality can’t leave to adjust the sexual relations and kinship. Clan is the first formal social organization and the unit of the origin.Human development and progress of spiritual culture come from the advance of practice. The origin of morality is from human’s interaction. It is the practice that produces morality.The original practice is always accompanied by a layer of mystery. Human material production is not been directed by ration and science as now. The primitive thinking is a collective awareness with a mysterious mutual permeability. Right and wrong ideas and self-consciousness contain moral bud. At the same time, mysterious mutual permeation and all things having spirit make morality variable. In a series of error correction, the original good and evil idea occurred. Thinking and language are twin relation. Expression and communication of language must produce certain order and rhythm in the long-term development. Objective and general order and rhythm need to express in the language, so moral terms as should, justice, morality forms. The moral content once expressed, then has the universality. Language has a positive and negative attitude for the morality. For a long time, language has moral mission.Primitive thinking and language are necessary for the origin of morality, at the same time, the primitive man often fantasy and make numerous totem, taboo, etiquette, then becoming an important part of primitive conductions. Totem and taboo are not a strict code of ethics as today, but it plays an important role in the original code of ethics in the ancient society. The primitive man couldn’t survive and development without a series of mysterious behavior standards. We also can’t understand why morality takes a non-institutionalized path with the aid of human conscience and belief in the development of human society. From a lot of anthropology datas, morality first starts in the totem and taboo which is the earliest moral code in the primitive society.Totem and taboo show passive side in the origin of morality. With the popularity of sorcery, divination, sacrifice culture, the primitive man initiative side began to show. They actively communicate with God, so witch is such an independent career. In the ancient time, the wizard has the important function of inheritance of ethics, at the same time, morality also plays a certain role. Divination and sacrifice is more representative in china. Divination and sacrifice are more kind of etiquette, pray to god and ancestors, also establish a certain ethical order with ancestors.Myth is the living fossil of the origin. Myth is fantasy and a kind of collective behavior, also has a certain reality. Myth provides us moral value and social order in the ancient time as a description of ancient reality existing now. Moral aspirations are embodied in the myth.Morality deconstructs slowly the mystery of the origin. A peculiar customs gradually forms. It is the intergenerational customs, habits and behavior patterns. To implement customs and habits depends on social psychology which maintains the thoughts and words. It is internalized by strong internal specification mechanism. Through all kinds of cultural conflict and fusion, some original social customs become ’should’and’fair’value category ethics. In the implementation and development of customs, some become morality, some become law, some still exist as a custom.In a word, the origin of morality is people’s practice, codes maintaining, the process of cultural creation, which is closely related with human survival. It is also constant correction, utilitarian development course. In survival practice, morality is the value judgment, from the original immature to non-institutionalized moral law. Primitive thinking, totem and taboo, sorcery, divination and sacrifice, myth and customs is two paths in the process of origin of morality:primitive thinking-totem and taboo-sorcery, divination and sacrifice, primitive thinking-myth, the two paths are due to the customs.In the practice of the original survival, primitive thinking characterized by collective representation produces right and wrong, good and evil idea. Under the collective representation, the awakening of individual self-consciousness is premise condition of the origin of morality. Primitve thinking shaped the primitive psychological emotion and value judgment. Fear, worship, and confusion make the primitive people choose totem and taboo. Totem worship is a collective behavior, and the primitive man adjust the relationship of the people with it. So the morality has always been collective collaboration, but in the process of running, constantly playing between the collective and individual. Collective constantly instilled the idea to individual, firstly, individual is unconsciously accepting, then deviate it, for collective punishment and isolation, and return to the collective. In the course of the game, benefiting to the whole is morality, but individual can accept unconditional. Awe and fear of totem dop in daily life, so everyday specification also brings divine color, then morality also has a religious color. Right and wrong idea of primitive thinking is the basis of taboo. There are many different kinds of primitive taboo, and the earliest is sex taboo. So the sex taboo is the first moral prohibitions. It is the basis of moral constrains in the clan, also presents moral practice from heteronomy to autonomy. As a otherness of collective, depending on taboo psychology, taboo abiding makes a code of morality autonomy. Totem and taboo presents passivity. Prompting man to communicate with god actively, sorcery, divination and sacrifice culture thus produce. Sacrifice has utilitarian side in the origin of morality. Wizard, teller, and priests are trying to communicate with god, pray for god’s blessings, of course, they also show a devout worship to god. They are the earliest human cultural communicators, is the main body of moral mission, is the origin of moral booster. The primitive language and original thinking is coexistence. The primitive language opens the other path of morality. About the content of the morality once complained, language is the moral mission. Kind words can be good. Therefore, along with the generation of moral language, moral cognition and moral evaluation occur, this are the landmark event in the process of the origin of morality. Myth and language have isomorphism. It is the carrier of the inheritance of memory, and the main tools of morality transmission and finalizing the system. Through audio language and the spread of the collective, the human good moral expectations are extended and continued.In the fusion process of primitive thinking, totem and taboo, sorcery, divination and sacrifice, and myth, the force of habit has been to implement. In developing cource, custom has the prototype of moral code, so it has been gradually morality. The force of habit and traditional fear have made the custom abide by primitive man. In practice, morality has been implemented from heteronomy to autonomy.So morality takes the form of primitive religion and custom in the beginning. Gradually morality produces a departure from them. Morality no longer shows totem, taboo, sorcery, divination and sacrifice, myth and custom, and it becomes itself. The practice of human society is prerequisite of morality. With the awakening of consciousness of human reason, the divine factor of a primitive society slowly fades, moralty never need the lives of worship, covenant of taboo, ceremony of sorcery, divination and sacrifice, witch communicating to God, popularity of myth. Moral comes from the authority of God to the secular world. Meanwhile, morality gets rid of secularization and narrowness of the shell of custom, thus morality occurs.