Reddit mentions of The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates

Have you actually explored both sides of the spectrum?

What books have you read in favor of evolution? What books on astrophysics? And have you read anything about secular moral philosophies, or evolutionary theories of altruism?

>The Bible lays out what is considered good and what is considered to be bad/evil.

Well, Divine Command Theory (via the Bible) does some of that. But there are a few areas that I find lacking. For example, on the issue of slavery the Bible has been used to support pro-slavery arguments.

So then we get into the trouble of interpreting what the Bible means which reduces the holy scripture to Cultural Relativism, the bane of all Objective Morality arguments for God.

So the question becomes, are you following the objective truths of the Bible? Or are you following the subjective interpretations of the Bible?

>How do you know what is good, and what is bad/evil?

I first ground my interpretations of good vs. evil on my emotional experiences of cheer, comfort, and wellness vs. depression, pain, and illness. But it's not so simple.

Not all that causes euphoria is "good". Addictive drugs like heroin can be an example. And not all that causes pain is "evil". Experiencing the discomfort after working-out at the gym is another example.

So there is a sense of Teleology involved with considering what good and evil are. A desired outcome that minor discomforts are undertaken for a short-term loss in order to achieve a higher outcome for myself, my society, and possibly humanity as a whole.

What should those goals be? I'd definitely like to reduce the amount of extreme suffering in the world. I reason that while the reduction suffering doesn't give anyone a better use of their time, it does allow humanity as a whole a greater freedom to pursue other goals once they aren't spending every waking hour to just surviving.

>Coming from a background in psychology, I would likely pushback against the argument that humans are born with a concept of morality.

Oh good, then I would recommend reading about studies on Infant Morality. Here's a second article on the same Yale study. And a third article linking to some newer Canadian research.

I'd also recommend reading about Reciprocal Altruism. Or also, Biological Altruism.

Here's an entire book on the subject of atheists and evolved morality: The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates.

While nothing is solid, there is a trend in your area of study that shows infants are probably capable of basic empathetic reasoning.

I'd agree what infants don't have is Ethics. Which needs knowledge and forms of reasoning to arrive at certain conclusions for what moral actions ought to be undertaken. Such experiences are not available to infants.

Read up on this. www.amazon.com/The-Bonobo-Atheist-Humanism-Primates-ebook/dp/B007Q6XKEY

I really enjoyed The Atheist and the Bonobo. It examines the evolutionary roots for human morality but isn't as contemptuous and anti-theist as some of the other popular atheist literature. I found it to be a rather refreshing read that bridges the gap between the religious and the non-religious.