On Thu, 20 May 2010, Somebody Somebody wrote:
> Somebody: Even apes have a sense of fairness. That in itself is good
> reason to believe there's probably an innate element contributing to
> human morality.
An innate element (which I firmly believe in) has zip to do with there being a common morality, any more than a hard-wired drive to language makes us speak the same languages.
Just as all languages can share deep structures and yet be mutually incomprehensible, so can all moralities. They might all have taboos, they might all have a sense of right and wrong. But what counts as right or wrong can -- and is -- often entirely the opposite. And nothing about innateness or common deep structures changes that.
Michael