ARE OUR MORAL FEELINGS JUST A MATTER OF BIOCHEMISTRY?

An atheist responded that even if there is a God, this doesn’t mean that we should believe that our moral impulses have been wired into us by God:

·       “The problem I see with basing morality on an external source is that we will inevitably question its validity because we are capable of thinking about it, critically.”

Here is my response:

Agreed! You should “question its validity.” But let’s back up for a moment. We have already agreed that humanity is wired to know certain moral truths. If so, the question becomes this:

·       If we are wired to know that rape and genocide are objectively wrong, is this wiring just a matter of biochemistry or is it pointing to an objective moral law beyond ourselves.

Are our moral impulses like the impulses that our eyes receive, telling us about an objective physical world, or are our moral impulses simply imposing upon us moral feelings that have nothing to do with an objective moral order?

If we conclude that they are telling us about a moral law (as our eyes tell us about physical laws, especially through systematic observation), then we have to ask about the origin of this moral law.