Where does our sense of right and wrong come from?

We watch chimps at a primate research center sharing blackberries, observe 3-year-olds fighting over toys, and tour Eastern State Penitentiary -- the country's first penitentiary. Plus, a story of land grabbing, indentured servitude, and slumlording in the fourth grade.


Just some random thoughts that came to mind as I listened.  The question of morality and where it "comes" from and how something is determined to be a moral action has caused me to ponder. 

Random thought #1:
Every time I think about the trolley problem two scenes from  Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan come to mind.

Saavik: Admiral, may I ask you a question?
Kirk: What's on your mind, Lieutenant?
Saavik: The Kobayashi Maru, sir.
Kirk: Are you asking me if we're playing out that scenario now?
Saavik: On the test, sir... will you tell me what you did? I would really like to know.
McCoy: Lieutenant, you are looking at the only Starfleet cadet who ever beat the no-win scenario.
Saavik: How?
Kirk: I reprogrammed the simulation so it was possible to rescue the ship.
Saavik: What?
David Marcus: He cheated.
Kirk: I changed the conditions of the test; got a commendation for original thinking. I don't like to lose.
Saavik: Then you never faced that situation... faced death.
Kirk: I don't believe in the no-win scenario.

And:

Kirk: Spock!
Spock: The ship... out of danger?
Kirk: Yes.
Spock: Don't grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh...
Kirk: ...the needs of the few...
Spock: ...Or the one. I never took the Kobayashi Maru test until now. What do you think of my solution?
Spock: I have been and always shall be your friend.
[Holds up his hand in the Vulcan salute]
Spock: Live long and prosper.

Random thought #2
Now in regards to the Kobayashi Maru, for the first scenario I have come up with a solution (or should I say I think I have) -- throw the lever half-way and derail the trolley (since there is no mention of a trolley driver or passengers, no injury or deaths). I haven't quite figured out a solution to the second scenario tho short of self sacrifice which brings in Spock's reference to Jeremy Bentham's utilitarianism "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong."

Random thought #3
As mentioned, the dialogue in the death scene of Spock can be "traced" to the utilitarianism of Bentham and John Stuart Mill. But just how old is this sentiment? Where did it originate?

• Aristotle in "Nicomachean Ethics" says that everyone agrees that eudaimonia is the highest good for human beings, but that there is substantial disagreement on what sort of life counts as doing and living well.
• There is Augustine and Aquinas, both who explored happiness.
• Machiavelli believed that the actions of a state, however cruel or ruthless they may be, must contribute towards the common good of a society.
• Hume also touches on morality in An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals: "In all determinations of morality, this circumstance of public utility is ever principally in view; and wherever disputes arise, either in philosophy or common life, concerning the bounds of duty, the question cannot, by any means, be decided with greater certainty, than by ascertaining, on any side, the true interests of mankind." (Sounds a bit like Socrates in regards to Euthyphro's second definition of piety.)

From a biblical perspective, we have:

• John 11:49-50::But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish."
• Romans 2:14-15::For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.

Just some thoughts to ponder and explore!!