Where does morality come from? This question inherently concerns ethics. If morality is divinely decreed, what does it entail? Are people allowed to hurt others or steal in the name of God? If no objective morality exists, are we allowed to do whatever we want? Is it the pressures of societal expectations that lead us to be good, or do we all have an internal moral compass? Where do humans derive their ethics?

I believe that morality comes from many different places and can be influenced by a lot of different things. Even if morality is not instilled by a higher power, morality can still be heavily influenced by religious standards. Even if universal morality doesn’t exist, societal pressures hold us accountable. And morality varies strongly from person to person.

Besides philosophers and theologists, I don’t believe many professionals are too concerned with finding the answer to this question. For one, there is no way for the answer to be universal. And what does it matter anyways? Different people have many different beliefs in regard to this question. Whether one’s benevolence leads people to believe they are a selfless individual or a good Christian, as long as people are being the most socially-acceptable form of good, many will not bat an eye.

Determining an objective answer to this question is difficult, as you would have to observe human behaviors and human answers. You have to start examining the motives behind good and bad actions—which is hard enough already, as good and bad are such loose terms. For example, one might immediately regard stealing as bad. However, if a man is stealing to feed his hungry family, is that still bad? I suppose we don’t have to label the situation as good or bad; it doesn’t really matter what we think. Rather, it matters what the person making the choice thinks, what internal conflict they went through, and whether they believe they did the right thing or not.

Say we do find the answer to where morality comes from. Why does it matter? It may matter due to the fact that morals influence our daily lives. They determine whether we cheat on tests we didn’t study for, or not. They determine whether we pay for our groceries, or shoplift. They determine whether we flip off the driver that just cut us off, or let it slide. If we find out the basis of morality and how people determine what is right and wrong, we can live life more securely by aligning our actions with our ideal form of good.