The Problem of Condoning

[Cail]

Those aren't universals by any stretch. One could argue that they're universals for most western cultures, but they don't cover the entire species.

Regardless, who's to say they're right, and why does morality matter?

Edit- Until very recently, American culture (nearly) universally shunned homosexuality. Since it was a universal, did that make it moral?

[Kinslaughterer]

Those are universals of every documented culture yes. Homosexuality is a genetic universal not a cultural one.

Morality is a justifier. Even if you don't care to recognize it humanity has a set (albeit small) of universal morals.

[Vraith]

The morality that a culture group believes in, sure. Examples of cultural universals: marriage, taboo against incest, taboo against murder, welfare, sport, family structure, funerary ritual, and age grades too name a few. In every case moral/ethic ties are intertwined.

Who better to define morality than every culture of an entire species?

Umm...these aren't really universal unless you give lots of leeway.
Marriage: what kind? and how many to each other?
Incest: most aristocratic and related cultures actually use incest to consolidate/maintain their position and wealth.
Murder: Only amongst equals, in many places and times.
etc.
And in a lot of cases, the moral component is used to justify/explain...but in actual execution, the "Rule" came before the "Morality"

[Cail]

Exactly. Morals are 100% man-made and culturally dependent. For example, homosexuality may be a genetic thing, but the treatment of homosexuals is culturally dependent.

Point being that anything you claim as universal can get toppled by a single exception. There simply are no universal morals.

[Orlion]

Great posts! I appreciate all your insights.

The resolution of the problem that I'm leaning more towards has to do with what I will call the principle of reasoning. I have the right to try to reason with others, in fact am bound by the "brother's keeper" ideal to attempt to dissuade others from what I and my beliefs preceive to be an incorrect action. However, this does not give me the right to coerce them into an action. I may try to convince a family member that smoking is bad and try to dissuade him, but it is ultimately his choice and affects (principly) himself.

Laws should only deal with 1)Restrictions of the power of government, 2)outlawing such actions that generally cause harm (I wish I could word the second better, since what I'm thinking of are things like robbery and murder, but it could be argued that relationships generally cause harm and should therefore be outlawed according to this principle )

[Cail]

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." There's the basis for your laws right there. I agree that if you see someone you care about doing something you think is stupid, you should tell them. But if it's not doing physical harm to someone else, you can't stop them.

[Kinslaughterer]

Morals are 100% manmade. The semantics of the word universal unfortunately allow for exceptions, however the last 150 years of anthropological research identify the universals I speak of. What forms they take may vary but every cultural on earth has marriage, none allow murder (meaning not justifiable homicide), all include welfare, all have some form of birth ritual, some form of death ritual, sport, art, etc.
These are the moral foundations of humanity.
Example...Marriage-It may include multiple spouses male or female, may be same-sex or opposite sex but every culture recognizes the institiution within itself.
Many other aspects are highly variable but they have some form or another.