Do atheists base their morality on the tangible or intangible?

Question

Do atheists base their morality on the tangible or intangible?

Answer 1

I base my morality on how I want to live my ideal life.

Answer 2

I base mine on the miracles known as logic and honor.  Not so much on the anti-miracle of pacifism, also known as killing yourself in the wild.

Answer 3

The same place Christians, Muslims, Buddhist, etc all get their morals from.  Society.

Which, incidentally, was proven long ago.

Answer 4

The question for the Atheist isn’t how can you be moral, but rather on what basis are you grounding your behavior (or anyone’s behavior for that matter) as moral or immoral? How does the atheist properly ground the existence of objective moral values?

Answer 5

Tangible things such as my finances, the police, and who I like. Truly it is easier to give when my wallet bulges at seams.

Answer 6

well im an atheist and my moral consists basicly in no hurting any body (i couldnt) and respect... like when someone hurts me i know that if i hurt him back i'll feel gilty... apart from that im much more complicated

Answer 7

Try what they feel is right.  The law system too.

Answer 8

I don't need an Irmaginary friend to tell me what's right.

Answer 9

*face-palm*

Answer 10

The cultures of the world all have codes of conduct, even the ancient ones, and many of these codes predate the writing of the various books of the Bible and almost all predate each cultures first exposure to the Bible. Where did the Greek Philosophers gain their insights? Did Socrates have no morals? Was Pythagoras lost? Confucius? Buddha? The American tribes? Eskimos?

Much of what is contained in the Old Testament is simply the conduct codes of the ancient Middle East. Some of these codes are commonly found in cultures all over the world, such as the prohibition against murder, but many are unique to the region and were never adopted by anyone else, like the prohibitions against eating pork or working on Saturday. Many are tribal rules, such as the requirement for a man to marry and have children with his brother's widow in order to ensure the survival of the tribe. Much of the New Testament is a reinterpretation of the older Biblical laws from the perspective of a culture that had been exposed to Greek and Roman thought for several centuries.

We have access to thousands of years of religion, history, philosophy, ethics and sociology from all over the world. We can see what worked well, and what didn't work so well, and we acknowledge that many things should never be allowed to happen again, such as genocides, witch burnings and Inquisitions. We do not believe that any group or culture has had all of the answers, and we refuse to be tied to laws that should be abandoned and rules that do not work. Claiming to have all of the answers is a dangerous game, and claiming to be the "One True Path" has led to some of the most horrific abuses and tragedies in human history.

"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." - Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science", New York Times Magazine, November 9, 1930  

Answer 11

I base my morality on common sense.

Answer 12

I base my morality on both, thanks. Emotion and pain, baby. It's all you need to know to be a good person.

Answer 13

On genetics, we all are genetically programmed to be either good or evil, religion does not have the exclusive rights on anything.

Answer 14

I base my morality on evolutionary thought. There is a human nature behind our ethics

Answer 15

I base mine of the culture I live in

Morality comes about through cultural evolution

Answer 16

We essentially draw morality from society and common sense.  We don't need a book to spell it out for us.

Answer 17

How do you get more intangible than an unproven god?

I still contend it's cowardly to write "Atheists aren't wise" in your avatar in Japanese, assuming that people won't know what you're saying.  Why not write it in English?

Answer 18

Common sense. It's actually not difficult at all to tell right from wrong.

Answer 19

um....morals ARE intangible.

Answer 20

Ok, here we go.  Someone learned the words "tangible" and "intangable" in homeschool today and now she wants to test them on the atheists

Answer 21

     Morality's a state of mind, neither tangible nor intangible.

Mike B

Answer 22

I base my morality on the fact that life is precious, because you only get one.