While waiting to pick up a delivery yesterday, I meditated a bit on some things I had recently read. I have two thought fragments that I'll attempt to reproduce here and in the Religion sub-topic in a bit.
The first:
"If one is taught as system of right/wrong that hinges upon an eternal carrot/stick system (heaven/hell), how can one say that he acts out of conscience? Is it morality or consequence which drives his behavior?"
That's what I jotted down yesterday on the back of an old operations order that was in my car. What I was really driving at was, what makes a moral system? Do people choose not to speed because it is "right" (against the law) or because of the consequence (the punishment that the law provides for)? I like to think myself a moral person, but my idealism has grown faded and worn over the years. I find myself more often doing a risk/reward (or more properly risk/punishment) assesment of a situtaion before acting, instead of just "knowing" what the right thing is to do.