Are morals individually developed or adopted from society?

Answer 1

For Christianity, morals come from: Jehovah God, the Almighty, the Creator of mankind. God has relayed his requirement for mankind, to mankind in various ways:

1) Directly stated within his word, The Bible.

2) Imbedded within our conscience. (All humans have a 'sense' of fairness; a 'sense' of right and wrong.) (True, the conscience can become desensitised over years due to various influences or lack thereof.)

3) Tradition (which is basically influenced by #1, and #2) that is handed down.

At the same time; morals (or lack of morals) are formed with a combination of both: -- developed individually; -- and adopted from society (ie parents, grandparents; peers; the community.)

In the end, -- morals have been allowed by God to being a matter of 'free-will'; -- of course with 'consequences' (we reap what we sow) for not aligning our morals with the righteous requirements decided upon by our Creator

Another view.For those that have no need for the hypothesis of a god, morality is the set of, mostly, unwritten rules made by man to allow each individual and group within a society a maximum amount of freedom and to live within that society.

Nor may these morals be necessarily the same for every society. Each set is chosen and developed to suit particular circumstances and environment.

Certainly one set of moral values in a society may not be similar to those held by a different one.

Even within a society moral values may differ between sub-groups.

Individuals generally adopt the moral values of the society or sub-group within which they exist.