How can one say there is a common ground for morality?

Answer 1

A common ground for morality comes up in the laws of a country, the creed of a particular religion and in cultural or secular group. The laws of a country are, ideally, developed from a moral consensus of all of that country's citizens. Laws may be legally challenged, altered or revoked if the majority of citizens feel the current law(s) are not serving a proper purpose or are too restrictive or not restrictive enough (again, ideally). Religions may have councils or synods to evaluate, change or rectify parts of their creed. Individuals have their own moral compasses, even if they have been raised in the same family, country or grew up and continued to be part of a particular religion. It helps an individual make choices for themselves, and provides a pattern of limitation and consistency to their decisions and actions. Some people, governments and groups (religious or otherwise) have been labelled with "good" or "bad" moral compasses; this is due to the viewer's perception of the overall actions of the person or group. A violent criminal has as a moral compass just as a nonviolent person who has never had a criminal record; their ethics however, may be totally disparate. The rough uniformity of human morality stems from the rough uniformity of the human condition. A lot of our ethics are to do with suffering etc - do not cause pain, always oppose suffering etc. These are (more or less) uniform because the human condition is more or less uniform, we all feel pain. We all dislike it. We can therefore agree to pitch in to avoid it.