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First you said "All human actions are swayed by instinct." So your saying that it is instinct for you to believe in evolution and for me to beleive in creation even though we come from the same ancesters as you would say? that instinct says to kill our brothers? What if your wrong about these instincts are really free will with hints from a devine creator?
don't be naive. evolution and creationism are merely concepts attempting to explain the world around us. instinct is just basic thought that causes us to do what we do. more complex actions that arise from more complex situations require more complex thinking, therefore throwing the conscious thought into the mix. But there will always be basic instincts 'persuading' judgement and action.
Freud explains the human mind as having three layers, the Id, the Ego and the Superego. Here is an excerpt from wikipedia:
"The Id... represented primary process thinking ” our most primitive need gratification type thoughts. The Superego... represented our conscience and counteracted the Id with moral and ethical thoughts. Freud based the term Id on the work of Georg Groddeck. The Ego stands in between both to balance our primitive needs and our moral/ethical beliefs. A healthy ego provides the ability to adapt to reality and interact with the outside world in a way that accommodates both Id and Superego."
Sigmund Freud - Wikipedia
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Second you said Instinctual Desires. What do you mean by instinct? What about desires? you also mentioned morality whats your definition of those words? The way im reading your statement these instincts can have good and bad consequences. i mean look at moths for instance the same bright colors that bring them to a flower might also bring them to a candle flame burning them. instinct is non discriminatory where as we as humans can discern between flowers and fire right? when was the last time you burnt yourself because you thought the candle was a yellow rose? and these desires you talk about these yearnings could they be hints from a devine creator? could God be trying to say something? what if your wrong about these so called instintual desires?
Instinctual desires. like the desire to eat, to sleep, to have sex, to learn from those older than you, to live with other people, anything people have been doing without language or civilization.
morality is a common, extremely emotionally tied instinct that arises from the need for humans (and many other animals) to live together in a group. over time, emotions have developed because they cause us to act a certain way. morality is a dominant human characteristic because humans had to band together to survive. It is therefore obvious that because they survived, morality is an extremely dominant instinct. everyone has morals, to an extent. the reason everyone has different ideals about morals is because we're all genetically different.
instincts do have good and bad consequences. rape is a big consequence of instinct. it is instinctual to have sex and that instinct is very overpowering for the less educated.
a moth flying towards a flame isn't a good example to explain your position. humans are much more complex and are able to rationalize that fire is harmful. if we did not know what fire was, many people would touch it or jump right in, but would quickly find out (instinctually) that it is harmful and then never do it again. the ability to discern between a flower and fire has nothing to do with instinct.
what if i am wrong about these instincual desires? what if you're wrong about a devine creator? i may well be wrong, but i'd be wrong along with millions of the smartest minds on the planet. i see no reason why instincts would be evidence of a devine creator.
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You mentioned there was no right or wrong, that statement cant be true then can it? that statement could be right for me but wrong for you or the exact opposite. It could be indiffrent. was what hittler did wrong? executing jews for their faith. how about dr. jack kevorkian? helping people commit suicide? what of abortion? where do you stand on abortion?
no, no, you're not getting the point. right and wrong are just aspects of morality. morality is just an instinct that acts on experience in a society. you are born with simple concepts of morality which are imprinted by the society you live in. the concepts of right and wrong hold no value outside of the human mind (or similar mind). a hurricane kills thousands of people but you don't call it evil and vow revenge. it is a force of nature.
what hitler did is wrong in the sense that the majority of the human population is against it, yet all those germans in the nazi army gladly went off to war for the promise of the 3rd reich. do you believe that the nazi soliers were evil? do you think hitler was a servant of satan? no. the soldiers were ignorant of the truth of the matter, and just wanted to be a part of something important. many american kids would have done just the same in a similar position. hitler was just a social genius with a psychological problem.
abortion is another matter completely but i'm not gonna bring it up in this thread.
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Teaching a dog not to poop on the floor is merely cause and effect not development between right and wrong. a dog knows that there is a punishment after pooping on the floor so it learns and retains that piece of information. its instincts are to eat, recreate, and protect it self from harm, it the dog gets kicked when it pees on my shoes it might not do it after a few tries. i recently read about an expirement where a man turned on a light and put a bowl of dogfood on the porch and the dog would come eat. after awhile he didnt put the food out but turned on the light and instantly the dog began to salivate, is having a light turned on instinct? no its a training
a baby knows nothing when it is born, besides instinct. it will piss and crap wherever it pleases. it will communicate in simple tones. don't you ever remember being punished as a kid? it acts the same way as when you punish a puppy. you're right, its not instinct, its learning. its memory.
babies know they must eat (or drink). they know pain, they know loneliness. they laugh, they cry (a lot). all these things they know how to do without learning a thing.
i am certainly not implying that training is instint at all. after time, though the animals born with certain instincts that make them survive better will become more dominant and spread more of their characteristics than any other of its kind. this is how instinct evolves. say we killed all the dogs that didn't quickly learn not to pee on the carpet. if we did this for a million years (or maybe less), we would most likely have a race of dogs that don't pee on carpet.
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