Morality and Subjectivity

Because you run the risk of getting some form of sanction being placed on you, either by an outside force or your perception of self conflicting with your actions.People have been murdering people for years and getting away with it. If there is no reason not to, people will do it.I read in the new yesterday that some militia men killed some aid workers in Somalia. They had no such sanctions and so when murder could aquire the desired result, that was the action of choice.

Exactly.Our potential to do something like murder is part of our psychology.If we live in a culture where doing bloody murder is a fact of life or in fact encouraged and admired you would be far more enclined to use murder as a problem solving behaviour.If on the other hand we are brought up in a peace loving society we are far less likely to use it in that way.Our description of these rules become morality.

If murder causes you to be sanctioned in the ways I have described then it is morally wrong because it goes against the 'rules' of behaviour. Those rules vary from group to group.I contend that what we call morals are a set of rules we have in our minds as to the correct way in which to behave. Breaking those rules will cause us to be seen as immoral.Morals are just ill defined rules when you get down to it.The murder in this case is wrong for victim but right (in whatever twisted way) for the murderer.Just as the soldier shooting the enemy is right (he killed another human being but he did not break the rules).Being moral is like being rule oriented.It sounds like you are trying to talk about good and evil acts. (If I've mis-read you I apologies)