Are Morals the Result of Social Conditioning?

Are morals the result of social conditioning? Listen to Dr. William Lane Craig provide a compelling answer.

Watch this exciting episode and grab a copy of Dr. Craig's new book "On Guard" to learn more about this and other arguments on how to defend your faith with reason and precision.

Transcript

Bobby Conway: What would you say to the atheist who says, “Morals are just a result of social conditioning”?

Dr. Craig: I would agree with him if there is no God. If there is no God, then he’s absolutely correct. Moral values, or what we call moral values, are just the spin-offs or byproducts of biological evolution and social conditioning. But of course, if there is a God, Bobby, who provides a transcendent ground for moral values and duties, then even if we discover these objective values and duties through evolution and societal conditioning, that does nothing to prove that these values and duties are not objective.

Compare the physical world: The physical world has an objective reality independent of us, but our gradual, fallible apprehension of the physical world doesn’t undermine the objective reality of that physical world. And in the same way, if moral values are gradually discovered rather than invented, then our gradual, fallible apprehension of the moral realm no more undermines the objective reality of that realm than does our gradual and fallible apprehension of the physical realm undermine the objectivity of the physical world.

So, the whole question is: Does God exist? Is there a God? If there is, then moral values are not simply the byproducts of biological and social evolution. On the other hand, if there is no God, then I think the atheist is absolutely correct.

Bobby Conway: Well said.