A little late on the point about hellenism, but at least in the ancient greek context morals very much applied. A lot of the mythos involved lessons against hubris, and any attempt at defying fate as an example of Hubris.

I think some of the biggest plays to reinforce these lessons are courtesy of Sophocles.

Antigone involved a woman setting herself up for death not in the act of nobility, but out of pride i.e she deserved to die. Creon would have been the stories tragic figure had he actual killed her, but he wasn't (since direct execution would upset the gods). Then you have the play setting up the death of Oedipus's sons, and of course the prodigal play Oedipus the king.

I get where you are coming from, but there is one topic that all cultures seem to universally revile (unless you are wealthy), and that happens to be incest. Of course you have loopholes both legally, and culturally, but at the end of the day the base concept is reviled. I am aware thats not an argument for objective morality, but it does hint humans can at least have one thing in common.

They only promote it up to the point diseases begin to ravage the minds of the participant tribes (i.e Papau New Guinea).

In response to wiktor, sure cultures hold up universal values, but it depends on the base which influences them. An islamic civilization is very likely to view adultery (since many believe in the four wives) quite differently.There is a reason even in the argument for freedom of religion it only goes so far. Its one thing to sacrifice animals ala Santeria, but polygamy will never be acceptable in a country like the United States.

To me the answer is hitting someone you are in a relationship with is obviously wrong. Then you have cultures which believe as long as you don't bruise the wife, and the kids don't see it it is fine.

I disagree with said cultures.

The rape situation sounds a bit like utilitarianism.

Piracy is only wrong from a legal perspective.

Say what you will about theft, but piracy is on a whole other level, and so intertwined with government we hit a gray area.

Hell if it weren't for pirates the U.S would have had to rely entirely on the damned Frenchmen to create a navy.

Well torrenting is a whole other issue. At least in the west people don't really give a shit about the starving artist trope anymore.

If artists didn't get obscenely wealthy off their works I might find it wrong.

No one is going to bed hungry over a pirated copy of Le Mis.

I did say legal, and cultural loopholes Niggler. The base concept itself is reviled, and then you have the gray area of first cousins. The Canadians can testify to this.

They have a higher first cousin marriage rate than Alabama.

At the end of the day humanity has had a primal source for morality since its days fighting other animals in the plains. We had rites of purgation to exile perceived threats to our communities, common things to bring us together (such as rituals), and of course the worry of incest (which is why we used to mate with other humanoids if we were out of options). I mean its not objective morality, but still.

@21ooAB The only context to justify this would be a faction committing utterly atrocious war crimes for the hell of it.

@21ooAB I never said it wasn't, but people will justify anything especially if it produces results.

An example "beat ten to encourage one hundred others to rush into a trench line".

War often brings out our most fucked ideas, but if you hire people to get results...you get all the baggage that comes with it.

Well kicked out or chose exile depending upon how you view it. A royal murdering someone wasn't exactly uncommon in Egyptian society. Yet the reason for doing so is why it made Moses a threat to the establishment. Moses had no desire to be Pharoah, but nevertheless as Pharoah one can imagine the rumors it might bring if you kept a sibling around who potentially held sympathies for slaves.