Does being educated make you more moral?

1. 79

   pmorriesposted 12 years ago

   Does being educated make you more moral?
   
   Are smarter people more virtuous?  Why or why not? I believe that intelligence, education, and morality are not connected in anyway, but many psychologist and other experts disagree with me. What do you believe?
   
   

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2. 67

   ThompsonPenposted 12 years ago

   Not at all. The standard view of being "educated" is one who has gone to school, or even done their own study, via lectures or books. Knowing the difference between good and evil, being moral, is something a person makes up on their own. No one can teach a person their own morals. One can be told what is generally accepted as good or bad, but to be able to draw the lines, and know that pulling the cat's tail is bad because it hurts the cat and they don't want to inflict pain on another being, that's for them to learn.
   After all, Hitler was educated. I can't say that he wasn't moral. He had his own morals, and he stuck to them. However, his morals vs. the rest of the world, he was immoral.

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   1. 79

      pmorriesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You make some great points. it seems that if one is highly educated, one can better explain how one rationalizes conducting evil acts.

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3. 77

   Seeker7posted 12 years ago

   You only have to look at the politicians who are supposedly 'edcuated' and many of them are not morally great - in the UK most of them are money-grabbing, greedy, good for nothings - and many of them were educated at Oxford and Cambridge etc and also, supposedly come from a 'superior' background. Morals don't come just because you have a few letters after your name or you happen to be born into a certain family or situation. Morals come from inside a person and your belief that respect for others is the right way, irrespective of where or what they are born into. I don't know where some researchers get their data from but they do talk the most awful crap at times!

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   1. 79

      pmorriesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      In the United States most politicians are greedy, narcissistic lap dogs of corporations. Would you like to trade? Also, you make a great point. It does seem like a lot of people with  superior backgrounds do a lot of unethical things.

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4. 74

   leakeemposted 12 years ago

   Being educated only makes you knowledgeable. It does not automatically mean you are moral. Knowing something is different from doing. Morality depends on how you follow the socially accepted criteria for being moral. Knowledge on this "criteria" can help on being moral but knowledge in general does not automatically cause someone to be moral.

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   1. 79

      pmorriesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for providing a very logical and well thought out answer.

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5. 59

   Insane Mundaneposted 12 years ago

   I don't think education relates to morals in a broad sense, however, many uneducated people are known to be more prone to acting like wild animals...  Perhaps that is why some people think otherwise, when concerning this subject.

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   1. 79

      pmorriesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Some people think that the whole human race is just a bunch of hairless apes; however, I have never really listened that much to dung merchants.

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6. 50

   tinseltreesposted 11 years ago

   I think it depends on how well rounded their education was and how much they comprehended/absorbed their education. I know people who have degrees but treated classes and homework as a chore they had to complete in order to get certification and status. Thus, they weren't that affected by their education. Then there are people who are informally trained but are more knowledgeable. The difference seems to be whether or not they are trying to reach an understanding about how the world works out of pure curiosity, or whether they are trying to fulfill a self serving need by being educated.
   
   Essentially, I think that being educated about the world will make someone more likely to make moral decisions, but there are still no guarantees.

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