Alyson

Perhaps that has less to do with an objective moral standard and more to do with how humans have developed over the years. Of course cultures haven't thought it OK to murder, steal, and lie to each other, because a culture that did that would never have survived. We are altruistic because it benefits the species to be alruistic. Well, to an extent. There are people in every society who think murdering, stealing, and lying are perfectly okay, because they have been able to live and breed successfully by doing one or all of those things. And all of us lie to each other to some extent. We lie (or omit the truth) about our stigmatizing illnesses or shameful things we've done in the past to protect ourselves. Or we lie to others to spare feelings and preserve relationships.

Let's say I describe a particularly gruesome crime scene to you. Two people engage in an act of violence that ends fatally. Children were involved. Maybe even a puppy. It was a truly bloody affair. Naturally, if you are a mentally healthy person, even the image of this fictional incident would cause feelings of horror, dread, anger, sorrow, and even cause you to care about the characters who were unjustly harmed or killed. And like anyone else, when I think of such a crime scene and the pain the victims must have felt, the violence horrifies me. Because of these feelings, I know this act of violence is wrong, or bad. Conversely, when I see a fireman saving someone from a burning building despite possible risk to himself, I feel relieved, encouraged, and generally positive about life. Because of these feelings, I know this act of saving someone is right, or good.