morality is rational

The rationality of morality is one of the most important and central issues in philosophy. Everyone has a morality, a set of values they use to guide their choices. If morality is not based on reason, then all of these values are only expressions of emotion. If there is a rational morality, however, we can use its principles to help us choose our actions. To begin justifying morality rationally, we have to analyze the definition of a morality: A set of values used to guide our choices. The key term here is "value." What does that mean, and does it have an objective basis? A value is something that one acts to gain or keep. Every living thing has values, since every living thing has things that it acts to gain or keep. For example, a tree extending its roots into the soil values water, a cat pursuing a mouse values food, and a person working at a job values money. The concept of value presupposes an alternative and action in the face of the alternative to achieve a goal. The alternative for the tree is to go thirsty or reach the water, and it acts in the face of that alternative to achieve the goal of having water, by extending its roots into the soil. But the chain of alternatives cannot go on forever - there has to be a fundamental alternative that all other alternatives depend upon. This is the alternative of life or death. Staying alive is the fundamental value that makes sense of all of the others, from a tree extending its roots into the soil to a person working a job. So, any rational morality has to be based on life, since the concept of value depends on life. Apart from life, it makes no sense to say that something is valuable. But we have not arrived at morality yet, because we have only analyzed the concept of value, which applies to all living things. Morality only applies to human beings. Why is that? Human beings survive by means of reason, and they can choose to engage in reasoning or not by their free will. This is the fundamental difference between human beings and the lower animals. Human beings' means of survival does not work automatically. The fact that human beings have to choose to engage their means of survival is what gives rise to the distinctly moral evaluations applicable to them. If they want to survive, it is necessary for human beings to define principles that will promote their life. This set of principles is the rational morality my opponent claims cannot exist. The central three virtues in a rational morality are rationality, productivity, and pride. Rationality means always using your mind and never evading. Productivity means engaging in productive work to support yourself. Pride means always doing your best to live morally. These three virtues form an upward spiral. Rationality will lead a person to be productive, since it is rational to engage in productive work. Productivity leads to pride, since success in productive work creates pride. In turn, pride in one's accomplishments makes it easier to be rational. There is a lot more to a rational morality, but I'm going to stop here, since I've given the essence of my case. You can read more about my morality at the following link. http://aynrandlexicon.com...