'The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy'

[the phantom]

Saucepan Man wrote:

Atheists are just as capable of behaving morally as believers

They can behave morally, but my question is why? Why would an atheist behave morally?

I've seen arguments that say it's in the best interest of society for everyone to behave morally, but I'm not talking about society as a whole, I'm talking about the individual. It's often in the individual's best interest to behave immorally, so why doesn't he?

Is it fear of punishment? If so, then he's not really moral at heart.

Or do you think they act moral for the feeling of contentment you spoke of? But that doesn't make sense either since you said yourself that immoral people can "achieve happiness and fulfillment".

If both moral and immoral people can be happy in their own way, why choose one over the other? Especially, why choose the option that doesn't put your own wants and needs first?

In Tolkien's books there were moral characters that had their share of suffering (Beren, Finrod, Beleg) and there were immoral characters that had fame, power, wealth, and found enjoyment in their evil ways up until their death (Glaurung, Gothmog, Smaug, Witch King). If there was no eternal/supernatural dimension to Middle-Earth, I'd say that the bad guys were smarter.

Again, why pick a moral lifestyle over an immoral one?

What is the rational?

There doesn't appear to be any good reason, not one that I've seen yet, anyway. I personally believe that morality is beyond the simple wisdom and cold rational of man (and was not invented by man either). There has to be a reason for morality beyond this earth. If not, and this flesh and earth is all that there is to life, why not just grab everything you can for yourself and live a happy, immoral life? That would make the most sense.