denis bider: I would compare morality to patriotism in the sense of the Onion article that Robin Hanson recently linked to. Much like patriotism, morality is something adopted by people who like to believe in Great Guiding Ideas.
Daniel B. Klein calls this the People's Romance (I'm not sure whether this idea has been explored in meta-ethics or moral philosophy, though of course it's well known among sociologists). But for such a morality to be sustainable it would have to be a Schelling coordination point, so it would still be "independent" and not self-generated.
denis bider: I would compare morality to patriotism in the sense of the Onion article that Robin Hanson recently linked to. Much like patriotism, morality is something adopted by people who like to believe in Great Guiding Ideas.
Daniel B. Klein calls this the People's Romance (I'm not sure whether this idea has been explored in meta-ethics or moral philosophy, though of course it's well known among sociologists). But for such a morality to be sustainable it would have to be a Schelling coordination point, so it would still be "independent" and not self-generated.