Imagine a society where a moral code ceased to exist. Without moral codes, people would lead their life in the wrong path, and they'd be living in a state of nature, which is a concept that Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher, used to refer to how people may have lived a long time ago. Hobbes once said, "The condition of man...is a condition of war of everyone against everyone," which is saying that every man lives for itself, and everyone is an enemy. This accurately depicts what society would be like without a moral code—a world of chaos and anarchy. Moral codes are significant because they embody the moral principles that act as the code of conduct. Even back then, ancient civilizations established moral codes such as the Code of Hammurabi
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For instance, the Protestation of Guiltlessness in the Book of the Dead lists the basic moral values an individual should uphold such as not committing robbery, not murdering a person, not lying, and more. These were some of the many things a righteous person in Egypt would do, and their conscience helped them justify the difference between right and wrong. The laws in the Code of Hammurabi, however, depended more on social status and gender. An example of a law based on gender in the Code of Hammurabi is if the husband wants to divorce her, he may do so without giving anything; but if he doesn't, he may marry another woman with his previous wife living as a maid in his house. Based on this law, women were treated like property, but in ancient Egypt, they were almost as equal as men since they had rights like owning, selling, buying, and inheriting property; testifying in court; and negotiating business deals. On the other hand, Hebrew Laws were mainly driven by religion since it mentioned Yahweh, their god, a lot such as when it says, "Yahweh...who brought you out of...Egypt," or "Yahweh will strike you down with monstrous plagues...". The laws under these three morals codes were driven by different forces, but a moral code influenced by a sense of right and wrong felt more reasonable and just than one controlled by human rule and
For instance, the Protestation of Guiltlessness in the Book of the Dead lists the basic moral values an individual should uphold such as not committing robbery, not murdering a person, not lying, and more. These were some of the many things a righteous person in Egypt would do, and their conscience helped them justify the difference between right and wrong. The laws in the Code of Hammurabi, however, depended more on social status and gender. An example of a law based on gender in the Code of Hammurabi is if the husband wants to divorce her, he may do so without giving anything; but if he doesn't, he may marry another woman with his previous wife living as a maid in his house. Based on this law, women were treated like property, but in ancient Egypt, they were almost as equal as men since they had rights like owning, selling, buying, and inheriting property; testifying in court; and negotiating business deals. On the other hand, Hebrew Laws were mainly driven by religion since it mentioned Yahweh, their god, a lot such as when it says, "Yahweh...who brought you out of...Egypt," or "Yahweh will strike you down with monstrous plagues...". The laws under these three morals codes were driven by different forces, but a moral code influenced by a sense of right and wrong felt more reasonable and just than one controlled by human rule and