PD writes:
If the tribe or society decides that they will not tolerate murder, then it becomes unlawful and therefore wrong
This might seem superficially subjective, but objectively none of us wants to be killed in our sleep. So we are obligated to support some level of law enforcement no matter how loath we are to trust the acutal cops enforcing it.
PD writes:
Since the objective is reality and the subjective is mental, mankind employs both to decide on acceptable behavior.
I see the devlopment of scientific insight in much the same way.
We produce subjective mental ”constructs’, or ”models of how things might work’ then use objective observation and a detached analysis of data to refine these constructs.
Science advances as a combination of both these processes - why shouldn’t the evolution of moral standards.
Morality operates on assumptions about what is right and wrong in human terms,
and this is necessarily determined on the basis of human ”values’ that you correctly note have both subjective and objective components.
Science operates on assumptions about what might be true and what must be false.
PD writes:
IMO, even in mathematics the equations are not objective.
That is true by definition because they are constructs. They were created through a subjective process of human conception.
Some one had to conceive of the equation and then construct it.
But for every insightful and useful equation, thousands of useless ones can be written.
We should never under estimate the value of subjective insights in science and mathematics.
And it is only logical that subjective viewpoints and insights are essential to the evolution of human moralities.
PD writes:
So is it reasonable to conclude that a moral law such as "do not murder" was based on facts or conditions and not an arbitrary preference of a group?
I think most moral laws are based on practical concerns shared by a large number of people. For example, I tried to think of a law based solely on morality, with no practical uses, and found it difficult. Take for example laws against adultery. Seem pretty morally founded on the surface, but obviously have practical advantages in reducing conflicts between jealous spouses.