“Are moral values immutable or did evolving humans create them?”
This question was asked by a (presupposition) Christian and here is my answer: A moral value is a generally accepted ethical principle and though studies show morality has evolved with humans (and with other animals) the question is did humans create moral values.
I’ll state my position up front on this; moral values are abstract (other abstracts are for example numbers). As a methodological naturalist I assume all is matter and so I must identify where such abstracts can emerge. Numbers emerge from sets of matter, they are information that is carried by matter and represented in matter. You can’t take the two out of two apples without removing an apple.
Equally the moral values are abstracts that emerge from when humans (as material agents) interact. You can’t remove the moral value without breaking apart the interaction.
If moral values exist then like numbers they exist as a possibility out of a infinitely vast continuum of possible interactions.
Those that presuppose god say that mathematics originates from god and they equally say that moral values originate from god. Given that they must accept that if their god is the source of “1729” then their god is the source of “hatred”.
The naturalist response is that both “1729” and “hatred” are abstract possibilities and the question of immutability is irrelevant.