Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Virtue is one of those words that requires people who share the same values to discuss because it uses morality in its definition. Similarly, its opposite, vice, has no universal meaning; what may be a vice to some is virtuous to others. Like all the foundational human motives, virtue is a result of chemical interactions in your brain; it triggers a dopamine release. When you are indoctrinated with morals as a child; pathways in your brain are created, and as an adult, when electrical signals traverse those motor-neurons, the stimulation is pleasurable. People are virtuous because it makes them feel good.

The interesting thing about virtue is that it doesn’t require any action; just thinking about it is enough; this is why the practice of Virtue Signaling is so prevalent among those without enough self-awareness to know that they are actually being selfish; they are looking for the pleasure of dopamine for no other reason than self-gratification. It would seem that it couldn't get anymore selfish than that but the exploitation doesn’t stop there, the closely related feeling of sanctimony, people finding moral laxity in other people for their own selfish pleasure, is even worse. Virtue is the most abused of all the human emotions.