Where does the sense of morality come from?

Question

Where does our sense of morality which impels us to right conduct come from?

Is it something internal to us, or perhaps it is external to us? Is it physical or spiritual, etc.

For example, does our sense of right and wrong stem from thought, such as thinking about the distress of others (potential or actual) and feeling empathy thereby refraining from doing something which may harm them. Or perhaps it stems from some kind of spiritual sense in us.

Perhaps an explanation of what is the "yetzer tov" would answer this if that is the driving force.

Answer 1

R' Yosef Alcastille, in a responsum quoted in Beis Hashem of the Shela"h, says that there is not, and cannot be, an answer to this question.

כי אם אתה נותן סיבה וטעם למה שרצה האדם בזה הדבר יותר מבזה, א"כ סיבה הניעה לרצונו שיבחר בזה יוזר מבזה.

As if you attribute a cause and a reason as to why a person has a will for this thing over that, if so the cause is what moved him to his will to choose this more than that.

Meaning, as much as there are factors that go into your decision and external things which may influence you, at the end of the day there is something which we cannot explain, that is beyond the factors which influence your decisions, that causes you to choose right or wrong.

This is really implicit in reward and punishment. If every decision you made was based entirely on the preponderance of factors leaning in one direction, and there was no "you" involved in making the decision, then you could hardly be held accountable. I once heard this nicely illustrated by R' Dovid Gottlieb. The Stoics (an ancient philosophic society) asked a challenge to the concept of free will. When a person makes a decision, practically how does it work? If there is a random mechanism which fires and decides yes or no at random, then the person is not really making a decision. If there is some internal calculus which quickly processes a number of factors and then makes the decision accordingly, then still the person is not making a decision - whoever placed the system of factors is making the decision. If there is an outside mechanism which is the catalysts for your decisions, then they aren't your decisions.

This is what מהר"י אלקאשטילא is addressing in pointing out that this is, indeed, something that we cannot identify, but it exists nonetheless.

Answer 2

From Rav Hirsch it seems morality is the God given free spirit which was placed in man, and personally guided by God.

I'll mash up some quotes from the Collected Writings.

Let others believe that the power of their material-moral drive is invincible. Every Jew should be a repudiation of the lie that the free Godly spirit is subject to the material; every Jew shal be a priest and herald of a moral life which is governed, led and consecrated by the free Godly spirit in man. Vol 2, page 381.

The prevailing belief was that nature and history were governed solely by physical forces and laws so that the cleverest ans strongest would prevail. The people forgot that there is one God who reigns over nature and society; that He has established morality as the sole basis for the relations of man to nature and of man to man. They forgot that only when man is prepared to obey the laws of morality will God grant him mastery over nature and will give stability, security and lasting happiness to the society of man. God-Hashem-educates mankind throughout the ages in preparation for the advent of the reign on earth of His laws of morality. Volume 4, page 47.

Guided by the principle that the moral law is safeguarded by God Himself, the Psalm poses the question to the nations למה רגשו גוים ולאמים יהגו ריק. Volume 4, page 285.

Answer 3

The Two Souls

Every individual Jew, righteous or wicked, has two souls . . . One soul derives from kelipah (the “husks” of creation) and sitra achra (the “other side”), and clothes itself in the blood to animate the body. . . . From it derive the evil traits . . . and also the Jew’s instinctive good traits. . . . The second soul in the Jew is literally a part of G‑d above.

—Likkutei Amarim Tanya Chapters 1–2

How to Love a Fellow

When one’s body is viewed with scorn and contempt, and one’s joy is in the (G-dly) soul alone, this constitutes a direct and simple way to fulfill the commandment “Love your fellow as yourself” toward every Jew, great or small. . . . For the source of their souls is in the One G‑d, and they are divided only by virtue of their bodies. Therefore, those who give priority to their body over their soul find it impossible to share true love and brotherhood, except that which is conditional on some benefit. This is what Hillel the Elder meant when he said about this commandment [the love of Israel]: “This is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary.” For the foundation and source of all Torah is to elevate and give ascendancy to the soul over the body . . .

—Likkutei Amarim Tanya Chapter 32

Answer 4

Many G'onim / Rishonim discuss "mitzvos sichlios"; obligations which stem from our own intellectual-moral perception. Evidently we recognize not just the halacha as a source for moral guidance, but also our human impressions. That being the case, this impression could come from anywhere in a person: emotions, intellect, experience, education, etc (I realize there is overlap in these categories) and still be a guide to our behavior.