Montreuil tries to impress upon Renee the need behind behaving morally and in a socially acceptable manor.
Does a parent teach a child how to behave morally through the use of torment and pain?
In this way, humans can begin thinking beyond their survival instincts and begin behaving morally.
Morality may therefore have no binding force beyond regular human motivations, and people must be motivated to behave morally.
"Some people interviewed said it didn't make any difference whether their children became Buddhists as long as they believed in something" and behaved morally.
We don't have to understand the details to observe the outcome: Baboons behave morally - for baboons.
He argues that very few people would answer "yes", undermining the claim that religion is needed to make us behave morally.
The notion that "if life is considered merely a complex machine, then there will be no reason to behave morally" is equally nonsense.
Some of the arguments against animal rights centre on whether animals behave morally.