Models Of Morality

Question 1

What is MFT?

Answer 1

Jonathon Haidt and collegues

Gene X culture interaction

Evolutionary psychology 5 “moral foundations”

Founded on intuitionism (emotion)

“Modular mind”

Question 2

What is moral intuitionism?

Answer 2

According to Haidt, we make moral value judgements
intuitively, not rationally like many moral philosophers say
we do/should

Moral reasoning is not the cause of moral judgment

Moral reasoning is usually a post- hoc construction, generated after a judgment has already been reached

Question 3

What are the 5 moral foundations?

Explain each…

Answer 3

1. Care/harm
   - evolved to care and bond w/ others
   - social beings (attachment theory)
   - strong (-) to those who cause harm
2. Degradtion/purity
   - evolved from emotion of disgust
   - now transferred to moral domain
3. Authority/subversion
   - emerged from living in hierarchical groups
   - defer to leaders/authority
4. Fairness/cheating
   - reciprocal altruism (“back stratching”)
   - we become upset when ppl “freeride”
   - justice & rights
5. Loyalty/betrayal
   - GROUP LOYALTY NOT INDIVIDUAL
   - emerged history of tribal animals
   - value those who remain loyal to the group
   - patriotism & sacrifice

**EACH ROOTED IN EVOLUTIONARY CONCERN

Question 4

What are binding and individual values

Answer 4

Moral values are separated into two types:

1. Binding values, which govern behavior in groups…
   • Loyalty
   • Authority
   • Purity
2. Individualizing values, which promote personal rights and freedoms
   • Harm
   • Fairness

Question 5

The 5 moral foundations are “__________”

MFT argues that we can understand cultural differences in a way similar to a “___-_____ ___”

Answer 5

Universal; 5-band eq

“Profiles” have been found cross-culturally

Question 6

Haidt found what 4 distinct profiles in the US?

Answer 6

1. Secular liberals
2. Libertarians
3. Religions left
4. Social conservatives

Question 7

One of the critiques (especially recently) of MFT is that Haidt moves from “__________” evidence to “__________” prescriptions (that happen to be somewhat right leaning)

Should we try to expand our moral palate?

Answer 7

Descriptive; normative

Yes

Question 8

Pluralistic VS monism is the biggest debate, what is the monistic theory against MFT?

Answer 8

Theory of Dyadic Morality

Question 9

True or false. Haidt believes that all optimal societies embrace all 5 foundations

Answer 9

Yes

Question 10

What are the 5 criteria’s it takes to be a moral foundation?

Answer 10

Criterion 1: A COMMON CONCERN in third-
party normative judgments

Criterion 2: AUTOMATIC EFFECTIVE
evaluations

Criterion 3: CULTURALLY widespread

Criterion 4: Evidence of INNATE PREPAREDNESS

Criterion 5: Evolutionary model
demonstrates ADAPTIVE ADVANTAGE

Question 11

What is Theory of Dyadic Morality?

Is it an intuitionist model like MFT?

Answer 11

Kurt Gray and colleagues

All about “harm” single foundation

Morality is understood in terms of INTENTION (agency) and suffering (experience)

Dynamic causal model that suggests bidirectional, and mutually reinforcing, causal links between harm and moral
judgment.

Like MFT, it is an intuitionist model: (intuitively) PERCIEVED harm causes acts to be judged as immoral
i.e., when acts seem harmful, they seem morally
wrong

Question 12

What is mind perception?

What are the 2 dimensions it exists along?

“__________” is key

Answer 12

Ascribing a mind (agency/experience) to others (objects in some cases)

AUTOMATIC process
(Evolutionary adaptive ex. snakes in grass)

Can be thought to be the first step towards theory of mind (ToM)

Exists along:
1. Agency
2. Experience

Perception

Question 13

What do agents and patients mean?

Answer 13

Intentional agent (A) —> harmful act —> suffering patient (P)

ex) think of dalamation Disney movie

Question 14

What is heroism according to Kurt Gray?

Answer 14

When an individual high in agency chooses to use that agency for
good, to help a patient

That’s what we consider a good deed, or in its extreme, heroism. In this case, patients become beneficiaries (as opposed to victims).

Question 15

What are the 3 components that makes an act immoral according to Kurt Gray?

Answer 15

1. Norm violations
2. Negative affect (intuitive component)
3. Perceived intentional harm
   Ex) involuntary man slaughter VS murder

Question 16

TDM explains “moral” harm is?

(4 aspects)

Answer 16

1. Synthetic
   •meaning CREATED, which is to say that it requires an intentional agent causing harm to a vulnerable patient
2. Perceived
   •harm must be PERCEIVED (but not necessarily real)
3. Intuitive
   •moral harm is perceived INTUITIONALLY and then justified afterwards
4. On a continuum
   •some acts are going to be viewed as MORE harmful than other

Question 17

Harm pluralism (MFT) suggests there are different types of harm…

What are these?

Answer 17

It is NOT always about physical damage but can also be psychological or spiritual
(such as desecrating a church, the planet, or a loved one’s grave).

What is harmful is SUBJECTIVE and will vary by person and culture.

Question 18

MFT argues that only “______” of the moral foundations implicate harm

Which ones? ^
—————————————————————————————-
TDM argues that harm is “________” in violations of “____” of the foundations

Which ones? ^

Answer 18

Some

Harm and fairness
—————————————————————————————
Percieved; all

Harm and fairness
AND
In-group loyalty
Authority
Purity

Question 19

What is dyadic comparison VS dyadic completion?

Answer 19

DYADIC COMPARISON:

The more something seems HARMFUL, the more is seems IMMORAL

Bottom-up process (perceived harm —> judgments of immortality)
***BEST PREDICTOR
—————————————————————————————
DYADIC COMPLETION:

Top-down process (judgments of immorality —> perceived harm)

Question 20

What is the dyadic loop?

What does it explain?

Answer 20

The feedback loop between dyadic comparison
and completion is referred to as the dyadic loop

Explains moral acquisition and polarization

Question 21

What is the TDM argument against MFT?

Answer 21

All the foundations are strongly correlated with each
other (rs ~ .7-.8)

Harm is the primary concern when people make moral judgments

Harm as the most accessible ”foundation”

Question 22

What is the MFT argument against TDM?

Answer 22

The different profiles of moral foundations

The usage of “harm pluralism” undermines TDM’s initial argument of a harm just being an intentional harmful act from an agent against a patient

Unique predictive ability of each foundation

Question 23

What are the arguments for adding liberty/harm as a MFT?

Answer 23

Ex) the people VS Larry Flint

Liberty/oppression: This foundation is about the feelings of
reactance and resentment people feel toward those who
dominate them and restrict their liberty. Its intuitions are often
in tension with those of the authority foundation. The hatred of
bullies and dominators motivates people to come together, in
solidarity, to oppose or take down the oppressor.”