Righteous mind Flashcards
How does Haidt see human nature?
Much of it is genetic, in some form of mental organisation, but as a ‘draft’ which we revise with experience
What’s the overall method which humans tend to use to make moral judgements?
Intuition provides initial judgement or idea of what’s right, and reason is used to find post-hoc justification
If everyone uses reason to justify their moral intuitions, what implications does this have in relation to intelligence and bias?
That intelligence is nor guarantor of objectivity. Indeed, intelligent ppl can bring more mental resources to bear to justify their intuitions. We have an ‘inner lawyer’ to justify ourselves.
What kind of judgements are particularly subject to intuitive judgements and linked to affect?
Social and political judgements. ‘morality blinds and binds’. This is similar to Kahnemann’s ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’, and Haidt calls his own ‘dual process model’ of thinking.
2 models of morality are deontological, and rational. What’s the difference?
Deontols are normative - do what’s right regardless of conseqs. Rationalists use reason alone (don’t need empiricism)
What’s the OCEAN model of personality in psychology?
Openness (intellectual curiosity and creative imagination, conscientiousness (organisation, productiveness, responsibility), extroversion (sociability, assertiveness), agreeableness, and neuroticism. These are dimensions on a continuum.
What are the 6 moral foundations which guide our moral intuitions
C, F, I-G L, RfA, P/S, F/O
- Care/harm
- Fairness/justice/equity
- In-group loyality
- Respect for authority
- Purity/sanctity
- Freedom/oppression
What’s the difference in the way conservatives and liberals balance concern with the 6 moral foundations?
C’s value each equally, whereas libs value 1 and 2 more strongly.
Where self-interest, social identity, and strong emotions are involved, people want to reach a particular conclusion. Thinking is ____-atory rather than revelatory.
‘confirmatory’. This echoes British philosopher Dan Wiliams on epistemology (see Blocked and Reported pod #…)
How does Haidt claim that intuitive thinking guides our internal questioning process?
If we want to believe something, we ask ourselves ‘can I believe this?’. If we don’t want to believe, we ask ourselves ‘must I believe this?’.
What is moral capital, and why do liberals ignore the effects of it when big social changes are under way?
Moral capital is “the degree to which a community possesses interlocking sets of values, virtues, norms, practices, identities, institutions, and technologies that mesh well with evolved psychological mechanisms and thereby enable the community to suppress or regulate selfishness and make cooperation possible”. Conservatives understand this, but libs less so and it can be why liberal reforms backfire. Need to think about this in terms of all foundations.
What are the limitations of conservative and liberal outlooks in terms of moral capital?
Libs over-reach, change too much too quick and reduce stock of moral capital.
Cons preserve moral capital better, but fail to notice victims, limit predatory interests, and don’t see need to update institutions.
What is one negative consequence of seeing the world in Manichean ways (of good/evil) in terms of preventing cooperation?
Manichean world views imply that compromise is a sin.
Why do libs struggle to see the importance of all the moral values, particularly liberty, authority and sanctity ones?
Libs struggle to see these things are related to morality, and fail to see how they generate moral capital, which sustains a moral community. Diversity isn’t always good for moral capital.
One key message of the book is that there is more to morality than
Harm and fairness. Some people value loyalty, authority and sanctity - Durkheim has explored this.
