The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt is essentially a textbook on morality and how it has impacted our political life. If you want to understand why we are so divided and what we can do about it, this book is for you. Although he has worked for democrat administrations, he has managed to make this book very fair and balanced. It belongs in your library.

Introduction

• Rodney King’s quote from 1992 “Can we all get along” is compared to a lesser known quote of his. “We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out.” So why are we so easily divided into hostile groups, each one certain of its righteousness? This book deals with this big question and human morality in general, which has made civilization possible. Get ready for a tour of human nature and history from the perspective of moral psychology. The author’s hope is this the book will help us all get along.

Part I Intuitions Come First, Strategic Reasoning Second – 1. Where Does Morality Come From?

• There are many studies that show how morals are largely a function of culture. Christian and muslim cultures, for example have different moral beliefs about how women should be treated. Another part is self-constructed as children develop. Kids can spot harm when they see it and uniformly think it’s wrong. People also have gut feelings, particularly about disgust and disrespect, that can drive their reasoning.

2. The Intuitive Dog and Its Rational Tail

• People reason and people have moral intuitions. The author makes a case that reason is the servant of the passions. Intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second. Social Institutionalism adds a social context. If you ask someone to believe something that violates their intuitions they will look for some reason not to believe you. If you agree with the author that institutionalism might be true, then let’s keep going.

3. Elephant Rule

• Johnathan uses the metaphor of the elephant and the rider where the elephant is our intuitive automatic response and the rider is our reasoning brain. Studies show that brains evaluate instantly and constantly. Social and political judgements depend on quick intuitive flashes, bad smells, and tastes can influence our judgement. Psychopaths reason but don’t feel, and babies feel but don’t reason.
• Intuition is where most of the action is when it comes to moral philosophy, but reason matters. Friendly conversations are more likely to change your mind than aggressive arguments. We have evolved an inner lawyer that uses our brain power to find evidence to support what we want to believe rather than an inner scientist or an inner judge.

4. Vote for Me (Here’s Why)

• Our moral thinking is much more like a politician searching for votes than a scientist searching for truth. People invest their IQ in buttressing their own case rather than in exploring the entire issue more fully and evenhandedly. Now that we have access to search engines on our cell phones, we can call up a team of supportive scientists for almost any conclusion.
• The partisan brain has been reinforced so many times for performing mental contortions that free it from unwanted beliefs. Extreme partisanship may be literally addictive. Each reasoner is really good at one thing: finding evidence to support the position he or she already holds, usually for intuitive reasons. Conscious reasoning functions like a press secretary who automatically justifies any position taken by the president. The worship of reason is a delusion.

Share this: