Ethics, politics, and how we think.

[rrneck]

This is an interesting website that allows us to examine our own sense of morality. I doubt it will tell you anything you don't already know about yourself, although I have gotten a surprise or two along the way. I think, more importantly, it offers a theoretical framework to understand how we all view morality and how that morality is expressed in the social sphere. That interaction, as with most things human, is a lot more complicated that we at first might think.

Welcome to YourMorals.org, where you can learn about your own morality, ethics, and/or values, while also contributing to scientific research. We are a group of professors and graduate students in social psychology at the University of Virginia, The University of California (Irvine), and the University of Southern California.

Our goal is to understand the way our "moral minds" work. Why do people disagree so passionately about what is right? Why, in particular, is there such hostility and incomprehension between members of different political parties? By filling out a few of our surveys, you'll help us answer those questions We, in return, will give you an immediate report on how you scored on each study, quiz, or survey. We'll show you how your responses compare to others and we'll tell you what that might say about you.

http://www.yourmorals.org/

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

3. There's a quote from Daniel Patrick Moynihan

"The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself."

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

5. Are you familiar with Axiomatic Systems?

If you ever had an upper level geometry course, you would almost certainly have been introduced to the concept. An axiom is a statement which is taken as true, although no proof is given to support it. Euclid says, for example, "any two points can be joined by a straight line" is so self-evident that it is true without even the possibility of controversy.

Anyway, in any philosophical system, you start with a belief, "The greatest good for the greatest number" or the Stoic view that the greatest good is contentment and serenity or the ancient Chinese view which bases the moral worth of an act on how it contributes to the social harmony of the state and so on; you then see how you can develop a system from it. Moynihan is saying that liberals and conservatives start from different axioms.

[Sanddog42]

9. Can ‘dramatically different cognitive styles’ explain tea partiers’ rage?

Also, this: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/31/can-dramatically-different-cognitive-styles-explain-tea-partiers-rage/

[Sanddog42]

2. I highly recommend his book.

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

[Sanddog42]

7. Moyers & Co. - Social psychologist explains how liberals and conservatives see the world differently

http://billmoyers.com/segment/jonathan-haidt-explains-our-contentious-culture/

Jonathan Haidt Explains Our Contentious Culture
February 3, 2012

Our country is more politically polarized than ever. Is it possible to agree to disagree and still move on to solve our massive problems? Or are the blind leading the blind — over the cliff?

Bill and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt talk about the psychological underpinnings of our contentious culture, why we can’t trust our own opinions, and the demonizing of our adversaries.

“When it gets so that your opponents are not just people you disagree with, but… the mental state in which I am fighting for good, and you are fighting for evil, it's very difficult to compromise,” Haidt tells Moyers. “Compromise becomes a dirty word.”

[delrem]

8. Sure. But the equality of humans before the law has to be absolute.

I thought that Moyers was asking for more than the social psychologist could give.

I hope people are archiving everything Moyers, because he's uniquely brilliant.