Each according to his/ her contribution, not his/ her need. For a conservative, justice is determined by proportionality. Conservatives share these intuitions, but their take on justice is different. In brief, liberals tend to assign moral weight to issues of justice (is it fair - does everyone have an equal chance) and harm/care (does it cause harm to another - bad or does it help another - good). The most important part of Haidt's research and the argument of this book is that liberal and conservatives share these moral intuitions but tend to emphasize them very differently, and it is the different emphases that cause the divisions among us. We don't all have a fixed set of moral intuitions, but there is a limited palate from which experience may paint the picture of how we perceive the world. The moral intuitions are innate, which Haidt clearly explains does not mean fixed and immutable, but, rather, arranged in advance of experience. In it, Haidt very clearly lays out the research that supports the view that human beings have been endowed by evolution with 6 moral intuitions, or foundations. Why Good People Are Divided - Good for whom?īy and large, I think this is a good and even an important book. In a stunning final chapter on ideology and civility, Haidt shows what each side is right about, and why we need the insights of liberals, conservatives, and libertarians to flourish as a nation. It is our groupishness, he explains, that leads to our greatest joys, our religious divisions, and our political affiliations. He then examines the origins of morality, overturning the view that evolution made us fundamentally selfish creatures.īut rather than arguing that we are innately altruistic, he makes a more subtle claim - that we are fundamentally groupish. He blends his own research findings with those of anthropologists, historians, and other psychologists to draw a map of the moral domain, and he explains why conservatives can navigate that map more skillfully than can liberals.

Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. His starting point is moral intuition - the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding.

Why can’t our political leaders work together as threats loom and problems mount? Why do people so readily assume the worst about the motives of their fellow citizens?

The mind of the righteous