Running Head: MAPPING MORALITY !1
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Reflections on the Evolution of Morality Christine M. Korsgaard
Reflections on the Evolution of Morality Christine M. Korsgaard Harvard University1 All instincts that do not discharge themselves outwardly turn inward – this is what I call the internalization of man: thus it was that man first developed what was later called his “soul.” The entire inner world, originally as thin as if it were stretched between two membranes, expanded and extended itself, acquiring depth, breadth, and height, in the same measure as outward discharge was inhibited. - Nietzsche 1. Introduction In recent years there has been a fair amount of speculation about the evolution of morality, among scientists and philosophers alike. From both points of view, the question how our moral nature might have evolved is interesting because morality is one of the traditional candidates for a distinctively human attribute, something that makes us different from the other animals. From a scientific point of view, it matters whether there are any such attributes because of the special burden they seem to place on the theory of evolution. Beginning with Darwin’s own efforts in The Descent of Man, defenders of the theory of evolution have tried to show either that there are no genuinely distinctive human attributes – that is, that any differences between human beings and the other animals are a matter of degree – or that apparently distinctive human attributes can be explained in terms of the 1 Notes on this version are incomplete. Recommended supplemental reading: “The Activity of Reason,” APA Proceedings November 09, pp. 30-38. In a way, these papers are companion pieces, or at least their final sections are. -
The Moral Presentation of Self: Causes and Consequences of Perceptions of Politicians' Character Traits Scott Clifford
Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2013 The Moral Presentation of Self: Causes and Consequences of Perceptions of Politicians' Character Traits Scott Clifford Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND PUBLIC POLICY THE MORAL PRESENTATION OF SELF: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF PERCEPTIONS OF POLITICIANS’ CHARACTER TRAITS By SCOTT CLIFFORD A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Political Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2013 Scott Clifford defended this dissertation on March 27, 2013. The members of the supervisory committee were: Jennifer Jerit Professor Directing Dissertation Art Raney University Representative Jason Barabas Committee Member Brad Gomez Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii This dissertation is dedicated to Kirsti for her unwavering care and support. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to Jennifer Jerit for all of her help and support. It is difficult to imagine an advisor that has devoted more time and energy to her graduate students. She has been endlessly supportive and I would not have come this far without her help. I would also like to thank Jason Barabas and Brad Gomez for all of their help and encouragement throughout the program. Finally, I would like to thank everyone in the FSU Department of Political Science, who created a fun and supportive environment and made a huge contribution to my professional development. -
Shifting Liberal and Conservative Attitudes Using Moral Foundations
PSPXXX10.1177/0146167214551152Personality and Social Psychology BulletinDay et al. 551152research-article2014 Article Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin Shifting Liberal and Conservative 1 –15 © 2014 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc Attitudes Using Moral Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Foundations Theory DOI: 10.1177/0146167214551152 pspb.sagepub.com Martin V. Day1, Susan T. Fiske1, Emily L. Downing2, and Thomas E. Trail3 Abstract People’s social and political opinions are grounded in their moral concerns about right and wrong. We examine whether five moral foundations—harm, fairness, ingroup, authority, and purity—can influence political attitudes of liberals and conservatives across a variety of issues. Framing issues using moral foundations may change political attitudes in at least two possible ways: (a) Entrenching: Relevant moral foundations will strengthen existing political attitudes when framing pro-attitudinal issues (e.g., conservatives exposed to a free-market economic stance) and (b) Persuasion: Mere presence of relevant moral foundations may also alter political attitudes in counter-attitudinal directions (e.g., conservatives exposed to an economic regulation stance). Studies 1 and 2 support the entrenching hypothesis. Relevant moral foundation-based frames bolstered political attitudes for conservatives (Study 1) and liberals (Study 2). Only Study 2 partially supports the persuasion hypothesis. Conservative-relevant moral frames of liberal issues increased conservatives’ liberal attitudes. Keywords morality, moral foundations, ideology, attitudes, politics Received July 1, 2013; revision accepted August 19, 2014 Our daily lives are steeped in political content, including 2012). Understanding the effectiveness of morally based many attempts to alter our attitudes. These efforts stem from framing may be consequential not only for politics but also a variety of sources, such as political campaigns, presidential for better understanding of everyday shifts in other opinions. -
MORALITY in IRAN 1 in Press, Evolution and Human Behavior
MORALITY IN IRAN 1 In press, Evolution and Human Behavior https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.07.014 Foundations of Morality in Iran Mohammad Atari1, Jesse Graham2, Morteza Dehghani1,3 1Department of Psychology, University of Southern California 2Department of Management, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah 3Department of Computer Science, University of Southern California Author Note Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Mohammad Atari, [email protected], 362 S. McClintock Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90089-161 MORALITY IN IRAN 2 Abstract Most moral psychology research has been conducted in Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. As such, moral judgment, as a psychological phenomenon, might be known to researchers only by its WEIRD manifestations. Here, we start with evaluating Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire, and follow up by building a bottom-up model of moral values, in Iran, a non-WEIRD, Muslim-majority, understudied cultural setting. In six studies (N = 1,945) we examine the structural validity of the Persian translation of the Moral Foundations Questionnaire, compare moral foundations between Iran and the US, conduct qualitative interviews regarding moral values, expand the nomological network of “Qeirat” as a culture-specific set of moral values, and investigate the pragmatic validity of “Qeirat” in Iranian culture. Our findings suggest an additional moral foundation in Iran, above and beyond the five foundations identified by MFT. Specifically, qualitative studies highlighted the role of “Qeirat” values in Iranian culture, which are comprised of guarding and protectiveness of female kin, romantic partners, broader family, and country. -
Evolution and Ethics 2
It is still disputed, however, why moral behavior extends beyond a close circle of kin and reciprocal relationships: e.g., most people think stealing from anyone is wrong, not just stealing from family and friends. For moral behavior to evolve as we understand it today, there likely had to be selective pressures that pushed people to disregard their own 1000wordphilosophy.com/2018/10/11/evolution- interests in favor of their group’s interest.[3] Exactly and-ethics/ how morality extended beyond this close circle is debated, with many theories under consideration.[4] Evolution and Ethics 2. What Should We Do? Author: Michael Klenk Suppose our ability to understand and apply moral Category: Ethics, Philosophy of Science rules, as typically understood, can be explained by Word Count: 999 natural selection. Does evolution explain which rules We often follow what are considered basic moral we should follow?[5] rules: don’t steal, don’t lie, help others when we can. Some answer, “yes!” “Greed captures the essence of But why do we follow these rules, or any rules the evolutionary spirit,” says the fictional character understood as “moral rules”? Does evolution explain Gordon Gekko in the 1987 film Wall Street: “Greed why? If so, does evolution have implications for … is good. Greed is right.”[6] which rules we should follow, and whether we genuinely know this? Gekko’s claims about what is good and right and what we ought to be comes from what he thinks we This essay explores the relations between evolution naturally are: we are greedy, so we ought to be and morality, including evolution’s potential greedy. -
The Cognitive and Cultural Foundations of Moral Behavior T Benjamin Grant Purzyckia,*, Anne C
Evolution and Human Behavior 39 (2018) 490–501 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Evolution and Human Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ens The cognitive and cultural foundations of moral behavior T Benjamin Grant Purzyckia,*, Anne C. Pisora, Coren Apicellab, Quentin Atkinsonc,d, Emma Cohene,f, Joseph Henrichg, Richard McElreatha, Rita A. McNamarah, Ara Norenzayani, Aiyana K. Willarde, Dimitris Xygalatasj a Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany b Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, USA c Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, New Zealand d Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Germany e Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, UK f Wadham College, University of Oxford, UK g Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, USA h School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand i Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada j Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, USA ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: Does moral culture contribute to the evolution of cooperation? Here, we examine individuals' and communities' Morality models of what it means to be good and bad and how they correspond to corollary behavior across a variety of Cross-cultural ethnography socioecological contexts. Our sample includes over 600 people from eight different field sites that include for- Cognitive anthropology agers, horticulturalists, herders, and the fully market-reliant. We first examine the universals and particulars of Evolution of cooperation explicit moral models. We then use these moral models to assess their role in the outcome of an economic experiment designed to detect systematic, dishonest rule-breaking favoritism. -
The Evolution of Animal Play, Emotions, and Social Morality: on Science, Theology, Spirituality, Personhood, and Love
WellBeing International WBI Studies Repository 12-2001 The Evolution of Animal Play, Emotions, and Social Morality: On Science, Theology, Spirituality, Personhood, and Love Marc Bekoff University of Colorado Follow this and additional works at: https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/acwp_sata Part of the Animal Studies Commons, Behavior and Ethology Commons, and the Comparative Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Bekoff, M. (2001). The evolution of animal play, emotions, and social morality: on science, theology, spirituality, personhood, and love. Zygon®, 36(4), 615-655. This material is brought to you for free and open access by WellBeing International. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of the WBI Studies Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Evolution of Animal Play, Emotions, and Social Morality: On Science, Theology, Spirituality, Personhood, and Love Marc Bekoff University of Colorado KEYWORDS animal emotions, animal play, biocentric anthropomorphism, critical anthropomorphism, personhood, social morality, spirituality ABSTRACT My essay first takes me into the arena in which science, spirituality, and theology meet. I comment on the enterprise of science and how scientists could well benefit from reciprocal interactions with theologians and religious leaders. Next, I discuss the evolution of social morality and the ways in which various aspects of social play behavior relate to the notion of “behaving fairly.” The contributions of spiritual and religious perspectives are important in our coming to a fuller understanding of the evolution of morality. I go on to discuss animal emotions, the concept of personhood, and how our special relationships with other animals, especially the companions with whom we share our homes, help us to define our place in nature, our humanness. -
Moral Judgment of Disparagement Humor
Humor 2019; 32(4): 619–641 Karolina Koszałkowska* and Monika Wróbel Moral judgment of disparagement humor https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2018-0023 Abstract: The aim of the present study was to analyze the link between the five moral codes proposed in the Moral Foundations Theory and moral judgment of disparage- ment humor. We presented racist, sexist, homophobic, religion-disparaging and neutral jokes to a group of 108 participants, asking them whether they found laughing at a particular joke moral or immoral. Additionally, participants rated the level of amusement and disgust evoked by each joke. We also measured participants’ moral foundations profiles (Care, Fairness, Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity). The results confirmed that Care and Fairness were significantly linked to moral judgment of racist, sexist and homophobic jokes, whereas Loyalty, Authority and Sanctity were associated with moral judgment of religion-disparaging jokes. Moreover, these relationships were mediated by emotional responses of amusement and disgust (except for racist jokes, for which we observed no mediating role of amusement). Keywords: disparagement humor, Moral Foundations Theory, moral judgment, amusement, disgust 1 Introduction Disparagement humor elicits amusement through the denigration, derogation, humiliation, victimization, or belittlement of individuals, social groups or ideol- ogies (Ferguson and Ford 2008; Zillmann 1983). Typical examples of such humor can be found in sexist, racist and anti-gay (homophobic) jokes (e.g. Ford and Ferguson 2004; Kochersberger et al. 2014; O’Connor et al. 2017). The use of disparagement humor is often justified by the simple “only joking” catchphrase (Johnson 1990), and is therefore not perceived as a wrongdoing. Studies suggest, however, that telling jokes that disparage a certain social group *Corresponding author: Karolina Koszałkowska, Institute of Psychology, University of Lodz, ul. -
How Morality Evolved Doug Mann
HANNAH WALLACE: CRISIS IN TURKISH EDUCATION CELEBRATING REASON AND HUMANITY February/March 2019 Vol. 39 No. 2 HOW MORALITY EVOLVED DOUG MANN LINDA KAY KLEIN Dissects the Christian Purity Movement F/M 17 $5.95 CDN $5.95 US $5.95 Tom Flynn | Faisal Saeed Al Mutar 03 Robert M. Price | S. T. Joshi Poetry by Max Jacob Published by the Center for Inquiry in association 0 74470 74957 8 with the Council for Secular Humanism For many, mere atheism (the absence of belief in gods and the supernatural) or agnosticism (the view that such questions cannot be answered) aren’t enough. It’s liberating to recognize that supernatural beings are human creations … that there’s no such thing as “spirit” or “transcendence”… that people are undesigned, unintended, and responsible for themselves. But what’s next? Atheism and agnosticism are silent on larger questions of values and meaning. If Meaning in life is not ordained from on high, what small-m meanings can we work out among ourselves? If eternal life is an illusion, how can we make the most of our only lives? As social beings sharing a godless world, how should we coexist? For the questions that remain unanswered after we’ve cleared our minds of gods and souls and spirits, many atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and freethinkers turn to secular humanism. Secular. “Pertaining to the world or things not spiritual or sacred.” Humanism. “Any system of thought or action concerned with the interests or ideals of people … the intellectual and cultural movement … characterized by an emphasis on human interests rather than … religion.” — Webster’s Dictionary Secular humanism is a comprehensive, nonreligious life stance incorporating: A naturalistic philosophy A cosmic outlook rooted in science, and A consequentialist ethical system in which acts are judged not by their conformance to preselected norms but by their consequences for men and women in the world. -
Sexual Selection for Moral Virtues
Name /jlb_qrb822_3060012/820202/Mp_97 03/07/2007 04:48PM Plate # 0 pg 97 # 1 Volume 82, No. 2 THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY June 2007 SEXUAL SELECTION FOR MORAL VIRTUES Geoffrey F. Miller Psychology Department, University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131 USA e-mail: [email protected] keywords agreeableness, alternative mating strategies, altruism, assortative mating, behavior genetics, commitment, conscientiousness, costly signaling theory, equilibrium selection, emotion, empathy, ethics, evolutionary psychology, fitness indicators, genetic correlations, good genes, good parents, good partners, human courtship, kin selection, kindness, individual differences, intelligence, mate choice, mental health, moral virtues, mutation load, mutual choice, person perception, personality, reciprocal altruism, sexual fidelity, sexual selection, social cognition, virtue ethics “Human good turns out to be the activity of the soul exhibiting excellence.” Aristotle (350 BC) abstract Moral evolution theories have emphasized kinship, reciprocity, group selection, and equilibrium selection. Yet, moral virtues are also sexually attractive. Darwin suggested that sexual attractiveness may explain many aspects of human morality. This paper updates his argument by integrating recent research on mate choice, person perception, individual differences, costly signaling, and virtue ethics. Many human virtues may have evolved in both sexes through mutual mate choice to advertise good genetic quality, parenting abilities, and/or partner traits. Such virtues may include kindness, fidelity, magnanimity, and heroism, as well as quasi-moral traits like conscientiousness, agreeableness, mental health, and intelligence. This theory leads to many testable predictions about the phenotypic features, genetic bases, and social-cognitive responses to human moral virtues. Introduction tility, and longevity (Langlois et al. 2000; Fink MONG HUMANS, attractive bodies may and Penton-Voak 2002). -
Evolution of Morality Debate on Philosophy Forum, Mar 2004 This Discussion Eventually Wanders Into a Debate on Absolute Certainty
Evolution of Morality Debate on Philosophy Forum, Mar 2004 This discussion eventually wanders into a debate on absolute certainty. All quotations are in red. All responses to quotations by John Donovan unless otherwise noted. Quote: Originally Posted by Mariner I much prefer Dennett's "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" to Dawkins' "The Blind Watchmaker" by the way. Dawkins is too fond of hyperboles, and his arguments are often weak. Unlike Dennett's. I enjoy both authors immensely, though it is true that Dawkins sometimes writes in a somewhat pugalistic and shall we say, exuberant tone. But it makes for entertaining reading, for example have you read this very funny piece? http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/dawkins.html In any case, both Dawkins and Dennett are clearly philosophical "soulmates". I can't imagine two men more in tune with each others ideas on so many issues. Just look at how Dennett has latched on to Dawkins' "memes" concept and applied it to his theory of consciousness. There is a discussion on this here for those interested in the link between language and the evolution of consciousness: http://forums.philosophyforums.com/...read.php?t=6031 Apologies in advance for the thread promotion. By Probeman (John Donovan) Quote: Originally Posted by jamespetts A characteristic, no doubt, with a strong genetic influence ;-) Seriously, I think there is something to this. Although I would say a strong "memetic" influence, instead. It makes sense to consider the idea that religious beliefs, such as the idea that we are the apple of God's eye, or the chosen people or that the universe was created just for us, etc., are all evolved memes that enhance human (social?) survival. -
The Biological Sciences Can Act As a Ground for Ethics” in Ayala, Francisco and Arp, Robert, Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology
1 This chapter to be published as: Ruse, Michael (2009). “The Biological Sciences Can Act as a Ground for Ethics” in Ayala, Francisco and Arp, Robert, Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. The Biological Sciences Can Act as a Ground for Ethics Michael Ruse Ethics is an illusion put in place by natural selection to make us good cooperators. – Michael Ruse and Edward O. Wilson (1985) This paper is interested in the relationship between evolutionary thinking and moral behavior and commitments, ethics. There is a traditional way of forging or conceiving of the relationship. This is traditional evolutionary ethics, known as Social Darwinism. Many think that this position is morally pernicious, a re- description of the worst aspects of modern, laissez-faire capitalism in fancy biological language. It is argued that, in fact, there is much more to be said for Social Darwinism than many think. In respects, it could be and was an enlightened position to take; but it flounders on the matter of justification. Universally, the appeal is to progress—evolution is progressive and, hence, morally we should aid its success. I argue, however, that this progressive nature of evolution is far from obvious and, hence, traditional social Darwinism fails. There is another way to do things. This is to argue that the search for justification is mistaken. Ethics just is. It is an adaptation for humans living socially and has exactly the same status as other adaptations, like hands and teeth and genitalia. As such, ethics is something with no standing beyond what it is.