[ExI] Haidt's Five Foundations of Morality

[Lee Corbin]

Tom wrote
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 12:08 PM

> [Lee wrote]
>>  Listening to his very nice talk made clear his own political
>>  sympathies, but nonetheless I do believe that this is progress
>>  towards understanding what really lies behind so many
>>  of our discussions, namely a conflict of visions.
>
> But we then hit a brick wall; since moral stances aren't
> rational, what do we *do* about our conflict of visions?
> We can't just "talk it out" — all the facts can be on the
> table, and agreed upon, and we can still differ.

Yes, but the whole idea doesn't seem so much to be that
we find out, as you write, what to *do* about it---as in
the sense of resolving it, or something---but rather that
we simply understand.

Understanding is in itself both good and interesting, of
course, but it does have the additional benefit of producing
more tolerance. Knowing why and wherefore people have
those (to you) odd opinions helps a lot. For one thing, a
lot less time is wasted by avoiding the presentation of
arguments not directed to the sources of disagreement.

Frustration ought to diminish as well.

> The only suggestion that might succeed isn't likely to
> happen: namely, that we all pick up and physically
> (and legally, etc.) segregate ourselves by our ethics.

There is already quite a bit of virtual separation, and
there are already schemes being advocated for the
separate application of laws (e.g. sharia) for part of
the population.

Lee