Just how voraciously do Americans despise atheists? A study conducted last November found that subjects rated atheists as less trustworthy than rapists. In 2006, Americans said that of all the groups they would most disapprove of their children marrying, atheists were the first. According to a 2007 Gallup poll, Americans are more willing to vote… read more »
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Posts Tagged: Morality
Between Haidt and Harris: Belief, Religion and Morality
What motivates a suicide bomber? That question divides Sam Harris and Jonathan Haidt, two scholars who study religion from the psychological perspective. For Harris the answer is religion. “Subtract the Muslim belief in martyrdom and jihad, and the actions of suicide bombers become completely unintelligible,” he says in The End of Faith. Haidt takes a… read more »
The Moral Worldview of Babies
“[T]he Author of Nature has determin’d us to receive… a Moral Sense, to direct our Actions, and to give us still nobler Pleasures.” That appeal was made in 1725 by Scottish philosopher Francis Hutcheson, and it captured one side of a debate that tries to answer the question: Where does morality come from? On the… read more »
Why We Care About Chimpanzees: The Origins of Human Morality
There are plenty of macro examples of this behavior: we form complex social hierarchies, our economy is highly reliant on the trust of people we’ve never met, and we punish unprovoked violence and harm. This is also true when it comes to interactions between individuals. In the famous Ultimatum experiment (pdf) in which people are given $20… read more »