There is nothing like living in foreign cultures that challenges one’s assumptions and values. I have always been fascinated by people’s taboos; and how people assume them to be natural. How do you feel about prostitution, drugs, alcohol, abortion, homosexuality, gun ownership …and so forth?
This research from Harvard sheds some light on the subject. Apparently, people follow a moral code prescribed by three principles:
- the action principle: harm caused by action is morally worse than equivalent harm caused by omission
- the intention principle: harm intended as the means to a goal is morally worse than equivalent harm foreseen as the side-effect of a goal
- the contact principle: using physical contact to cause harm is morally worse than causing equivalent harm without physical contact
There you have it. Part Asimov’s law of robotics applied to humans and part Machiavelli.
It does go further: it seems that the moral concepts found throughout the world group into three overlapping ethical domains:
- autonomy: individual rights and fairness
- community: respect for tradition, respect for authority, group loyalty
- divinity: sanctity and purity of the soul
And, morality seems to be built on the following psychological foundations, which help us determine transgressions and react to them:
- harm to and care of individuals
- justice and fairness
- intra group loyalty
- respect for authority and tradition
- purity and sanctity
This is what separates liberals from conservatives: which of the above is considered more important. Liberals (of the US variety at least) draw on harm/care and justice/fairness in deciding moral issues. Conservatives (religious and social) take all five.
Violations of purity cause disgust. The more disgust-sensitive someone is, the more likely s/he is to be a social conservative: therefore, attitudes towards gays, prostitution, drugs, etc. This would make early Gnostics über-liberals… (note to self: see if this holds).
Interesting stuff.
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