Category Archives: About Morality
Power Makes the Hypocrite Bolder and Smugger
We’ve all had the experience of listening to someone in a position of power rail against the moral ineptitude of others. Turn on the news on any given day and you’re likely to see someone moralizing about family values, for … Continue reading
Filed under About Morality, About Research
When it Comes to Trusting Authority, Moral Conviction and Religiosity Part Ways
One of the consistent elements in political discussions is the influence of religious belief on attitudes toward government. And typically it’s assumed that a high degree of religiosity is synonymous with a high degree of moral conviction – they’re popularly … Continue reading
Filed under About Belief, About Morality, About Religion, About Research
Riding the Self-Regulation See Saw
by David DiSalvo The April issue of Psychological Science includes an interesting paradoxical study on moral self-regulation. Building on previous research that examines why people act altruistically even when such action is costly, researchers wanted to take a closer look at the … Continue reading
Filed under About Morality, About Research
The Banality of Evil
The New Yorker has an excellent article entitled “Beware of Pity” about Hannah Arendt, the brilliant historian and politcal scholar who coined the term “the banality of evil” to describe what she witnessed at the trial of Adolf Eichmann, the infamous … Continue reading
Filed under About Morality, Books and Ideas
This is Your Brain on Morality
In October, Sam Harris–author, provocateur and neuroscientist–spoke at Beyond Belief: Candles in the Dark, an annual event sponsored by the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. This year participants were asked to propose a “Candle”—a potential solution to a problem that … Continue reading
Filed under About Morality, Videos
You Will Be Emulated, Resistance is Futile
Take one part old school materialism and judiciously mix with two parts new school neuroscience, and you get the latest release from the Future of Humanity Institute: The Whole Brain Emulation Roadmap. This is incredibly heady stuff, pardon the pun, … Continue reading
Filed under About Morality, About Neuroscience
Jonathan Haidt on the Moral Roots of Ideology
Jonathan Haidt, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and author of The Happiness Hypothesis, wrote a provocative article for Edge not long ago about the moral roots of ideology, which garnered some notable responses. The article and responses are … Continue reading
Filed under About Belief, About Morality, Videos
David DiSalvo is a science, technology and culture writer whose work appears in Scientific American Mind, Psychology Today and a variety of other places.
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