Sublime

Haidt identifies five important moral senses or concerns that he claims run deep in all human societies. They are: 1 Aversion to and protection from harm. 2 Fairness. 3 Loyalty to the group. 4 Respect for authority. 5 Not defiling one’s ‘spiritual purity’.

Introduction

In moral and political matters we are often groupish, rather than selfish. We deploy our reasoning skills to support our team, and to demonstrate commitment to our team.

Hume’s pluralist, sentimentalist, and naturalist approach to ethics is more promising than utilitarianism or deontology for modern moral psychology. As a first step in resuming Hume’s project, we should try to identify the taste receptors of the righteous mind.