The Righteous Mind
Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
Why decent people disagree so bitterly about politics and religion. Intuition comes first, and reasoning mostly arrives to justify it.
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt asks why decent people disagree so bitterly about politics and religion. Drawing on moral psychology, he argues that intuition comes first and reasoning second, and that liberals and conservatives each respond to different moral ‘foundations’. His aim is understanding rather than winning: to help us see why opponents aren’t simply stupid or evil. A landmark book on the roots of moral and political division.
Recommended by 3 People
Derek Sivers
Brilliant insights into human nature. Moral reasoning, inventing victims, emotional reactions, the elephant (emotions) and its rider (explanations). Intuition reacts then logic confabulates a reason. Survival of the fittest applied to groups. Understanding religion and tradition. Great from start to finish.
Fareed Zakaria
A brilliant mixture of political philosophy and sociology. According to Haidt, two reasonable people can find themselves on opposite ends of the political spectrum based on the relative importance each assigns to just six values. The book explains why we embrace certain ideologies better than any other I've read.
Ali Abdaal
Video · December 2020
As an Amazon Associate, bookstoread.org earns from qualifying purchases. Links to Amazon on this page may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Spotted an error on this page? Tell us and we will fix it.