Jonathan Haidt in the context of "Moral emotions"

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⭐ Core Definition: Jonathan Haidt

Jonathan David Haidt (/haΙͺt/ HYTE; born October 19, 1963) is an American social psychologist and author. He is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at the New York University Stern School of Business. Haidt's main areas of study are the psychology of morality and moral emotions.

Haidt's main scientific contributions come from the psychological field of moral foundations theory, which attempts to explain the evolutionary origins of human moral reasoning on the basis of innate, gut feelings rather than logic and reason. The theory was later extended to explain the different moral reasoning and how they relate to political ideology, with different political orientations prioritizing different sets of morals. The research served as a foundation for future books on various topics.

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πŸ‘‰ Jonathan Haidt in the context of Moral emotions

Moral emotions are a variety of social emotions that are involved in forming and communicating moral judgments and decisions, and in motivating behavioral responses to one's own and others' moral behavior. As defined by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, moral emotions intrinsically "are linked to the interests or welfare either of a society as a whole or at least of persons other than the judge or agent". A person may not always have clear words to articulate the reasoning behind their moral position, yet simultaneously knows it to be true.

Moral emotions are linked to a person's conscience - these are the emotions that make up a conscience and promote learning the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, virtuous and evil. Moral emotions include anger, disgust, contempt, shame, pride, guilt, compassion, gratitude, and elevation and help to provide people with the power and energy to do good and avoid doing bad. Some emotions, such as anger, can be triggered both in response to moralized and non-moralized stimuli, making them simultaneously moral and non-moral emotions, whereas other emotions, such as guilt and shame, seem to inherently have a moral component.

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Jonathan Haidt in the context of Moral sense theory

Moral sense theory (also known as moral sentimentalism) is a theory in moral epistemology and meta-ethics concerning the discovery of moral truths. Moral sense theory typically holds that distinctions between morality and immorality are discovered by emotional responses to experience. Some take it to be primarily a view about the nature of moral facts or moral beliefs (a primarily metaphysical view)β€”this form of the view more often goes by the name "sentimentalism". Others take the view to be primarily about the nature of justifying moral beliefs (a primarily epistemological view)β€”this form of the view more often goes by the name "moral sense theory". However, some theorists take the view to be one which claims that both moral facts and how one comes to be justified in believing them are necessarily bound up with human emotions.

Popular historical advocates of some version of the moral sense theory or sentimentalism include the 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (1671–1713), Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746), David Hume (1711–1776), and Adam Smith (1723–1790). Some contemporary advocates include Michael Slote, Justin D'Arms, Daniel Jacobson, Jesse Prinz, Jonathan Haidt, and perhaps John McDowell. Simon Blackburn and Allan Gibbard endorse a non-cognitivist form of sentimentalism.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Moral sense theory ← Moral emotions
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Social psychology → New York University Stern School of Business → Moral psychology → Moral emotions → Moral foundations theory → Moral reasoning →