The Independent Whig
Conservatism
Thesis Part Three – Cognitive Style is a Moral Foundation
Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) seems insufficient to explain everything we see in the social world around us. It does not explain, for example, the stark differences between the liberal left – exemplified by groups like Heterodox Academy and The Village Square – and the illiberal left exemplified by protesters who shout down public speakers, disrupt political rallies, and otherwise attempt to protect themselves … Continue reading
What Moral Foundations Really Are, and How They Help Us To Diagnose and Treat The Political Divide
1) Moral foundations are evolved psychological mechanisms of moral and social perception. They are senses. Each moral foundation provides its possessor with a predisposition to perceive the particular aspect of human behavior that is associated with that foundation. The metaphor I like to use is this: Moral foundations are to moral and social perception as … Continue reading
The Conservative Conundrum, and a Possible Solution
Haidt’s work presents a conundrum for conservatives. On the one hand, in one context, everything he says is right. We should understand where both sides are coming from, realize that both sides offer valuable insights, give more benefit of the doubt, stop demonizing the other side, and build a door through the wall of the … Continue reading
An Interpretation of Moral Foundations Theory: Introduction and Table of Contents
This post is an Introduction and Table of Contents (scroll down a little) for a series of posts. Each post in the series stands on its own, but together they form an alternate interpretation of Jonathan Haidt’s Moral Foundations Theory. I live in the six-foundation moral matrix. In other words, I am conservative. Haidt grew up in the three-foundation … Continue reading
The Conservative Elephant
The same studies which show that the liberal morality rests on a small number of moral foundations, show that the conservative morality is built on all of them in equal balance. It includes care, fairness, and liberty, just as the liberal morality does, but it does not end there. It also depends equally on a … Continue reading
Conservatism and Liberalism in a Nutshell
When there’s food on the table there are many problems. When there’s no food on the table there is only one problem. The seven-foundation (including ownership) conservative morality gained freedom from an oppressive regime, and it created a new form of government designed to prevent such oppression from ever happening again. The new nation, thus … Continue reading
Why Rep. Carson Thinks the Tea Party is Racist
Democratic Rep. Andre Carson told a Miami crowd last week that the Tea Party movement would “love” to see black Americans “hanging on a tree.” (1) He is not alone among liberals in depicting the Tea Party as racist. Janeane Garofalo attributed the Tea Party to “racism, straight up,” (2) and Keith Olberman agreed with … Continue reading
Reason and Experience
Before stumbling upon the work of Jonathan Haidt I had developed my own ideas about the roots of liberalism and conservatism, and how the two sides seem to think differently. Even though I approached the topic from a perspective that is entirely different from his I think my own conclusions are compatible with his findings. … Continue reading
What is Rick Perry Talking About?
One of the most quoted passages from Rick Perry’s book Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington is this: We are tired of being told how much salt to put on our food, what kind of cars we can drive, what kind of guns we can own (and) what kind of prayers we are … Continue reading
I Support Viewpoint Diversity
A politically diverse group of social scientists, natural scientists, humanists, and other scholars who want to improve our academic disciplines and universities. We share a concern about a growing problem: the loss or lack of “viewpoint diversity.” When nearly everyone in a field shares the same political orientation, certain ideas become orthodoxy, dissent is discouraged, and errors can go unchallenged.
Venn Diagram of Liberal and Conservative Traits and Moral Foundations and
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