Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them
The human brain processes morality automatically, influenced by evolution, culture, and experience but with a capacity for deliberate reasoning that allows for nuance, much needed in our increasingly complex world. Greene, a philosopher and scientist, draws on research in psychology and neuroscience to explore the roots of morality, particularly the tragedy of commonsense morality, when people of different races, religions, ethnic groups, and nationalities share the same sense of morality but apply it from different perspectives in whose differences lie the roots of conflict. Us-versus-them conflicts date back to tribal life. Greene analyzes the structure of modern moral conflicts on a wide spectrum of issues, from global warming to Obamacare to economic policy, and also the structure of our “moral brains.” Conflicts stem from a lack of moral philosophy, a problem pondered by philosophers since the Enlightenment. Greene ends with a vision of universal moral philosophy, a “metamorality” that crosses, racial, religious, ethnic, and national boundaries. Greene’s strategies for examining moral reasoning are as applicable to day-to-day decisions as they are to public policy. This is a highly accessible look at the complexities of morality. --Vanessa Bush