The Righteous Mind
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion is a 2012 social psychology book by Jonathan Haidt, in which the author describes human morality as it relates to politics and religion. Summary. In the first part of the book, the author uses research to demonstrate social intuitionism, how people's beliefs come primarily from their intuitions, and rational thought often comes after to justify initial beliefs. He cites David Hume and E. O. Wilson as thinkers who gave reason a relatively low estimation, as opposed to more popular thinkers who give reason a  central place in moral cognition, such as Lawrence Kohlberg and his stages of moral reasoning. In the second portion of the book, he presents moral foundations theory, and applies it to the political beliefs of liberals, conservatives, and libertarians in the US. Haidt argues that people are too quick to denigrate other points of view without giving those views full consideration, and attempts to reach common ground between liberals and conservatives. He makes the case in the book for morality having multiple foundations (more than just harm and fairness), and said in an interview that morality "is at least six  things, and probably a lot more than that" and "[religion and politics are]…expressions of our tribal, groupish, righteous nature." Haidt himself acknowledges that while he has been a liberal all his life, he is now more open to other points of view. In the third part of the book, Haidt describes a hypothetical "hive switch", which turns a selfish human "chimp" into a "groupish" human "bee", Cultures and organizations have techniques for getting people to identify with their groups, such as dancing, moving, and singing in unison. Reception. The book was #6 on "The New York Times" Best Seller  list for non-fiction in April 2012. Journalistic reception. William Saletan wrote in "The New York Times" in 2012 that the book is "a landmark contribution to humanity’s understanding of itself". The book received two reviews in "The Guardian": in 2012, Ian Birrell called the book a "compelling study of the morality of those on the left and right [that] reaches some surprising conclusions"; and in 2013 Nicholas Lezard wrote that he was "in the odd position of being wary of a book I am also recommending. It's entertaining, snappily written and thought-provoking. It might even help  Labour win the next election. But it still doesn't explain the gang running the country at the moment [the UK Conservative Party]." Journalist Chris Hedges wrote a review of "The Righteous Mind" in 2012 in which he accused Haidt of supporting social Darwinism.