The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

Jonathan Haidt

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Feb 12, 2013 - Psychology - 528 pages

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The acclaimed social psychologist challenges conventional thinking about morality, politics, and religion in a way that speaks to conservatives and liberals alike—a “landmark contribution to humanity’s understanding of itself” (The New York Times Book Review).

Drawing on his twenty-five years of groundbreaking research on moral psychology, Jonathan Haidt shows how moral judgments arise not from reason but from gut feelings. He shows why liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have such different intuitions about right and wrong, and he shows why each side is actually right about many of its central concerns.

In this subtle yet accessible book, Haidt gives you the key to understanding the miracle of human cooperation, as well as the curse of our eternal divisions and conflicts. If you’re ready to trade in anger for understanding, read The Righteous Mind.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - zomgpwnbbq - LibraryThing

I disagree with the use of Lord of the Flies experiments of school age children as proof of any kind of human nature. The author maintains a WEIRD (really Sorkin West Wing) view of history and ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - steve02476 - LibraryThing

A great book, but not perfect. Haidt addresses questions I'm really interested in and gives reasonable explanations for the way we behave in political and religious contexts. I've never seen a book that better addresses these issues from an evo psych perspective.

Contents

• Theres More to Morality than Harm and Fairness: 109
• Morality Binds and Blinds: 217
• Conclusion: 367
• Acknowledgments: 373
• References: 451
• Index: 491

About the author

Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He obtained his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992, and then taught at the University of Virginia for 16 years. He is the author of The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, and the co-editor of Flourishing: Positive Psychology and the Life Well-Lived. He lives in New York City.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
• Author: Jonathan Haidt
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2013
• ISBN: 0307455777, 9780307455772
• Length: 528 pages
• Subjects: Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy; Political Science / Political Ideologies / Conservatism & Liberalism; Psychology / Social Psychology