Lecture: Morality

Question 1

Why do we have morality?

Answer 1

They evolved to help us take care of the other people in our groups. But not so much people outside our groups.

Question 2

In the expanding circle, what is self interest?

Answer 2

All animals have instincts for gene preservation (with exceptions)

Question 3

in the expanding circle, what is friendship?

Answer 3

I care for historical cooperation partners. Shared with chimps. Sharing food used to be a life-and-death matter for us

Question 4

in the expanding circle, what is tribalism

Answer 4

I care about us, but not them. Tragedy of the commons . Evolved morals in humans took care of this. Anthropological survey shows that ethnocentrism is universal

Question 5

What is tragedy of the commons?

Answer 5

there is a shared resource and distributed responsibility so no one takes care of the resource. E.g., great salt lake in Utah is in perfect condition because it is only Utah, there is no competition for the resource whereas Mesopotamian sea is overfished because many countries share it and there’s competition

Question 6

In the expanding circle, what is I care about all people or creatures that can have positive or negative experiences

Answer 6

• The tragedy of commonsense morality

- Requires abstract reasoning and values

Question 7

How do we know morality has evolved?

Answer 7

In general, evolved and well-learned behaviours work faster than deliberate ones. Evidenced by When you force people to play a prisoner’s dilemma game quickly, they are more likely to cooperate.

Question 8

what is the footbridge/trolley explanation?

Answer 8

Greene’s experiment reveals that there are two competing systems for our moral considerations:

• The first is some kind of rational, utilitarian calculus which makes switch cases permissible.
• The second is an emotional reaction caused by a dislike of “getting our hands dirty”
• Utilitarianism vs. deontology

Question 9

What are the 6 aspects of Haidt’s moral foundation theory?

Answer 9

• Care/Harm
• Liberty/Oppression
• Authority/Subversion
• Fairness/Cheating
• Loyalty/Betrayal
• Sanctity/Degradation

Question 10

What is the relationship between morality/judgement and disgust?

Answer 10

• People who disgust us (hippies, the obese, people we view as “trashy”) we judge more harshly for purity-related moral infractions.
• Such as keeping your cubicle clean Versus not tipping a server
• Police are more likely to arrest obese people for purity related crimes, such as drugs, prostitution, and lewdness

Question 11

What is moral dumbfouding?

Answer 11

• A man brings buys a ready-to-cook chicken, brings it home, has sexual intercourse with it, then cooks and eats it.
• Did he do something morally wrong?
• -Most people say yes, but can’t really explain why (this is moral dumbfounding).

Question 12

Should you trust your instinct?

Answer 12

• People look to their feelings to judge whether something is moral or not.
• You can make people think something is more immoral with bad smells or bitter drinks.
• Feeling vs. principles

Question 13

What is the relationship between politics and morals?

Answer 13

• Right-wing people tend to have all six moral foundations fairly strong.
• Left-wing people tend to have only care/harm, fairness/oppression, and liberty/oppression strong.
• Libertarians tend to only have liberty/oppression strong.
• This is mostly genetic, which means your politics is mostly genetic.

Question 14

What is the evidence of morality in animals?

Answer 14

(TED talk)

• Prosociality
• Empathy and Condolence
• Fairness, Reciprocity, friendship in chimps
• Chimps will kiss and embrace after a fight.

Question 15

what is effective Altruism?

Answer 15

Applying science, reason, and data to how you can be good for the world (what is the best use of tine? Best use of money? Best use of resources?)