Moral Tribes, Joshua Greene
Moral Tribes, Joshua Greene
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Moral Tribes
Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them

Author: Joshua Greene

Narrator: Mel Foster

Unabridged: 14 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/31/2013


Synopsis

“Moral Tribes is a masterpiece—a landmark work brimming with originality and insight that also happens to be wickedly fun to read. The only disappointing thing about this book is that it ends.” —Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology, Harvard University; author of the international bestseller Stumbling on HappinessOur brains were designed for tribal life, for getting along with a select group of others (Us) and for fighting off everyone else (Them). But modern times have forced the world’s tribes into a shared space, resulting in epic clashes of values along with unprecedented opportunities. As the world shrinks, the moral lines that divide us become more salient and more puzzling. We fight over everything from tax codes to gay marriage to global warming, and we wonder where, if at all, we can find our common ground.A grand synthesis of neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, Moral Tribes reveals the underlying causes of modern conflict and lights the way forward. Greene compares the human brain to a dual-mode camera, with point-and-shoot automatic settings (“portrait,” “landscape”) as well as a manual mode. Our point-and-shoot settings are our emotions—efficient, automated programs honed by evolution, culture, and personal experience. The brain’s manual mode is its capacity for deliberate reasoning, which makes our thinking flexible. Point-and-shoot emotions make us social animals, turning Me into Us. But they also make us tribal animals, turning Us against Them. Our tribal emotions make us fight—sometimes with bombs, sometimes with words—often with life-and-death stakes.An award-winning teacher and scientist, Greene directs Harvard University’s Moral Cognition Lab, which uses cutting-edge neuroscience and cognitive techniques to understand how people really make moral decisions. Combining insights from the lab with lessons from decades of social science and centuries of philosophy, the great question of Moral Tribes is this: How can we get along with Them when what they want feels so wrong to Us?Ultimately, Greene offers a set of maxims for navigating the modern moral terrain, a practical road map for solving problems and living better lives. Moral Tribes shows us when to trust our instincts, when to reason, and how the right kind of reasoning can move us forward.A major achievement from a rising star in a new scientific field, Moral Tribes will refashion your deepest beliefs about how moral thinking works and how it can work better.

About Joshua Greene

JOSHUA GREENE is the John and Ruth Hazel Associate Professor of the Social Sciences and director of the Moral Cognition Lab in Harvard University’s Department of Psychology. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the MacArthur Foundation. He’s appeared on Charlie Rose and Scientific American Frontiers, and his work has been featured in the New York Times, Discover Magazine, WNYC's RadioLab, and NPR's Morning Edition.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Joshua on June 05, 2014

There's a lot to be said about Moral Tribes but I will divide the comment roughly into two parts: (1) the smart commentary on moral psychology and (2) the weak commentary on ethics. It is worth noting that the strong points and weak points should be unsurprising given Greene's background; he's a ren......more

Goodreads review by David on May 26, 2014

Humans have evolved the ability to be cooperative, in order to help our own survival in difficult times. This ability usually prevents us from being completely selfish. We cooperate with other members of our group, our "tribe", and solves the dilemma between "Me" and "Us". The problem is, that this......more

Goodreads review by Mara on March 06, 2015

I'm going to go ahead and assume that there are summaries out there that will tell you what this book is about, so I'm just gonna tell you why I think it was pretty great. 1. It's enormously readable - True to his affiliation as a utilitarian, Greene keeps his arguments clear and fairly concise. When......more

Goodreads review by Eduardo on December 25, 2013

As a fresh take on utilitaniarism it’s first-rate: new perspectives, new research, insightful questions. But ultimately he’s just preaching to the choir because the single most important question of our age is not even mentioned: how to reach those who don’t realize they are immoral? That is, people......more

Goodreads review by Richard on July 21, 2019

Update, July 2019: As I noted in the review, Greene cemented his reputation (partially) by putting folks into fMRI machines and asking them Trolleyology–type questions. Well, if you find that interesting, you should check out the Kickstarter game Trial By Trolley: A party game of moral dilemmas and......more