· Culture Wars o There are pronounced differences of opinion on moral issues even within a country ? E.g. abortion, marriage equality, euthansia o Religious Orthodoxy vs. Progressivism Orthodox: committed to the idea of a transcendent authority · believe this authority existed long before humans, operates independently of people, and is more knowledgeable and more powerful than all of human experience . this transcendent authority originated a moral code and revealed it to human beings in sacred text . This moral code holds across all time and circumstances and should not be altered to accommodate any social changes or individual differences · Individuals and society are expected to adapt themselves to this ordained moral code · Ethic of divinity · individuals follow sacred guidelines granted by a transcendent authority in an attempt to come closer to moral and spiritual purity · striving for purity and avoiding degradation · Progressive: emphasize the importance of human agency in understanding and formulating a moral code . reject the view that a transcendent authority reveals itself and its will to humans; they believe people play an integral role in the formulation of a moral code · because social circumstances change, the moral code must change along with them · Ethic of autonomy · allows individuals to make decisions about rightness and wrongness, provided they don't encroach on the rights of others or cause harm Ethic of community characterizes all religious viewpoints Study: abortion · Progressives made moral decisions based primarily on the ethic of autonomy (stressing individual rights) and the ethic of community (stressing obligations toward others) · Orthodox participants were more likely to make their judgments based on the ethic of divinity . most pronounced differences were with respect to the ethic of divinity and the ethic of autonomy, and these differences in moral viewpoints between religious faiths tend to increase with age o Moral Intuitions
five moral intuitions are perceived to be universal, but certain cultures, as well as some people, differ in terms of which ones they emphasize in their lives Ethic of autonomy: avoiding harm and protecting fairness · People are sensitive to any behaviors that cause harm to others, and they pay close attention to whether resources or rights are distributed in a fair way Ethic of Community: loyalty to ingroups and respecting authority · identifying with them, making sacrifices for them, and trusting them more than outgroup members · admiring superiors and believing that subordinates need to behave according to the wishes of authority figures Ethic of Divinity: achieving purity · motivates people toward good behavior; they are disgusted at behaviors ruled by sensual passions (i.e., lust, gluttony) and by actions that suggest contamination of any kind Political Views . there is a fairly universal distinction in the moral intuitions of political liberals and conservatives · Americans who identify themselves as politically liberal tend to feel strongly about avoiding harm and protecting fairness, but not as strongly about the other three intuitions Americans who identify themselves as conservative,