Chapter One: Where Does Morality Come From? Summary and Analysis

The first step toward a righteous mind is to understand that morality differs according to culture. After Jonathan Haidt was admitted to the graduate program in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, he had a discussion about how moral thinking was different from other thinking with professor Jonathan Baron. At that time in 1987, moral psychology was part of developmental psychology which addresses issues such as how children know right from wrong and where does morality come from. Is morality from nature (inborn) or from nurture (parental teaching)? Those who believe that morality is inherent are nativists and those who believe that it stems from nurture are empiricists.

But rationalism is another option. Rationalism holds the belief that kids figure things out for themselves. Jean Piaget, considered the...