Core Beliefs: what we feel is true; the second framework

“In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add but when there is no longer anything to take away.”[1]            Antoine De Saint-Exupery

“You get out what you put in minus the friction”

The first principle of engineering and a more perfect expression of the former

“Go.”

The sentence an engineer wrote when asked to write a sentence on a mental status exam. A practical application of the first principle of engineering

In the book, The Righteous Mind, (which I highly recommend), the author Jonathan Haidt convincingly makes the case that moral judgments arise from innate instinctive reflexes; they are not derived from reason.  That is we respond spontaneously and emotionally when we see a baby harmed, or the flag desecrated, or a criminal get away with their crime.

He goes on to say that these innate moral intuitions or appetites seem to fall into six categories, care/harm, fairness/cheating, freedom/subjugation, community/anarchy, authority/insubordination, and sanctity/degradation.  Different groups tend to value these moral appetites differently. Haidt points out that, universally, liberals put far more weight on the appetites of care and fairness whereas conservatives give more balanced weight to all six appetites.

He sights data to make the case that this differentiation begins genetically and then is influenced by our cultural surroundings. Once we have developed these moral intuitions they tend to color how we see the world and that is the point I want to make.  Our view of the world is continuously colored by emotional undercurrents and intuitions that incline us to favor one set of facts over another. 

However, I would contend that these intuitions are more diverse than Haidt’s six moral appetites. The following is an example from my own life. I continue to be amazed at what an influence my father has been on me.  He was first and foremost an engineer (and the author of the sentence in the introduction). I don’t have the discipline to be an engineer but “you get out what you put in minus the friction” is in my marrow. Whether this was passed on to me from my father by genetics or example, it is clearly the intuitive response I have that colors my emotional response to any situation or problem. Mediation is better than litigation not because it is morally superior by any of Haidt’s moral intuitions but because it is more efficient (less friction).

Having identified this predisposition or coloring of the landscape I have at times been able to, if not see a situation from another point of view, at least acknowledge that the other point of view is legitimate.  For example, flowers, especially cut flowers, (as I have written in another venue) are completely non-utilitarian and often expensive.  However, since all the women and particularly the most important woman in my life don’t share that view I have been able to put aside my predisposition for a variety of reasons (for instance survival).

Much, no most of our view of the world is based on dogma (It’s true because THEY said it). And what we choose to accept of the many facts that are presented to us is colored by emotional undercurrents that run through us.  If one can step back and try to identify those emotional undercurrents one need not change the way they see the world but might have a better understanding of why they see it the way they do. A mutual acknowledgment of these undercurrents between people of different viewpoints could go a long way to improving understanding.

My next series of entries will be about capitalism and democracy.

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[1] Wind, Sand, and Stars, Chapter 3 The Tool p.42, Antoine De Saint-Exupery