In fact, many studies have shown that rational arguments have little effect. Almost every decision you make, you make it in few seconds, using your intuition, or “ gut feeling.” You use your reason not to rethink this – but to back it up. The interesting part is that reasoning makes no difference whatsoever in everyday life, as well. They could think things over, of course but, to them, this made no difference whatsoever. Namely, Damasio’s patients were incapable of distinguishing wrong from right, believing that everything is equally right (or wrong, for that matter). Analyzing the reactions of people whose brain damage had petered out their emotional capacity, Antonio Damasio – we mentioned him here – discovered that we may not be “thinking machines which feel,” but “feeling machines which think.” Well, the thing is that, contrary to popular belief, morality is probably not founded on reason. If moral is something based on reason, then how is it that almost all of humanity came to consider rape and genocide morally revolting? Because – bear in mind – both are evolutionary justified! Here’s an interesting thing for you to contemplate over:

With Greg Lukianoff, he has also co-authored “ The Coddling of the American Mind.” “The Righteous Mind Summary” In addition to “The Righteous Mind,” Haidt has authored another critically lauded book, “ The Happiness Hypothesis,” which we included among our top psychology books. He is Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Jonathan Haidt is an American social psychologist and one of the world’s top thinkers according to both “Foreign Policy” and “Prospect” magazines. In “ The Righteous Mind,” Jonathan Haidt ponders over this paradox. Have you ever wondered how is it possible that there are so many good people that are unlike you? Probably not – because we all think that goodness is defined in accordance with our beliefs. 5 min read ⌚ Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

The righteous mind book