Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them

by Joshua D. Greene

We gave our doctors and public health professionals the opportunity to comment on their decisions, and their comments were very revealing. For example, one public health professional wrote, “In these extreme situations . . . I felt that a utilitarian . . . philosophy was most appropriate. Ultimately that is the most moral thing to do. . . . It seems the least murky and the most fair.” In contrast, a medical doctor wrote, “To make a life-or-death decision on behalf of someone who is capable of making that decision for themselves (and who has not forfeited that right, for example by knowingly committing a capital crime) is a gross violation of moral and ethical principles.” The voices of Mill and Kant, speaking from beyond the grave.

Public health professionals gave more utilitarian answers, doctors more individualistic answers.