First, I’d long believed that when we face morally weighty questions (Is the death penalty justified? Should assisted suicide be legal?), we reason through the issues to arrive at a conclusion. We approach these questions like a judge who evaluates competing arguments, ponders both sides, and delivers a reasoned decision. But according to Haidt’s research, that simply isn’t accurate. Instead, when we consider what’s moral, we have an instantaneous, visceral, emotional response about right or wrong—and then we use reason to justify that intuition.[2] The rational mind isn’t a black-robed jurist
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