RE: How important are each of Haight's Five Foundations of Morality to you?
October 25, 2016 at 10:50 am
So for myself only 1 and 2 (Care/harm and Fairness/reciprocity) even seemed to be about morality when I first watched the video and thought about the categories. But upon further reflection I found I could attach moral relevance to each of the other categories. So I ranked both of them as most central (A) for my own morality.
I ranked 5 and 3 (Purity/sanctity and Ingroup/loyalty) as moderately relevant in my moral experience (B). On the face of it Purity/sanctity seems to be about religion. But then I realized that I do esteem authenticity or genuineness highly and unconsciously at least judge myself and others accordingly. Holiness would probably be the more standard interpretation but I think the way I'm applying the category works too.
In-group/loyalty is decidedly lower in my esteem as moral values but I don't think I'm devoid of it. In some ways 5 and 3 are opposed with Purity/sanctity focused on the autonomy of the individual while In-group/loyalty is focused one's submission to the social group. For me, individual autonomy is far more central and a value I hold much dearer but I do find some application for In-group/loyalty in family and in the work place where I was part of a team. Marriage is important to me too and I think I owe my partner truthfulness and loyalty. I also feel a strong bond with one of my brothers and with my stepson where "loyalty" fits. A more standard application would probably be patriotism but I don't find I value that much at all, the social unit on that level is just too big, diverse and impersonal for me to relate to in this way.
The low man on my moral totem pole is definitely Authority/respect (4), a victim of my generation no doubt. Nonetheless I can find some teeny bit of application in that I place some value in institutions such as the government, justice system and the military. To the degree that I value these things I find I owe them my respect. The thing is the respect is for the office or role, to the individual I give automatically only appreciation. Where I can see that they take their role seriously and carry it out with excellence and dignity, they too get my respect. But authority I never grant to a man, only to a role.
I didn't check the last box because I actually like polls. This one is complex and hard to look at, but it is at least on a topic I'm interested in.
I ranked 5 and 3 (Purity/sanctity and Ingroup/loyalty) as moderately relevant in my moral experience (B). On the face of it Purity/sanctity seems to be about religion. But then I realized that I do esteem authenticity or genuineness highly and unconsciously at least judge myself and others accordingly. Holiness would probably be the more standard interpretation but I think the way I'm applying the category works too.
In-group/loyalty is decidedly lower in my esteem as moral values but I don't think I'm devoid of it. In some ways 5 and 3 are opposed with Purity/sanctity focused on the autonomy of the individual while In-group/loyalty is focused one's submission to the social group. For me, individual autonomy is far more central and a value I hold much dearer but I do find some application for In-group/loyalty in family and in the work place where I was part of a team. Marriage is important to me too and I think I owe my partner truthfulness and loyalty. I also feel a strong bond with one of my brothers and with my stepson where "loyalty" fits. A more standard application would probably be patriotism but I don't find I value that much at all, the social unit on that level is just too big, diverse and impersonal for me to relate to in this way.
The low man on my moral totem pole is definitely Authority/respect (4), a victim of my generation no doubt. Nonetheless I can find some teeny bit of application in that I place some value in institutions such as the government, justice system and the military. To the degree that I value these things I find I owe them my respect. The thing is the respect is for the office or role, to the individual I give automatically only appreciation. Where I can see that they take their role seriously and carry it out with excellence and dignity, they too get my respect. But authority I never grant to a man, only to a role.
I didn't check the last box because I actually like polls. This one is complex and hard to look at, but it is at least on a topic I'm interested in.
