Rich people just care less. Psychological research on the powerful and the not so powerful may bear on “what makes morality moral,” especially with respect to might-makes-right, the veil of ignorance, and moral sentiment. “A growing body of recent research shows that people with the most social power pay scant attention to those with little such power. This tuning out has been observed, for instance, with strangers in a mere five-minute get-acquainted session, where the more powerful person shows fewer signals of paying attention, like nodding or laughing. Higher-status people are also more likely to express disregard, through facial expressions, and are more likely to take over the conversation and interrupt or look past the other speaker.”
E1: What makes morality moral?
The Melian Dialogue …
Why do the battles over ancient Athens still rage, and were the Athenians too aggressive or not aggressive enough? What does “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must” really mean?
A moral sense?
The moral instinct. “The human moral sense turns out to be an organ of considerable complexity, with quirks that reflect its evolutionary history and its neurobiological foundations.”
Animal morality?
Is morality a peculiarly human thing?
