Jonathan Haidt Quotes & Sayings (Page 3)

“I began graduate school in the late 1980s, and my goal was to understand how morality varied across cultures and nations. I did some research comparing moral judgment in India and the U.S.A.”

“Politics is really religion. Politics is about sacredness. Politics is about offering a vision that will bind the nation together to pursue greatness.”

“When I began my work on how morality varies across the political spectrum, there was a partisan, manipulative element to it. I wanted to help the Democrats win.”

“When I think about life on Earth, there should not be a species like us. And if there was, we should be out in the jungle killing each other in small groups. That's what you should expect.”

“While it is useful to rebut charges and get your arguments out in circulation, you have to understand that arguments and evidence have little impact on people as long as their feelings tilt them against you.”

“On the religious Right and religious people in general have the feeling that the world is not just material, the world is not just there for us to do what we want with. That our bodies, things have an immaterial essence, a spiritual essence that God is in all of us.”

“I did say that in-group, authority and purity are necessary for the maintenance of order, but I would never give them a blanket endorsement.”

“Anytime we're interacting with someone, we're judging them, we're sharing expectations, we think they didn't live up to those expectations.”

“The most important thing to realize is we're not blank slates at birth. We don't start off with nothing in our heads, and then get imprinted entirely by our environment. There's something in our heads on the day we're born, and then we grow up and make choices.”

“By temperament and disposition and emotions, I'm a liberal; but in my beliefs about what's best for the country, I'm a centrist.”