Puritanism needs purity, and moral psychology needs pluralism

Behav Brain Sci. 2023 Oct 4:46:e307. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X23000493.

Abstract

This account of puritanical morality is useful and innovative, but makes two errors. First, it mischaracterizes the purity foundation as being unrelated to cooperation. Second, it makes the leap from cooperation (broadly construed) to a monist account of moral cognition (as harm or fairness). We show how this leap is both conceptually incoherent and inconsistent with empirical evidence about self-control moralization.

Publication types

  • Comment

MeSH terms

  • Cognition
  • Cultural Diversity
  • Humans
  • Morals*
  • Self-Control*