Universal Values (What)

Research done by Professor Jonathan Haidt and his colleagues suggest that human beings, as a species, have five core moral values plus one strong candidate for a total of six. These moral values have been patterned into our brains through evolution.

See Haidt’s website for his summary of these values. Wikipediagives information about Haidt.

ChatGPT describes these moral values as follows.

1. Care/Harm: This foundation is related to our ability to feel compassion for others, especially the vulnerable, and the opposite, causing harm.

2. Fairness/Cheating: This foundation concerns the ideas of justice, rights, and equality. It’s about reciprocal altruism and the idea that people should be treated fairly.

3. Loyalty/Betrayal: This foundation involves the bonds we feel with groups, whether they be family, nation, or other groups, and the emotions of loyalty and betrayal that come with them.

4. Authority/Subversion: This foundation relates to social order and respect for tradition and legitimate authority. It includes feelings of respect for authority figures and the social roles and institutions they represent.

5. Sanctity/Degradation: This foundation concerns the ideas of purity and pollution. It deals with the feelings of disgust and respect for the sacred.

6. Liberty/Oppression: Later added, this foundation emphasizes the feelings of resentment people have toward those who dominate or restrict their freedom. It reflects the struggle for autonomy and resistance against oppression.

Rationale

1. Know and follow moral values because this maximizes your wellbelng, especially in the long term.

Note: Following moral values is hard to do when you skin in the game.

The Six Universal Ethical Values

The following my WIP (work in progress. )

1. Care/Harm

Take care of each other. Treat others well. Treat others with respect.

Or, at least do not harm another person unless this is the only option for self defense and in this case, minimize the harm.

What this looks like in practice

1. Do the following. Encourage, support, treat with respect, listen, love, care, practice loving-kindness.

2. Avoid the following. Blaming, controlling, criticizing, judging, harsh language, threatening, writing in an attacking style typical of online content, …

3. It is OK to be neutral to others. We cannot be reaching out to every person we meet and every person on the planet.

Self Defense.

Be like a master martial artist. Fend off attacks without ever needing to harm your attacker.

Verbal attacks can alway be fended off without causing harm. Physical attacks as in assault, robbery, war, and so forth are different.

Physical attacks. If someone breaks into you home or tries to rob you, only harm them if this is the last resort. That is, if you can scare them off or flee or summon help or whatever, do this before you resort to violence.

2. Fairness/Cheating

3. Loyalty/Betrayal

4. Authority/Subversion

5. Sanctity/Degradation

6. Liberty/Oppression

Maximize your freedom while also maximizing the freedom of others. Do this in a way that is mutually beneficial to all.

Do you let others oppress you while also not oppressing others. Do this in a way that that mutually beneficial to all.

Resources

1. Haidt’s website give great resources for diving deep into the underlying research and the associated theory.