When Morality Binds and Blinds
Thought-provoking insights into human nature
The WEIRDer you are — (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic) — the more you see a world full of separate objects rather than relationships.
You can’t study the mind while ignoring culture, as psychologists usually do, because minds function only once they’ve been filled out by a particular culture.
You can’t study culture while ignoring psychology, as anthropologists usually do, because social practices and institutions are shaped by concepts and desires rooted deep within the human mind.
When you’re grateful to people, it’s easier to adopt their perspective.
Your emotions lean towards them, which make your logic search for moral arguments in their defence.
In India, you will see a moral world in which families, not individuals, are the basic unit of society, and the members of each extended family (including its servants) are intensely interdependent.
In this world, equality and personal autonomy were not sacred values.
Honouring elders, gods, and guests, protecting subordinates, and fulfilling one’s role-based duties were more important.
