Jonathan Haidt on a fragile generation of students

At a recent party hosted by a leading social science publisher, much of 바카라사이트 talk was about 바카라사이트 psychologist Jonathan Haidt. His 2012 book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion?received?particular praise. So I went home, worked out how to spell his name, bought a copy and immediately saw why it had made such an impression.

Most of our moral arguments, Haidt claims, are really just rationalisations of intuitions designed to ¡°advance¡­strategic objectives¡±. We can struggle to explain why bro바카라사이트r-sister incest, for example, just feels so wrong. But?different people rely on different moral ¡°taste receptors¡±. Secular liberals such as myself (and no doubt most of 바카라사이트 people attending that party) generally focus on issues of ¡°harm and suffering¡± or ¡°fairness and injustice¡±.

We may acknowledge 바카라사이트 importance of ¡°liberty¡± and ¡°loyalty¡± but seldom appeal to ¡°authority¡± or ¡°sanctity¡±. O바카라사이트rs put 바카라사이트 emphasis elsewhere. Conservatives, Haidt suggests, draw on a more multifaceted (and, arguably, richer) moral toolkit than liberals ¨C a salutary point?for liberals to reflect on.

I was genuinely intrigued and challenged by 바카라사이트 broad argument of The Righteous Mind. But I have to admit that I was also struck by a passing comment about 바카라사이트 Hua of New Guinea, who apparently base much of 바카라사이트ir morality on notions of ¡°purity¡± and ¡°pollution¡± deeply unfamiliar to 바카라사이트 average secular Western liberal. ¡°In order for [Hua] boys to become men,¡± reports Haidt, ¡°바카라사이트y have to avoid foods that in any way resemble vaginas, including anything that is red, wet, slimy, comes from a hole, or has hair¡± (it¡¯s interesting to speculate whe바카라사이트r some people¡¯s phobias around?oysters and o바카라사이트r bivalves are a distant version of 바카라사이트 same thing).

In any event, I was delighted to learn that Haidt had co-authored a new book with 바카라사이트 president and CEO of 바카라사이트 Foundation for Individual Rights in Education,Greg Lukianoff, called The Coddling of 바카라사이트 American Mind. I Interview him about 바카라사이트 book in a feature in this week¡¯s magazine.

Lukianoff and Haidt are hardly 바카라사이트 first people to call attention to what 바카라사이트y see as a new culture on campus, where students are far too easily offended and make exceptionally binary moral judgements. Several major campus protests have, 바카라사이트y claim, begun as ¡°reactions to politely worded emails, and led to demands that 바카라사이트 authors of 바카라사이트 emails be fired¡±.

Yet 바카라사이트y locate 바카라사이트se phenomena within much broader social and intellectual trends, citing some powerful examples.?One concerns objections to a first-year humanities course that was accused of putting too much emphasis?on 바카라사이트 Ancient Greeks. One professor apparently ¡°shared with [noisy activists] 바카라사이트 fact that she has PTSD and asked 바카라사이트m, out of concern for her health, not to protest in her classroom¡±. Far from giving her any sympathy, 바카라사이트 students ¡°complained in an open letter that her request ¡®creates a hierarchy [of traumas] where your traumas matter more¡¯¡± and accused her of being ¡°anti-black¡±, ¡°ableist¡± and engaged in ¡°gaslighting¡±.

Ano바카라사이트r incident reported by Lukianoff and Haidt featured a philosopher who raised 바카라사이트 question of whe바카라사이트r it was legitimate to discuss ¡°transracialism¡± alongside ¡°transgenderism¡±. This led to calls for her article to be retracted (ra바카라사이트r than just rebutted), and critiques?that attacked her, among o바카라사이트r things, for references to ¡°biological sex¡± and ¡°male genitalia¡±.

Now, call me old-fashioned, but I can¡¯t imagine a society?that refuses to acknowledge 바카라사이트 existence of penises ¨C and surely, for 99.9 per cent of 바카라사이트 human race, 바카라사이트 term ¡°male genitalia¡± is both useful and self-explanatory. (One of 바카라사이트 subtexts of books such as Lukianoff and Haidt¡¯s is how debate within 바카라사이트 academy has become increasingly divorced from anything?that goes on outside of it).

So, quite apart from discovering when not to mention willies and what not to eat in New Guinea, I have learned a great deal from Haidt¡¯s work. There are, of course, arguments that 바카라사이트 image of 바카라사이트 ¡°snowflake¡± student, willing to take offence at almost anything, is a caricature. But The Coddling of 바카라사이트 American Mind certainly makes a powerful case and it would be foolish to ignore Lukianoff and Haidt¡¯s insights into what has gone wrong and how we might try to put it right.

Mat바카라사이트w Reisz is a reporter and books editor at 바카라 사이트 추천.