Social reality is so complicated that, once you join one team or the other, you become specialized in detecting certain patterns, but you become blind to other patterns.
Jonathan HaidtRead
Groups create supernatural beings not to explain the universe but to order their societies.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Societies create gods and myths not for understanding reality but for maintaining social order.
This quote by Jonathan Haidt suggests that the mythological and religious frameworks that groups construct are primarily aimed at establishing and enforcing social cohesion and norms. Rather than serving as mere explanations for natural phenomena, these constructs play a crucial role in organizing human relationships, behaviors, and cultural structures within communities.
Themes
SocietyMythOrderSupernaturalCulture
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the role of religion in society, one might quote Haidt to illustrate how beliefs can serve societal functions.
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All quotes βUnderstanding the simple fact that morality differs around the world, and even within societies, is the first step toward understanding your righteous mind.
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Suppose you read about a pill that you could take once a day to reduce anxiety and increase your contentment. Would you take it? Suppose further that the pill has a great variety of side effects, all of them good: increased self-esteem, empathy, and trust; it even improves memory. Suppose, finally, that the pill is all natural and costs nothing. Now would you take it? The pill exists. It is meditation.
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Trying to run Congress without human relationships is like trying to run a car without motor oil. Should we be surprised when the whole thing freezes up?
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When you hear someone criticize a policy on the other side, that's fine. But when you start hearing motive-mongering and demonization, stand up to it just as you would if it were something that was racist or sexist. If we avoid the demonization, disagreements can be positive.
Jonathan HaidtRead
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"But when you hear men talking," said Cornelia, "all they ever do is speak ill of women. 'And I don't quite know how they've managed to make this law in their favor, or who exactly it was who gave them a greater license to sin than is allowed to us; and if the fault is common to both sexes (as they can hardly deny), why should the blame not be as well?
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