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.
More from Jonathan Haidt
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.
Jonathan HaidtRead
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.
Jonathan HaidtRead
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?
Jonathan HaidtRead
If you grow up in a WEIRD society, you become so well educated in the ethic of autonomy that you can detect oppression and inequality even where the apparent victims see nothing wrong.
Jonathan HaidtRead
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
Similar quotes
He who sleeps without offering the night prayer, may he never enjoy a sound sleep.
UmarRead
That God does not exist, I cannot deny, That my whole being cries out for God I cannot forget.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
Terrorists have no religion, belief, or race. Having been a target of a number of terrorist attacks myself, I personally empathize with the victims of terrorism and appreciate their need for protection.
Sheikh HasinaRead
To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty... this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.
Albert EinsteinRead
The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage. That is a commonplace truth, but one to which my studies are always bringing me back. It is the central point in my conception. I see it at the end of all my reflections.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
When did the future switch from being a promise to a threat?
Chuck PalahniukRead