Oxford University Press, USA
What's Wrong with Morality?: A Social-Psychological Perspective
What's Wrong with Morality?: A Social-Psychological Perspective
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Most works on moral psychology direct our attention to the positive role morality plays for us as individuals, as a society, even as a species. In What's Wrong with Morality?, C. Daniel Batson takes a different approach: he looks at morality as a problem. The problem is not that it is wrong
to be moral, but that our morality often fails to produce these intended results. Why? Some experts believe the answer lies in lack of character. Others say we are victims of poor judgment. If we could but discern what is morally right, whether through logical analysis and discourse, through
tuned intuition and a keen moral sense, or through feeling and sentiment, we would act accordingly. Implicit in these different views is the assumption that if we grow up properly, if we can think and feel as we should, and if we can keep a firm hand on the tiller through the storms of circumstance,
all will be well. We can realize our moral potential. Many of our best writers of fiction are less optimistic. Astute observers of the human condition like Austen, Balzac, Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Eliot, Tolstoy, and Twain suggest our moral psychology is more complex. These writers encourage us to look more closely at our motives, emotions, and values,
at what we really care about in the moral domain. In this volume, Batson examines this issue from a social-psychological perspective. Drawing on research suggesting our moral life is fertile ground for rationalization and deception, including self-deception, Batson offers a hard-nosed analysis of
morality and its limitations in this expertly written book.
Author: C. Daniel Batson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 11/16/2015
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.00w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780199355570
Review Citation(s):
Choice 12/01/2016
to be moral, but that our morality often fails to produce these intended results. Why? Some experts believe the answer lies in lack of character. Others say we are victims of poor judgment. If we could but discern what is morally right, whether through logical analysis and discourse, through
tuned intuition and a keen moral sense, or through feeling and sentiment, we would act accordingly. Implicit in these different views is the assumption that if we grow up properly, if we can think and feel as we should, and if we can keep a firm hand on the tiller through the storms of circumstance,
all will be well. We can realize our moral potential. Many of our best writers of fiction are less optimistic. Astute observers of the human condition like Austen, Balzac, Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Eliot, Tolstoy, and Twain suggest our moral psychology is more complex. These writers encourage us to look more closely at our motives, emotions, and values,
at what we really care about in the moral domain. In this volume, Batson examines this issue from a social-psychological perspective. Drawing on research suggesting our moral life is fertile ground for rationalization and deception, including self-deception, Batson offers a hard-nosed analysis of
morality and its limitations in this expertly written book.
Author: C. Daniel Batson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 11/16/2015
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.00w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780199355570
Review Citation(s):
Choice 12/01/2016
About the Author
C. Daniel Batson is an experimental social psychologist. He received a Ph.D. in psychology from Princeton University in 1972, and taught at the University of Kansas until his retirement in 2008. For over 30 years, his research has focused on prosocial motivation, with particular emphasis on
altruistic and moral motivation, and related emotions. He has published well over a hundred research articles and chapters on these topics, as well as two books on altruism. This is his first book on morality.
