Wednesday, 22 April 2009

• Defining the difference between "Conservative" and "Liberal"...

  Yesterday the following article caught my eye.

  Liberals and Conservatives Hold Different Moral Foundations

  Now, on the face of it, this is obvious, but a little deeper reading and and analysis yields a lot to think about.

  First, they base their analysis on what they call the "five foundations". 

  These are:
  1.    harm/care
  2.    fairness/reciprocity
  3.    ingroup/loyalty
  4.    authority/respect
  5.    purity/sanctity

  Liberals place the most weight on the first two and conservatives spread out their moral foundation among all five.  Now, no one I know would mistake me for a conservative, and I do place emphasis on harm/care, which I consider to be protection from predators and giving a person the opportunity to grow.  I also place emphasis on fairness/reciprocity which is what I call "justice".  Now, my personal sense of "protection" and "justice" will not allow me to screw over a stranger to help a friend although I will go way out of my way to help a friend.  It will also not allow me to screw over anyone just because a "leader" told me to.  I do not believe that anyone has unquestionable authority and what they do had better make sense according to my values. Finally, I do not believe that I can push my religious beliefs on anyone just because I do not approve of their actions, "judge not lest ye be judged..." holds a lot of weight for me.  I have seen a lot of "annotated" versions of this where people try and justify being judgemental, but they all ring hollow with me.  I prefer to try and be an example rather than a critic, but my sense of protectiveness and justice can override this when people are harming others.

   

  • 10:08 AM
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