Psychology

Different worldviews, different morals: America’s culture war divide?

Document Type

Article

Abstract

In this article, it is argued that moral reasoning is premised upon more comprehensive worldviews, and it is suggested that moral behaviors in part serve to maintain these worldviews. A worldview is defined as providing an account of what it means to be human, the nature of reality, and the reasons and remedies for human suffering. Interviews with adults whose moral evaluations and reasoning place them on opposite sides of the current American culture war are used to illustrate the argument. It is argued that these adults differ in their moralities because of differences in their worldviews. A discussion is provided of how the present approach to moral psychology compares to the cognitive-structuralist approach, and of research directions suggested by the present approach. © 1997 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Publication Title

Human Development

Publication Date

1997

Volume

40

Issue

6

First Page

325

Last Page

344

ISSN

0018-716X

DOI

10.1159/000278737

Keywords

adults, culture, culture war, moral behavior, moral reasoning, worldview

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