Name: The Moral Landscape
Rating: 4.3 (30 reviews)
Author: Sam Harris

Introduction

What’s in it for me? Discover what makes you feel that something is right or wrong.

Most people consider themselves morally upstanding citizens, yet every day the newspaper is filled with depictions of crimes and deplorable actions that spark moral outrage.

How can so many good people commit actions that are morally wrong?

The answer is, of course, that our moral compasses are highly variable and, as it turns out, highly unreliable.

To better understand them and morality in general, we should look deeper into the inner workings of the human brain, where sensations of morality occur, rather than in ancient religious tomes which claim to lay down the law when it comes to morality.

In these blinks, you’ll read about moral relativists, who believe you shouldn’t care whether you live in a world of constant bliss or one where you’re tortured continuously.

You’ll also see how you could stop a careening train in its tracks as long as you’d be willing to murder someone.

Finally, you’ll find out why certain cultural practices, like genital mutilation, can be considered morally deplorable no matter what the cultural background.

Key idea 1 of 9

Morality isn’t supernatural: it’s governed by physical and chemical processes in our brains.

Most people have a sense of morality and will readily proclaim, for example, that helping people is right but killing them is wrong. You’re probably nodding in agreement in your seat right now, right?

But have you ever paused to think about where morality comes from?

Many people believe that morality has been derived from religious teachings and was originally determined by a divine power. However, the more we understand about the brain, the more we see that morality is actually a completely natural consequence of our neurology.

So let’s examine the brain more closely: it turns out that there’s nothing mystical about it and, like all our other organs, it functions only through chemical, electrical and physical processes, for example, the release of dopamine or a firing synapse.

These processes together form our brain state: a physical state which reflects how we’re experiencing the world at that moment. These brain states are near universal to all humans, which means that if you examine the brains of two people who both feel sad, for example, the brain states will have the same pattern.

This physicality means that morality can also be traced back to brain states: we decide whether an action is moral or immoral by discerning whether it makes us feel good or not, and the brain state of “feeling good” is induced by the regulation of neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin.

For example, cooperating with someone is an action that typically makes us feel good. It’s no surprise then that feeding the hungry (cooperative behavior) is usually considered more moral than letting them starve, which entails no cooperation at all.

The fact that brain states determine how we perceive the morality of actions means that the only possible way to approach moral questions is through our understanding of the brain. This approach can offer us far more useable knowledge about morality than the anecdotes and parables in ancient religious texts.

Key idea 2 of 9

Morality has its roots in our evolutionary history.

As you now know, our sense of morality is intimately tied to our brain states. To properly understand this connection, we must examine how the brain came to be in the first place.

Like all other products of evolution, the brain was built upon the evolutionary developments that preceded it.

Unlock the full key idea

Key idea 3 of 9

We can’t reconcile moral relativism with our lived experience of the world.

When you travel or read about other countries and cultures, you might wonder whether the right answers to moral questions aren’t culture dependent: what’s considered right in one place is wrong in another.

But some go even further than this assertion, claiming that there simply aren’t any right or wrong answers to moral questions at all.

Unlock the full key idea

Key idea 4 of 9

In spite of being difficult to define, we can use increases and decreases in “well-being” to gauge morality.

Besides debating the very existence of universal morality, one of the big questions for moral and ethical philosophers is: “What criteria do we use to judge moral behavior?” In other words, what makes something moral or immoral in our eyes?

Simply put, the only way we can measure the morality of an action is by analyzing whether it increases or decreases well-being, meaning everything we value in life, such as our health, happiness, relationships and so forth.

Unlock the full key idea

Key idea 5 of 9

Answers to moral questions are meaningful, even if the absolute answers are unreachable.

Many people feel that morality is strongly dependent on cultural context: what’s considered wrong in one culture may be right in another. They also insist that, because of this, there are no answers to moral questions about whether one cultural practice is more right or wrong than another.

But, as you will see, this reasoning just doesn’t stand up against closer scrutiny.

Unlock the full key idea

Key idea 6 of 9

In a moral landscape, there are many possible “right” answers to moral questions.

People often tend to think of morality as binary: something is either right or wrong, with no exceptions or middle ground.

But this isn’t a good way to accommodate the diverse experiences we encounter in life.

Unlock the full key idea

Key idea 7 of 9

Our moral compass is fickle, so we need objective science to answer moral questions.

Do you have a strong moral compass? Most people think they do, but our moral judgment is, in fact, often steered by situational factors.

For example, our moral judgments can be swayed by the fact that we tend to naturally fear losses more than we appreciate gains.

Unlock the full key idea

Key idea 8 of 9

Free will is an illusion, but our social institutions are based on it.

Do you think criminals deserve to be punished for their crimes?

Many of the social institutions in society, e.g., the legal system, are based on the idea that we have the freedom to choose our own actions.

Unlock the full key idea

Key idea 9 of 9

Final Summary

The key message in this book:

There’s nothing supernatural about morality; it arises from physical and chemical reactions in our brain. To find right and wrong answers to moral questions, we can look at whether the answers increase or decrease “well-being.” However, if we think of morality as a landscape with peaks and valleys, we see that there are many possible “correct” answers to moral questions.

Unlock the full key idea

The Moral Landscape summary