Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,000+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
Moral Tribes summary
Joshua Greene
Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them
17 mins
Brief summary
'Moral Tribes' by Joshua Greene explores the science behind moral decision-making and how it can lead to conflict. He proposes a new approach to resolving disagreements by developing a shared moral language based on reason and compassion.
Topics
Table of Contents
Moral Tribes
Summary of 6 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 6
Cooperation between groups is often undermined by self-interest or a group’s own sense of morality.
The world is changing rapidly, but humans are still biologically much the same. Evolution has given us the skills to cooperate within groups, but unfortunately, our ability to cooperate between groups still leaves much to be desired. The history of conflict is enough to tell us that.
Mutually beneficial cooperation is endangered by many things, but the clearest threat is what’s known as the tragedy of the commons.
This is fancy sociology speak for the conflict between self-interest and collective interest: in other words, Me Versus Us/ You.
Imagine that Art is journeying alone through the Wild West. He spots the silhouette of another traveler up ahead at a watering hole. Art isn’t sure whether the stranger is armed, but Art does have his pistols with him. They meet and size each other up as their horses drink at the watering hole.
If Art thinks selfishly, there’s little to be lost if he shoots Bud, the stranger. There’d be no chance of Art getting robbed, for starters. But let’s say that Art opts not to shoot Bud, for now. When Art later nods off, Bud spikes his whiskey with poison. Bud, you see, is also afraid of being robbed. When Art wakes, he changes his mind and shoots Bud dead. Then he unwittingly knocks back the poisoned whiskey and dies. If Art and Bud had been less self-interested and instead acted cooperatively, neither would have died.
A second threat to mutually beneficial cooperation is known as the tragedy of commonsense morality. This time it’s a question of Us Versus Them. In other words, one group sets its own values against those of another.
An excellent example of this mentality is demonstrated by the story of the Danish political newspaper Jyllands-Posten. In response to the Islamic hadith forbidding visual depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, it published a series of cartoons satirizing Muhammad in 2005. The general climate was also important: there was an ongoing debate about journalists self-censoring their views on Islam.
Global media outlets followed the controversy. Before long, violent protests sprang up around the Muslim world. Over a hundred people were killed, and Danish embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran were set on fire.
The two groups – Danish journalists and Muslims – were each fighting for what they saw as commonsense morality. The journalists hated feeling censored, while Muslims didn’t want their religion disrespected. But the end result was conflict. This is how commonsense morality can lead to tragedy.
Want to see all full key ideas from Moral Tribes?
Key ideas in Moral Tribes
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is Moral Tribes about?
Moral Tribes (2013) shows how humans have learned to make moral decisions. Humans once lived as close-knit tribes but have now formed more complex societies. We debate everything from abortion laws to global warming and wonder if we’ll ever agree on solutions. These blinks show us how best to make moral decisions that will benefit everyone.
Best quote from Moral Tribes
Cooperation is why were here, and yet, at the same time, maintaining cooperation is our greatest challenge.
—Joshua Greene
Who should read Moral Tribes?
- Generations of the same family sick of arguing about the same things
- Community leaders searching for decision-making guidance
- Rationalists who want to break out of their logic and keep their friends and family happy
Categories with Moral Tribes
Book summaries like Moral Tribes
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked these summaries
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
28 Million
Downloads on all platforms
10+ years
Experience igniting personal growth