The Blog

#36: When in a Moral Morass Think With Your Gut

Are you a moral hypocrite? Of course you are. So are we. We condemn behavior in others that we judge acceptable, even virtuous, if we do it.

Why? Because we always look for the easy way. We want the social benefits of being seen as nice without having to work at being nice.

You’re not all bad, though. Consider the state of the planet. Surely, it is a miracle that we have survived for as long as we have. Here’s one reason why – our sensitivity to unfairness.

As many social experiments have shown, we are pretty good at spotting and punishing antisocial behavior.

This means that your gut is already programmed to feel when you are behaving like a moral hypocrite.

So, when in doubt about how to behave, think with your gut and not with your mind.


Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.