Do You Have The Moral Compass Of A Toddler?

Do You Have The Moral Compass Of A Toddler?

Are we born with a sense of morality? Or is ethical awareness something we arrive at only as we age? Like nature versus nurture, this is a question so loaded it's become a philosophical exercise as much as a basis for scientific inquiry.

In his Floating University lecture, Yale psychology professor Paul Bloom argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, human beings are not born as blank slates, moral relativists, or tyrannical brats. "Many people would agree with the classic Onion headline... which says: 'New study reveals most children unrepentant sociopaths.' The idea is that children start off immoral, monsters or if not monsters, at least they know not from good and evil." But the data supports an altogether different view of child development.

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