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Bob Frank's avatar

The interesting thing about Haidt's research you cited here is the implication thereof. Volokh pokes at it a little bit, further down in the article:

> If it is the case that conservatives understand liberals better than liberals understand conservatives, why is that? Haidt’s hypothesis is that it is because conservative values are more overlapping than liberals–conservatives have a “thicker” moral worldview that includes all five values, whereas liberals have a “thinner” view that rests on only two variables. Thus, the liberal moral values are constituent part of the [conservative] views, but not vice-versa. So conservatives can process and affirm liberal moral views and liberals literally cannot understand how someone could be both moral and conservative–the moral values that might be animating a conservative (say, tradition or loyalty) are essentially seen by liberals as not being worth of moral weight. So conservatives who place weight on those values are literally seen as “immoral.”

What the article is hinting at, but being very careful not to actually say in so many words, is extrapolating this point to its logical conclusion. As Jonathan Haidt has recounted elsewhere, he began as a liberal — a very committed one, who started researching moral psychology in an attempt to help Democrats win elections! — but his research and analysis made him move to the right.

If the notion that "conservative morality is a superset of liberal morality, thus conservatives can easily understand the liberal mindset but not vice versa" is correct, it strongly implies that what you're asking for here ("If you don’t understand your adversaries’ mindset, you won’t persuade me.") is literally not possible. When a liberal begins to understand the conservative mindset, *that is when they stop being a liberal.*

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Derek Simmons's avatar

In your experience and opinion, what has happened over past four or five election cycles to bring civil discussion into such disuse and the object of political disdain?

I thank you for this piece, and for the “backstory” that was its genesis.

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