Criticism
Haidt was criticized for oversimplification and lenience toward moral beliefs that historically led to grave injustices. In a response to Haidt's suggestion that atheists "pollute the scientific study of religion," author Sam Harris wrote, "Even if Haidt's reading of the literature on morality were correct, and all this manufactured bewilderment proves to be useful in getting certain people to donate time, money, and blood to their neighbors—so what? Is science now in the business of nurturing useful delusions? Surely we can grow in altruism, and refine our ethical intuitions, and even explore the furthest reaches of human happiness, without lying to ourselves about the nature of the universe."
Social Psychologist John T. Jost said Haidt's map of innate moral values risks putting "a smiley face on authoritarianism"
Read more about this topic: Jonathan Haidt
Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“The critic lives at second hand. He writes about. The poem, the novel, or the play must be given to him; criticism exists by the grace of other men’s genius. By virtue of style, criticism can itself become literature. But usually this occurs only when the writer is acting as critic of his own work or as outrider to his own poetics, when the criticism of Coleridge is work in progress or that of T.S. Eliot propaganda.”
—George Steiner (b. 1929)