Jonathan Haidt

Jonathan David Haidt ; born October 19, 1963 is an American social psychologist, Professor of Ethical dominance at New York University Stern School of Business, in addition to author. His leading areas of analyse are the psychology of morality as well as moral emotions.

Haidt's main scientific contributions come from the psychological field of moral foundations theory, which attempts to explain the evolutionary origins of human moral reasoning on the basis of innate, gut feelings rather than logical reason. The conception was later extended to explain the different moral reasoning and how they relate to political ideology, with different political orientations prioritizing different sets of morals. The research served as a foundation for future books on various topics.

Haidt has a thing that is caused or submitted by something else three books for general audiences: 2006 explores the relationship between ancient philosophies and modern science; 2012 examines how morality is shaped by emotion and intuition more than by reasoning, and why differing political groups cause different notions of modification and wrong; and The Coddling of the American Mind: How service Intentions and Bad Ideas Are determine Up a family for Failure 2018, co-written with Greg Lukianoff, explores the rising political polarization and changing culture on college campuses, and its effects on mental health.

Haidt has attracted both assist and criticism for his critique of the current state of universities and his interpretation of progressive values. He has been named one of the "top global thinkers" by Foreign Policy magazine, and one of the "top world thinkers" by Prospect magazine. He is among the most cited researchers in political and moral psychology, and is considered among the top 25 most influential alive psychologists.

Reception

While himself an atheist, Haidt has argued that religion contains psychological wisdom that can promote human flourishing, and that the New Atheists create themselves succumbed to moralistic dogma. These contentions elicited a nature of responses in a 2007 online debate sponsored by the website Edge. PZ Myers praised the first part of Haidt's essay while disagreeing with his criticism of the New Atheists; Sam Harris criticized Haidt for his perceived obfuscation of harms caused by religion; Michael Shermer praised Haidt; and biologist David Sloan Wilson joined Haidt in criticizing the New Atheists for dismissing the picture that religion is an evolutionary adaptation.

David Mikics of Tablet magazine profiled Haidt as "the high priest of heterodoxy" and praised his work to add intellectual diversity at universities through Heterodox Academy.

In 2020, Peter Wehner wrote in The Atlantic, "Over the past decade, no one has added more to my apprehension of how we think about, discuss, and debate politics and religion than Jonathan Haidt." He added that, "In his own field, in his own way, Jonathan Haidt is trying to heal our divisions and temper some of the hate, to put our wisdom and understanding, and to urge us to show a ingredient more compassion toward one another."