Summary of Joshua Greene's Moral Tribes

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The Parable of the New Pastures is a sequel to the Tragedy of the Commons. It illustrates the problem of cooperation. When individual and collective interest are neither perfectly aligned nor perfectly opposed, as in Hardin’s parable, any one of the herders is better off adding more animals to her herd, but this leads to collective ruin, which is not in anyone’s best interest.

#2 The reason why individuals can accomplish things together is because sometimes they can spread their genetic material in new and more effective ways. This principle has guided the evolution of life on earth since the start.

#3 The tension between individual and collective interest exists in many situations that we don’t consider cooperative. For example, when you buy something from a store, you trust the storekeeper to give you what you paid for, but they also expect you to hand over a real ten-dollar bill and not counterfeit money.

#4 The essence of morality is unselfishness, or a willingness to pay a personal cost to benefit others. Morality evolved as a solution to the problem of cooperation, as a way of averting the Tragedy of the Commons.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822518513

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Insights on Joshua Greene's Moral Tribes

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Parable of the New Pastures is a sequel to the Tragedy of the Commons. It illustrates the problem of cooperation. When individual and collective interest are neither perfectly aligned nor perfectly opposed, as in Hardin’s parable, any one of the herders is better off adding more animals to her herd, but this leads to collective ruin, which is not in anyone’s best interest.

#2

The reason why individuals can accomplish things together is because sometimes they can spread their genetic material in new and more effective ways. This principle has guided the evolution of life on earth since the start.

#3

The tension between individual and collective interest exists in many situations that we don’t consider cooperative. For example, when you buy something from a store, you trust the storekeeper to give you what you paid for, but they also expect you to hand over a real ten-dollar bill and not counterfeit money.

#4

The essence of morality is unselfishness, or a willingness to pay a personal cost to benefit others. Morality evolved as a solution to the problem of cooperation, as a way of averting the Tragedy of the Commons.

#5

The idea that morality evolved as a device for intergroup competition is not obvious, but it is essential for it to have done so. If morality is a set of adaptations for cooperation, it evolved not only to put Us ahead of Me, but also to put Us ahead of Them.

#6

We can take morality in new directions that nature never intended. We can, for example, donate money to faraway strangers without expecting anything in return. From a biological point of view, this is just a backfiring glitch, but from our point of view, as moral beings, it may be exactly what we want.

#7

The modern tragedy is the Tragedy of Commonsense Morality, the problem of life on the new pastures. morality is part of the solution, but it’s also part of the problem. It may be able to avert the Tragedy of the Commons, but it might not be able to avert the Tragedy of Commonsense Morality.

#8

Morality is a collection of devices that promote and stabilize cooperative behavior. These devices are implemented in our moral brains. They explain why we fight.

#9

The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a classic example of the tension between individual interest and collective interest. Individually, Art and Bud are better off confessing, but collectively they are better off keeping quiet.

#10

The Golden Rule is the most straightforward solution to the Art and Bud’s cooperation problem. It is also the most common solution to the problem of how we can care about others and still want to compete with them.

#11

Familial love helps genetic relatives find the magic corner, but what about people who aren’t related. They can find the magic corner by giving one another the right incentives. Reciprocity, or reciprocal altruism, is when two people cooperate with each other because they have a productive future that depends on their present cooperation.

#12

The logic of reciprocity can be implemented in humans through conscious reasoning, but it can also be implemented through emotional dispositions. Reactive emotions, properly configured, can incentivize cooperative