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Jonathan Haidt: Religion, evolution, and the ecstasy of self-transcendence

By - - TED
Added: Tue, 20 Mar 2012 02:39:22 UTC

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt asks a simple, but difficult question: why do we search for self-transcendence? Why do we attempt to lose ourselves? In a tour through the science of evolution by group selection, he proposes a provocative answer.

Jonathan Haidt studies how -- and why -- we evolved to be moral. By understanding more about our moral roots, his hope is that we can learn to be civil and open-minded. His new book is "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion."
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TAGGED: EVOLUTION, MORALITY, TED

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