Between Fixed and Fickle
Why Our Moral Views Keep Changing
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Harvard University Press
Publishing:24th Apr '26
£29.95
This title is due to be published on 24th April, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
A psychologist explains why—and how—moral views change across different life stages, situations, and historical eras.
We like to believe that moral truths are obvious and unchangeable: cheating is wrong, killing is wrong, slavery is wrong. Yet people have often cheated, killed, and enslaved without regret. The acts that feel glaringly wrong to us in the here and now can seem fine to someone who is younger, or faces different circumstances, or lived a century ago.
Why does morality appear so unstable? The popular explanation is that emotions, self-interest, and social pressure easily divert people from moral concerns because they lack sincere moral commitment. But the evidence shows otherwise. Drawing on studies of young children, adolescents, and adults, Audun Dahl argues that human morality is neither immutable nor capricious, neither fixed nor fickle. Rather, people change their moral views when they believe they have good reasons to—reasons that they can articulate to themselves and would endorse for others.
The science of moral change cannot resolve our ethical dilemmas: it does not tell us what’s morally right or wrong. But it can help us understand why we have moral views in the first place, why those views keep changing, and why moral views that seem obvious to us aren’t obvious to everyone else. Separating moral psychology from moralizing, Between Fixed and Fickle reveals what’s behind our changing agreements and disagreements as we travel toward shared and hard-won moral truths.
The usual picture of human morality is a bleak one. Even if we endorse noble principles, we seem prone to falling short of them when swayed by personal interests or unacknowledged emotions. Between Fixed and Fickle provides a more sympathetic perspective on our waywardness: typically, it shows, we can offer articulable reasons for our apparent inconsistencies. Audun Dahl’s account can help us better understand student cheating, supposedly ‘blind’ obedience to authority, and even racial discrimination. Guided by his comprehensive analysis, the psychological study of morality can make a fresh start—and with good reason. -- Paul L. Harris, author of Trusting What You're Told
Science cannot dictate morality, but it can help to explain it. Audun Dahl’s terrific book brings to life the latest scientific research on the moral psychology at work in our daily lives. He finds that people's moral values and actions are neither fixed nor fickle but adaptable to changing concerns and circumstances, usually for reasons that are comprehensible if not always defensible. This is science writing at its very best. -- Michael Tomasello, author of A Natural History of Human Morality
In this fascinating and compelling book, Audun Dahl takes the reader on a journey through the many vexing questions that morality raises in our lives, including where it comes from, why moral views change across time, and what role reasoning plays in moral decision-making. Between Fixed and Fickle offers cutting-edge research and profound theoretical reflections on why moral judgments are at the core of our existence. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the ongoing debates about morality in historical and contemporary life. -- Melanie Killen, editor of Handbook of Moral Development
ISBN: 9780674292086
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
288 pages