Two of my previous posts on moral development described the origins and consequences of following inner expectations and others' expectations. We form our inner expectations (conscience, or what we ...

In a survey involving a total of 2,472 respondents, researchers asked participants about nonpolitical and political moral behavior and nonpolitical and political moral tolerance. They found people ...

A recent study draws a connection between people's bodily awareness and how they find solutions to moral dilemmas.

Your answer to that relates to something that might surprise you: your likelihood to behave “virtuously,” whether forgoing that second serving of potato chips or donating to charity. Consider an ...

This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic, Monday through Friday. Sign up for it here. Over the past eight ...

Political philosophers have long recognized the paradoxical connection between increased safety and greater perceptions of evil. The "Tocqueville paradox," named after the nineteenth-century French ...

The punishment for murder is more severe than the punishment for attempted murder. But it’s not completely obvious why. The person who tried to kill but failed is just as bad a person. One explanation ...

When we read the news, it’s hard not to get depressed about the state of the world. Stories of vitriolic politicians, unethical CEOs, and indifference to the suffering of others fill its pages, ...

There have always been political scandals. But the fact that something can be a scandal means that the bad behavior was out of the ordinary, something to be ashamed of. Lately it feels like ...