Matthew Taylor: On rationality, growth, inequality and the soul

摘要

American academic and writer Jonathan Haidt changed my life. His book The Happiness Hypothesis not only made me think afresh about how to be contented but was also one reason I was so keen for the RSA to develop its work on understanding the foundations of human behaviour. So I was very much looking forward to his new book, The Righteous Mind. I wasn't disappointed. In essence, the book makes two big arguments in ways that combine pacey writing, humour, scholarship and masses of evidence. First, Haidt demonstrates the truth of science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein's one liner 'man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalising animal'.