Reply to comment

I agree with Haidt that there is a sort of moral intuition ingrained in all of us.  Upon reading the brief story of the brother and sister commiting incest that proceeded the essay, I immediately had a gut reaction (that also provoked me to make a gagging noise aloud).  But even though my gut reaction said what Mark and Julie did was wrong, I saw that it, according to Haidt, caused no harm.  Ew.  And, to prove his point further, I could not find any other reason within myself that it was wrong other than that it just felt that way. 

Probably every group can apply Haidt's theory of an "it just is" type of morality existing within us.  My group is researching genetic testing, a topic which is probably more easily dismissable than, say, abortion or euthanasia, because it can be seen as an advancement in medicine.  Indeed it is, but not all "advancements" are right.  Someone posted that, yes, we can listen to our gut reaction, but sometimes to do what is actually right we need to apply reasoning.  Instictive morality, for some issues, is not enough.  For me, genetic testing is something I have mixed feelings about, but I'm sure further research (reasoning?) will make it clearer.