Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil in Science and Inquiry

Aug 09, 2019 Petra X rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019-read, 2019-100-reviews, medicine-science, reviewed

"Our moral lives have two parts. It starts with what we are born with, and this is surprisingly rich: babies are moral animals, equipped by evolution with empathy and compassion, the capacity to judge the actions of others, and even some rudimentary understanding of justice and fairness. But we are more than just babies. A critical part of our morality—so much of what makes us human—emerges over the course of human history and individual development. It is the product of our compassion, our imag "Our moral lives have two parts. It starts with what we are born with, and this is surprisingly rich: babies are moral animals, equipped by evolution with empathy and compassion, the capacity to judge the actions of others, and even some rudimentary understanding of justice and fairness. But we are more than just babies. A critical part of our morality—so much of what makes us human—emerges over the course of human history and individual development. It is the product of our compassion, our imagination, and our magnificent capacity for reason."

The book is an elucidation of every detail of the above paragraph. It doesn't limit itself to babies, but is as much as a sweeping philosophical overview as it is science-based factual evidence of how we behave (even when no-one is watching).

How babies as young as three days are the subjects of experiments is quite fascinating. Basically it's all in the sucking, the gazing and a little later, the reaching and grabbing.

It is a unique book and although easy to read, is also personally challenging as to what one believes and does oneself. I feel a little guilty that whenever I am in the US, or UK, I don't give to the beggars that line the streets and sleep in the parks. I also find it immoral that some of the richest nations on earth should have let such people, almost all mentally-damaged to fall through the cracks. I think I will be more generous when i go back to the US in a few days and not cross the road and invent excuses why not to help. The book has certainly made me think.

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The book could be entitled simply Morals. But it wouldn't have hooked me! So far, fantastic read, definitely a 5 star. ...more

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Oct 30, 2013 Gofita rated it really liked it

Shelves: psychology, science, ethics, 2014-read

Bloom's approach to our origins of morality were simple and to the point. It's not a huge book and he's a lot of details out. Even the research he refers to is only referred as one or two studies. One or two studies does not a causation make but it's still an interesting correlation.

I really liked his discussions on learning to moral reason. That's what makes us different. We can think through why we want to be vegetarians or vegans. We can also reason ourselves into why we hate certain types of ...more

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