Toolbox: How We Use Reason to Morally Justify Anything

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“Toolbox” articles delve into a new way of looking at values, with a view to using these techniques in future articles.

Last week, I introduced the two systems of thinking: System 1, which is based on emotions, intuitions, and heuristics (i.e. rules of thumb), and System 2, which is rational and methodological. Using the Monty Hall problem, a famous brain teaser, I demonstrated how System 1 thinking can lead to mistakes, but also how System 2 can override these errors with time and effort (spoiler alert: it’s extremely uncomfortable, and you would have to be an masochist to want to do that every day).

In this article, I’ll bring the conversation back to values. There is considerable evidence to suggest that value-based judgements are derived from System 1, not System 2. An important piece of proof is “moral dumbfounding”, instances when people have a strong negative moral reaction to a situation (e.g. a moral vignette), but they struggle to explain why they feel that way. If pressed for a justification for their reactions, individuals are left speechless and confused. Sometimes, they conclude that certain acts are just wrong, and no explanation is necessary.

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Toolbox: System 1 and System 2 Thinking

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“Toolbox” articles delve into a new way of looking at values, with a view to using these techniques in future articles.

Philosophers have emphasized the key role of rationality in human decision-making for millennia. To Aristotle, reason was humanity’s defining characteristic, the only factor that separates people and beasts. The central importance of reason was further developed during the Enlightenment through the works of Mill, Smith, and Kant.

However, it was in the last century that the cult of rationality reached its extreme in the form of homo economicus, or “the rational man,” the cold, calculating, self-interested figure that stalks economics textbooks across the world. When faced with an important decision, homo economicus feels nothing. Like a supercomputer, they calculate the predicted utility of all possible outcomes, applies a discount rate on future gains (probably using the interest rate on a U.S. treasury bill), and selects the option that will maximize their overall utility.

No doubt, the model of homo economicus has led to impressive developments in the social sciences, from the influential writings of Milton Freeman to the power of game theory. Even so, it should always be remembered that homo economicus is a model, and like all models, it’s wrong (although it can be useful). From Blink to Nudge, best-sellers are constantly showing that homo economicus doesn’t exist. Our decision-making is often driven by emotions and heuristics (i.e. mental rules-of-thumb that allow people to sidestep the arduous process of reasoning), rather than rationality.

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Wicked Problems: U.S. Gun Control (Part 2)

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Last week, I began a discussion on firearm ownership in the United States and outlined how many gun control activists are struggling to make in-roads with about half of Americans. Of course, I wouldn’t be writing about this issue unless I thought it had something to do with values (this is Values Added, after all).

In this article, I’ll conclude this brief exploration of U.S. firearm politics by outlining the three values (other than Care) that form the moral basis of the opposition to gun control. Then, I’ll look at how gun control efforts can be tailored to minimize the violation of these values.

Liberty (i.e. freedom and autonomy are moral goods)

It’s no secret that American culture is uniquely enamored with the liberty/oppression value, as evidenced by strong libertarian representation at all levels of U.S. government, a group which is made up of are some of the staunchest opponents to gun control. Unrestricted gun ownership tends to harmonize with the Liberty value in two ways. First, the Liberty value asserts that individuals should be free to do whatever they want as long as it doesn’t hurt others. It follows that gun ownership should be unrestricted, and only the improper use of guns should invite legal sanction.

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Wicked Problems: U.S. Gun Control (Part 1)

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Values analysis is an extremely powerful tool in the hands of the policy analyst. We have already seen how it can help develop better advice, improve program design, and illuminate the complexities of contentious policy questions. And values analysis can do so much more: it can also help to develop novel policy packages – ones that may even be more effective than the same old solutions we tend to default to. To prove it, let’s dig into one of the most contentious issues for our neighbors to the south: gun control.

It’s no secret that gun violence is a major public policy issue in the United States. Rates of firearm-related deaths are higher in the U.S. than in any other OECD country, a rate eight times higher than in Canada and nearly 100 times higher than in the UK.  Worse still, gun violence soared in 2020 and 2021, perhaps signaling the end of a multi-decade decline in violent crime. As of 2021, 72% of Americans believe gun violence to be either a “very big problem” or a “moderately big problem.”

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Values and Political Views

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As mentioned in my exploration of moral foundations theory, there are six moral values that people feel. But everyone doesn’t weigh every value equally. Some people may believe the Care value is the most important, but others may disagree. If you’re interested in learning about your values, I recommend taking the Your Morals online survey, which has been completed by hundreds of thousands of people to support research. It’s like a personality test; it’s fun!

Studies like this have led to important scientific findings. Most prominently, political views have been found to be correlated with different sets of moral values. So far, three “moral palettes” – different weightings of the six values – have been tracked:

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Values in Policy Analysis

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In 2018, the Indian ascetic G.D. Agrawal died on the 111th day of a hunger strike protesting the continued pollution of the Ganges River. Mr. Agrawal had subsisted for over one hundred days on only honey, lemon, and water, and in his final week of life he gave up all sustenance, including water. Although hunger strikes are a common part of public life in India, deaths are relatively rare, a fact that illustrates G. D. Agrawal’s intense commitment to his goal.

Mr. Agrawal certainly had a point. The Ganges is one of the most polluted rivers in the world, and this has direct negative impacts on the health and safety of the millions of Indians who depend on the river. The water is filled with dangerous bacteria that kill thousands of Indians a year, and water-borne diseases in the Ganges river-basin cost Indian families an estimated $4 billion a year. Even worse, the bacteria are becoming resistant to standard anti-biotics. Anti-microbial resistance, as this phenomenon is known, has been called a slow-motion pandemic, with the potential to cause 10 million deaths by 2050. The next global health disaster could be evolving in the polluted Ganges right now.

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Toolbox: Moral Foundations Theory

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“Toolbox” articles delve into a new way of looking at values, with a view to using these techniques in future articles.

The first tool, moral foundations theory, is especially important for understanding future articles. Developed by Craig Joseph, Jesse Graham, and (most famously) Jonathan Haidt, moral foundations theory states that there are six fundamental values that explain our moral views. Every person holds all six values to differing degrees, and these values can broadly explain why people have moral reactions to similar situations. In fact, the authors of moral foundations theory go as far to argue that the political differences between liberals and conservatives can be explained through the analysis of the strength of each value – both absolutely and relative to each other – in each group’s moral worldview.

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Values in the News: The Government of Alberta’s $100 Giveaway

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I’m now going to demonstrate why values analysis (using the moral foundations “tool”) is useful for policymaking by looking at a news event: the Government of Alberta’s decision in late 2021 to provide a $100 incentive to newly vaccinated Albertans. Values analysis can help explain the controversy surrounding this decision in a systematic way.

Background

In early September 2021, COVID-19 cases in Alberta surged beyond 1000 per day, overwhelming hospitals and emergency rooms across the province. No doubt, this was related to Alberta’s relatively low vaccination rate. As of September 4, only about 60.2% of Albertans were fully vaccinated, ahead of only Saskatchewan (59%) and far behind Ontario (68.1%), Quebec (71%), and the Canadian leader Yukon Territory (73%). You go Yukon!

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Values Added: Mission Statement

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Public servants always talk about the “value added”; it’s time to add some values.

Economic impact estimates. Cost-benefit analyses. The t-test. In addition to being dreadful topics to bring up on a first date, these are the bread-and-butter tools of policy analysts. We count the costs, summarize the benefits, and make policy recommendations on these grounds. When we talk about trade-offs, it’s usually between rational and quantifiable goods: growth vs. equity; small benefits to many vs. major losses to few; cost vs. effectiveness. Having collected information and having made our recommendations, we then punt the final decision to elected representatives, who are responsible for selecting the correct approach in line with the public interest.

No doubt, this system has led to major successes, as evidenced by the good governance of the Canadian public service. Politically motivated hysterics aside, the Canadian government works, and the same can’t be said about many governments around the world. The high-quality analysis of the Canadian public service deserves plenty of credit for the country’s flourishing over the past century-and-a-half. I would never suggest that these methods should be abandoned.

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