Edouard Machery – Religion and the scope of the moral domain

According to Elliot Turiel, religious affiliation does not influence the distinction between so-called “moral” and “conventional” norms. By contrast, according to Jonathan Haidt, religious affiliation results in a broadened moral domain: As he puts it, “big gods have big moralities.” This talk will present new data showing the limits of both Turiel’s and Haidt’s views. The scope of the moral domain is neither fixed nor is simply broadened by religion. A more sophisticated understanding of the relation between religion and morality is thus called for.