"Moral Foundation Theory and the Law" by Colin Prince

Moral foundation theory argues that there are five basic moral foundations: (1) harm/care, (2) fairness/reciprocity, (3) ingroup/loyalty, ... Skiptomaincontent SeattleUniversityLawReview HomeAboutFAQMyAccount     Home > StudentPublicationsandPrograms > SULR > Vol.33 > Iss.4(2010)   ArticleTitle MoralFoundationTheoryandtheLaw Authors ColinPrince Abstract Moralfoundationtheoryarguesthattherearefivebasicmoralfoundations:(1)harm/care,(2)fairness/reciprocity,(3)ingroup/loyalty,(4)authority/respect,and(5)purity/sanctity.Thesefivefoundationscomprisethebuildingblocksofmorality,regardlessoftheculture.Inotherwords,whileeverysocietyconstructsitsownmorality,itisthevaryingweightsthateachsocietyallotstothesefiveuniversalfoundationsthatcreatethevariety.Haidtlikensmoralfoundationtheorytoan“audioequalizer,”witheachcultureadjustingtheslidersdifferently.Theresearchers,however,werenotcontenttosimplycategorizemoralfoundations—theyhavetiedthefoundationstopoliticalleanings.Anditisherethatmoralfoundationtheorybecomesatrulypracticaltoolforthelawyer....ThisCommentwillusemoralfoundationtheory,andtherecognitionofthisdiscontinuitybetweentheliberalandconservativemoralfoundations,todemonstratehowalawyercanavoidpolarizingandintractablemoraldebatesandbecomemorepersuasiveinthecourtroom.Todoso,wewilllookatKennedyv.Louisiana,wheretheSupremeCourtbarredcapitalpunishmentforchildrape.IchoseKennedybecausethefactsofthecasetouchclearlyuponallfivemoralfoundationsandbecausethejurisprudenceitself,asweshallsee,issoclearlybasedonmoraljudgment.ThroughreadingKennedy,Iwillpresentbothageneralandaspecificthesis:generally,lawyersandjudgesshouldusemoralfoundationtheorytoanalyzemoralmotivations,andspecifically,themajorityinKennedyfailedtodothisandthusreducedthepersuasivenessofitsopinion.PartIIwillmorefullyexplainmoralfoundationtheoryanditsevolutionaryroots.PartIIIwillpresentthefactsandlawofKennedyanddiscussthemoralfoundationimplications.PartIVwilllookathowtheuseofmoralfoundationtheorycantailorargumentstocarrymorepersuasiveweight. RecommendedCitation ColinPrince,MoralFoundationTheoryandtheLaw,33SEATTLEU.L.REV.1293(2010). 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