Human fairness means overriding merit to aid the needy.
Evidence
I discuss evidence from human and nonhuman primates that supports the overall approach, but highlights a gap in explaining the human specificity of moral cognition. I suggest that an essential characteristic of human fairness is to override concerns about merit in favor of promoting the welfare in others who are needy. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 591
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the reader’s Big God / fumi-e analysis: the Japanese authorities in Silence exploit exactly this tension by making apostasy visible regardless of inner merit. — connects to: Fairness-driven giving is distinct from welfare-trade-off favoritism. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality: The…, 16; People accept large inequalities they judge as earned or deserved. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality: The…, 712; Earned entitlements reshape perceived fairness in resource division. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality: The…, 117 (+1 more)
- DEEPTHINKING: The claim that fairness transcodes merit-based deservingness in favor of need is a genuinely paradigm-shifting way to define fairness against meritocratic intuitions.
Related
- Fairness-driven giving is distinct from welfare-trade-off favoritism. (similarity 0.85)
- People accept large inequalities they judge as earned or deserved. (similarity 0.84)
- Fairness evolved to distribute payoffs by input, not equally. (similarity 0.83)
- Humans pervasively prefer meritocratic benefit distributions. (similarity 0.82)
- Fairness-based morality is uniquely human despite similar selective conditions in animals. (similarity 0.82)
- Human morality may rest on a general normativizing capacity, not a dedicated fairness module. (similarity 0.81)
- People disagree persistently about what makes inequality fair (similarity 0.81)
- Earned entitlements reshape perceived fairness in resource division. (similarity 0.80)
- Sensitivity to merit and equity emerges early and universally in children (similarity 0.80)
- Deriving fairness from bargaining power threatens to reduce moral norms to mere bargaining. (similarity 0.79)
- Morality is an evolved sense of fairness, not a late intellectual achievement (similarity 0.79)
- Moral obligations require overriding force that natural selection doesn’t explain (similarity 0.79)
- Moral fairness may itself have been shaped by natural selection. (similarity 0.78)
- Objections to huge salaries stem from perceived contribution, not raw egalitarianism. (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- People accept large inequalities they judge as earned or deserved.
#contradicts(0.95) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 712 - Earned entitlements reshape perceived fairness in resource division.
#contradicts(0.90) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 117 - Fairness evolved to distribute payoffs by input, not equally.
#contradicts(0.85) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 310