Moral dispositions are thin and unreliable beyond close communities

Evidence

Typically, strong norms are likely to be embedded in close communities that mobilize commitment to their norms with such sanctions as shunning and exclusion. The deliberate creation of such systems might, however, be more harmful than beneficial (Hardin 1995, chapter 4). Moral dispositions are probably widespread but relatively thin and unreliable for the vast number of quasi exchange relations we have that are not with people we know well enough to rely on their morality. Thin moral dispositions might often be enough, however, to tip our behavior, especially when they are combined with “thin” or weak institutional and other incentives. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 281

Categorization

• XREF: Directly supports the reader’s thesis: in total blindness the community’s thinning of moral dispositions predicts Hobbesian degradation, since no close dense community persists and no institutional mimicry survives. — connects to: The ‘close to home’ criterion breaks down when moral concern for creatures overrides proximity. — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 26