I’m putting Right on the left because I always prefer chronological progressions, in tables, left to right.
| Right | Left |
| Republican | Democratic |
| Red | Blue |
| Traditional | Progressive |
| Conservative | Liberal |
| Tribal | Metropolitan/Cosmopolitan |
| Small town | Big city |
| Monocultural | Multi-cultural |
| In-group prioritization (e.g. the Ten Commandments don’t apply to out-groups) | Out-group acceptance; expansion of the moral circle |
| Restricted moral circle | Expanded moral circle |
| Restriction of options | Expansion of options |
| Ideology; assertions | Conclusions from evidence; science |
| Anti-education (or home education) to avoid conflicts with tribal mythology and values | Education about the reality of the world (e.g. here) |
| Mythos | Logos |
| Superstition, animism, seeing every disaster as a portent from God | Acknowledgement of reality, awareness of coincidence, and the randomness of the universe |
| Short-term thinking | Long-term thinking |
| Personal needs | The greater good, in a global world |
| Simplicity [Simplex] | Complexity [Complex; Multiplex] |
| Black and white thinking | Understanding shades of gray, and even colors |
| Zero-sum games, e.g. as when Trump thinks for him to win, everyone else must lose | Non-zero-sum interactions that have driven human history and progress |
| Conformist, to align with traditional values and the tribe; rejecting diversity | Individualist, in the sense of allowing people to live as they like; encouraging diversity |
| Rugged individualist | Collectivist minded when necessary, to solve big problems the rugged individualists cannot |
| Backwards | Forwards |
| Prone to conspiracy theories; unaware of how complex the world is | Acknowledgement of complexity, coincidence, and the implausibility of most conspiracy theories |
| MAGA | Woke |
| The agricultural revolution: Hunter/gatherers | The agricultural revolution: Farmers |
Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind [blog post]
| Conservatives are concerned about loyalty vs. betrayal, authority vs. subversion, sanctity vs. degradation | Progressives are concerned about care vs. harm, fairness vs. cheating, liberty vs. oppression |
| Grand Narrative: The struggle to return to a golden past | Grand Narrative: The struggle for equality and happiness |
Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral development (Wikipedia; blog post):
| Obedience to rules to avoid punishment; conformity to group behavior | Social contracts; universal ethical principles |
Joshua Greene, Moral Tribes (review):
| Commonsense (tribal) morality | Deep pragmatism (utilitarianism) |
Tim Urban, What’s Our Problem? (review):
| The primitive mind is “a set of coded instructions for how to be a successful animal in the animal’s nature habitat” | The higher mind can think outside itself and self-reflect and become wiser with experience |
| Zealot | Attorney | Sports fan | Scientist |
George Lakoff, The Political Mind (review):
| Conservatives are concerned about obedience, responsibility, and discipline | Progressives concerned with empathy, protection, and empowerment |
Carel Van Schaik & Kai Michel, The Good Book of Human Nature: An Evolutionary Reading of the Bible (post):
| First nature is our innate feelings, reactions, and preferences that evolved over hundreds of thousands of years as hunter-gatherers. | Second nature is learned; it varies from culture to culture. These are traditions and customs, religion as a cultural product, and rules of decency, politeness, and good manners. | Third nature reflects our rational side. These are conscious practices and institutions that enable analysis of a given situation. |
A point that applies to this entire exercise is that things are not black and white; there are shades of gray, even color, in the way humans deal with reality (while conservatives tend toward black and white, which is so much simpler to deal with).
