"Readers of Fixes know that our primary mission each week is to highlight strategies that work to effect social change and improve lives. In her column last week, Tina Rosenberg zeroed in on some of the strategies that successful efforts have in common. They are crucial, but there is also something fundamental that underlies all these efforts: the human ability to imagine that wrongs can be righted, and the belief that change can happen.
Where does that sort of moral imagination — and the courage to act on it — come from? Researchers have found that people who display moral courage often perceive themselves to be “strongly linked to others through a shared humanity” and feel a sense of responsibility that is not limited to intimates. How this conviction takes shape is largely a mystery: The science of altruism is still young. We know that parenting matters, but it doesn’t explain the phenomenon: siblings from the same family often have very different levels of commitment to moral values.
Looking at the experiences of those who have demonstrated moral courage can instruct us. Last week, this year’s recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi — both honored for their struggles to protect and defend the rights of children — gave their Nobel lectures in Oslo. Malala’s extraordinary youthful courage is well documented, but Satyarthi’s story is less well known. It is well worth hearing."
Read article by David Bornstein from The New York Times Opinionator.
Where does that sort of moral imagination — and the courage to act on it — come from? Researchers have found that people who display moral courage often perceive themselves to be “strongly linked to others through a shared humanity” and feel a sense of responsibility that is not limited to intimates. How this conviction takes shape is largely a mystery: The science of altruism is still young. We know that parenting matters, but it doesn’t explain the phenomenon: siblings from the same family often have very different levels of commitment to moral values.
Looking at the experiences of those who have demonstrated moral courage can instruct us. Last week, this year’s recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi — both honored for their struggles to protect and defend the rights of children — gave their Nobel lectures in Oslo. Malala’s extraordinary youthful courage is well documented, but Satyarthi’s story is less well known. It is well worth hearing."
Read article by David Bornstein from The New York Times Opinionator.
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