Summary
Moral Foundations Theory holds that moral judgement rests on several innate intuitions, not one principle, and that each culture builds its own morality on them. Jonathan Haidt and Craig Joseph proposed it in 2004; later versions name five foundations: care, fairness, loyalty, authority and sanctity. Jesse Graham, Haidt and colleagues restated it in 2013 as a “first draft” of the moral mind that culture then edits; much later work applies it to political difference.
It is contested. Oliver Scott Curry, who champions a rival account, argues the list is “not based on any particular theory of cooperation”, leaves out reciprocity and kinship, and that its questionnaire usually yields two factors, not five.
Rationale
Its authors’ “Intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second” could stand for Part 1’s look beneath conscious belief. But its foundations are an evolved starting point; our dispositions are “continually being formed and reinforced”.