Describe the seven universal moral rules, according to the largest and most comprehensive intercultural study

A study by anthropologists from the University of Oxford, UK, on ​​60 cultures from around the world describes what they consider to be seven universal moral rules, constituting what constitutes the most important of the worlds. the largest and most comprehensive intercultural survey ever conducted.

These rules include helping the family, collaborating with the group, giving favors, being courageous, respecting superiors, distributing resources fairly and respecting the property of others, reported today. Europa Press.

Previous studies had badyzed some of these rules in several places, but none had evaluated them in a large number of societies, such as the one now published in Current Anthropology.

The team at the Oxford Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology has badyzed the ethnographic ethics accounts of 60 societies, comprising more than 600,000 words from more than 600 sources.

The debate between universalists and moral relativists "has lasted for centuries, but we now have some answers: people everywhere face a similar set of problems and use a similar set of moral rules to solve them," said Oliver Curry, author main. principal investigator of the Institute.

For researchers, it has been proved that the theory that morality has evolved to promote cooperation and that, since there are many types of cooperation, there are many types of morality.

According to the status of "morality as cooperation", the selection of loved ones explains why we feel obliged to take care of our families and hate incest.

Mutualism explains why we form groups and coalitions (there is strength and security in numbers) and, therefore, why we attach importance to unity, solidarity and loyalty. .

Meanwhile, social exchanges explain why we trust others, we give favors, feelings and gratitude, repair and forgive.

And conflict resolution explains why we engage in skilled demonstrations of skills such as courage and generosity, why we respect our superiors, why we divide conflicting resources fairly and why we recognize the ownership of other.

Research first revealed that these seven cooperative behaviors were still considered morally good. Secondly, they found examples of this in almost every society, and, above all, there was no contrary case: none considered them morally wrong.

And thirdly, these behaviors have been observed with equal frequency on all continents; they were not the exclusive property of "the West" or any other region. Among the Amhara of Ethiopia, "the rejection of obligations to the family is considered a shameful deviation, indicating a perverse character". In Korea, there is a "community ethic of mutual badistance and cooperation between neighbors and strong solidarity within the group". Among the Maasai, "those who retain the warlike virtues are still highly respected", while the Bemba manifest "a deep respect for the authority of the elders".

"We hope this research will help promote understanding between people of different cultures, an understanding of what we have in common, and how and why we are different," concluded Curry.