Episode 329: Why We Suffer

About this episode

David and Tamler discuss cultural perspectives on suffering and morality, referencing Richard Shweder's work and a paper on monogamy.

David and Tamler return to the work of Richard Shweder and colleagues, focusing this time on his foundational paper "The "Big Three" of Morality (Autonomy, Community, Divinity) and the "Big Three" Explanations of Suffering. What are the various ways that people explain suffering and illness across cultures? What do we lose when we only emphasize biomedical explanations? Why can't social psychology be more like this? Plus a new Chalmers (not that one) paper argues that monogamy is impermissible. Hello ladies! Join at the right Patreon tier and vote on an episode topic! [patreon.com] Chalmers, H. (2019). Is monogamy morally permissible?. The Journal of Value Inquiry , 53 (2), 225-241. Harry Chalmers' Substack post on Monogamy Shweder, R. A., Much, N. C., Mahapatra, M., & Park, L. (1997). The "big three" of morality (autonomy, community, and divinity) and the "big three" explanations of suffering. In A. Brandt & P. Rozin (Eds.), Morality and health (pp. 119–169). Routledge.

People in this episode

Hosts: David, Tamler Sommers

Topics covered

• suffering
• morality
• cultural explanations
• biomedical explanations
• monogamy

Keywords

• suffering
• morality
• cultural perspectives
• biomedical
• monogamy

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The 'Big Three' of Morality (Autonomy, Community, Divinity) and the 'Big Three' Explanations of Suffering, Is monogamy morally permissible?

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