The hottest Moral Psychology Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Philosophy Topics

The psychology of evil

Building the Builders • 19 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
đź“– Philosophy Moral Psychology
  1. Evil often grows from self-deception: when anger and grievance get untethered from real values, people justify rumination and victim narratives that can escalate into destructive behavior.
  2. The key choice point is what you do when you notice you’re spiraling — either honestly examine your motives and reorient toward constructive aims, or rationalize and double down, and those repeated choices determine whether you heal or become corrosive.
  3. The antidote is to reorient toward building real values: take responsibility, calibrate your feelings to the facts, limit rumination, and pursue constructive solutions instead of getting energy from others’ downfall.

1/(Effective Altruism)

Philip’s Newsletter • 41 implied HN points • 13 Dec 25
đź“– Philosophy Moral Psychology
  1. Effective Altruism often treats distant and future lives as equally important, but it can also make sense to discount impact by distance and time and prioritize helping those nearest to you.
  2. If many people are giving, focusing on nearby recipients can increase measurable impact and coordination because local help reduces uncertainty and leads to better collective outcomes.
  3. Caring more about people close to you can support social stability and cooperation, and regardless of strategy, giving more generally benefits both recipients and the giver.

Random bits of philosophy

Philosophy bear • 50 implied HN points • 20 Nov 25
đź“– Philosophy Moral Psychology
  1. Today, many people view exploitation as worse than disobedience, reflecting a shift in values compared to the past. We are more horrified by the abuse of power than by the breaking of traditional rules.
  2. When judging past actions, it's often argued that people from history should be seen in their own context. However, it's important to recognize that some actions, like slavery, were wrong regardless of the era.
  3. Intuitions guide our understanding of moral and philosophical concepts but may not always point to objective truths. They often reflect our own principles instead of revealing universal truths.

Why be good?

Philosophy bear • 143 implied HN points • 22 Jul 25
đź“– Philosophy Moral Psychology
  1. Caring for others can make your own life feel more meaningful. When you invest in other people's well-being, you often find joy and purpose in your own life.
  2. Being good helps create consistency in your feelings and attitudes. If you resent others when they do bad things, being moral yourself can bring harmony to your thoughts.
  3. Building connections with others is easier when you care about them. Genuine friendships often rely on shared values, and caring for people can help foster those meaningful relationships.

Compassion ceilings

Philosophy bear • 214 implied HN points • 17 Nov 24
đź“– Philosophy Moral Psychology
  1. Some jobs limit how compassionate a person can be. This means people in certain roles cannot show their full kindness because of their job requirements.
  2. If the most compassionate people are excluded from roles, the overall compassion in that group decreases. This can lead to a culture that is less caring and more harsh.
  3. Compassion ceilings can have negative effects, even if the actions causing them aren't seen as wrong. The result is a workplace or society that is less understanding and more likely to harm others.
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Apprentice, Partner, Mentor, Monk

Vic's Verdict • 1 implied HN point • 19 Jan 26
đź“– Philosophy Moral Psychology
  1. Duty is an active form of love that pulls people into four archetypal callings—apprentice (serving elders), mentor (serving dependents), partner (serving peers), and monk (serving strangers).
  2. How you best serve others depends on your toolkit—body, mind, heart, or soul—and each mode has strengths and risks if overused, from burnout to emotional vampirism or authoritarianism.
  3. You must regularly check your motives to tell angelic duty from its selfish impostors, because true duty is a way of being beyond a job and needs to be balanced with personal desires.

Carl Schmitt, Friendship, and Technology

Theory Matters • 0 implied HN points • 19 Feb 26
đź“– Philosophy Moral Psychology
  1. Technology and AI are changing how people make and keep friends; they can provide companionship but also deepen loneliness and enable harmful behavior.
  2. Social bonds are weakening in ways that spill into politics, turning personal relationships and everyday institutions into battlegrounds and eroding solidarity.
  3. We need clearer ideas of what friendship is to rebuild it; classical views that value friends for who they are offer a guide, and using modern political theory to explain these changes should be done with caution.

Wealth, Trauma, Splendor - Introduction 2.0

Inland Nobody • 0 implied HN points • 18 Dec 25
đź“– Philosophy Moral Psychology
  1. The ethical framework is to Increase Wealth, Decrease Trauma, and Increase Splendor so people can find and build lasting meaning without being told what to believe.
  2. Wealth means surplus resources (money, time, social, mental, physical) and provides the freedom and capacity to do meaningful work and help others, but it’s neutral and must be stewarded well.
  3. Reducing unnecessary trauma and cultivating splendor (happiness, self-fulfillment, self-actualization, and meaning-creation) frees people to self-author and produces positive, compounding benefits for society and future generations.

The Source of Ought

Expressive Egg • 0 implied HN points • 13 Jan 24
đź“– Philosophy Moral Psychology
  1. Morality cannot be derived from facts alone, as quality is not inherent in quantity.
  2. The 'is-ought' problem highlights the challenge of determining what is good or bad based purely on factual information.
  3. Quality and moral truth cannot be found in emotions, activities, or self-centered attention, but rather in mindful and soft focus attention.