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Why do we consider incest wrong, even when it occurs between consenting adults unable to have children? Why are words that gross us out more likely to be deemed obscene and denied the protection of the First Amendment? In a world where a gruesome photograph can decisively influence a jury and homosexual behavior is still condemned by some as unnatural, it is worth asking: is our legal system really governed by the power of reason? Or do we allow a primitive human emotion, disgust, to guide us in our lawmaking?In Objection, psychologists Debra Lieberman and Carlton Patrick examine disgust and its impact on the legal system to show why the things that we find stomach-turning so often become the things that we render unlawful. Shedding light on the evolutionary and psychological origins of disgust, the authors reveal how ancient human intuitions about what is safe to eat or touch, or who would make an advantageous mate, have become co-opted by moral systems designed to condemn behavior and identify groups of people ripe for marginalization. Over time these moral stances have made their way into legal codes, and disgust has thereby served as the impetus for laws against behaviors almost universally held to be disgusting (corpse desecration, bestiality) - and as the implicit justification for more controversial prohibitions (homosexuality, use of pornography). Written with a critical eye on current events, Lieberman and Patrick build a case for a more reasoned approach to lawmaking in a system that often confuses gross with wrong.

Product Identifiers

PublisherOxford University Press Inc

ISBN-139780190491291

eBay Product ID (ePID)28046393442

Product Key Features

Number of Pages264 Pages

Publication NameObjection: Disgust, Morality, and the Law

LanguageEnglish

SubjectLaw, Forensics, Psychology

Publication Year2018

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaDevelopmental Psychology, Biological Psychology, Social Psychology

AuthorCarlton Patrick, Debra Lieberman

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height239 mm

Item Weight524 g

Item Width163 mm

Additional Product Features

Country/Region of ManufactureUnited States

Title_AuthorCarlton Patrick, Debra Lieberman

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Objection: Disgust, Morality, and the Law by Carlton Patrick, Debra Lieberman (Hardcover, 2018)