Secular Café: Sex With Your Sibling

Secular Café Discuss philosophical concepts and moral issues.

Sex With Your Sibling Apr 19th 2012, 14:48 "Imagine for a second that a brother and sister are on vacation. They are alone, and there is no chance that they will be seen by anyone else. They both engage, consensually, in kissing, which leads to sexual intercourse. The brother and sister used protection, so there is [virtually] no risk of pregnancy or disease. Both agree that it was an enjoyable experience, but that they wouldn't want to do it again." This article from Psychology Today nicely summarizes a question that moral psychologist Jon Haidt has been asking people of different cultures for decades. This is part of the work that culminates in his recent book The Righteous Mind, which I highly recommend as one of the most well-researched, cohesive accounts of moral psychology I've read. In most cultures, as many as 65% answer that it would be wrong for siblings to have sexual intercourse. Haidt argues that this stems from our our evolved sense of "moral purity." Most liberally-minded atheists tend to see the world, Haidt argues, solely in terms of "care" and "fairness", and so wouldn't see any harm in siblings having consensual sex. But we're definitely in the minority on that view, as most cultures see morality in terms of five distinct principles, namely "care," "fairness," "loyalty," "authority," and "purity." Do you think it's moral to have sexual relations with a sibling? Or is it immoral? If, like most secularists, you say "no harm, no foul," how do you justify your view?

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