Final answer:
Jonathan Haidt described our moral intuitions as quick gut feelings, which are part of our psychological makeup and have developed over millions of years. These intuitions can differ from moral reasoning, which may evolve through stages but not always align with actual behavior.
Step-by-step explanation:
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt has described our moral intuitions as quick gut feelings. These intuitions are seen as a kind of psychological faculty, similar to language and mathematics. They guide our instantaneous judgments of right and wrong, often reflecting our evolutionary past as social animals. These moral instincts have developed over millions of years and are deeply ingrained within our species.
However, moral reasoning and moral behavior can differ significantly. While Kohlberg's theory of moral development outlines stages from pre-conventional to post-conventional morality, individuals may reason in sophisticated manners but act on more basic instincts, revealing a discrepancy between what we may say we would do (moral reasoning) and what we actually do (moral behavior).
This complexity of moral intuition versus moral reasoning highlights the challenging nature of defining 'good' and 'bad', and the impact of cultural influences and personal experiences on our moral judgments.