Comparative moral principles: justifications, values, and foundations

The article compares three influential theories used in sociology and psychology to categorize types of morality—Boltanski & Thévenot’s justification theory, Schwartz’s basic human values theory, and Haidt’s moral foundations theory—to simplify across frameworks while retaining nuance and to translate concepts among them. A comparative table evaluates correspondences and distinctions, yielding a summary framework of Comparative Moral Principles (CMP) consisting of eight principles to compare, explain, and interpret moral motivation and meaning-making: Liberty, Inspiration, Safety, Community, Care, Equality, Deservingness, and Competition.