notes-philosophy-ethics-purity

Haidt counts "purity" as one of the five universal axes of human morality. Perhaps purity is the ethical mode that protects the community from "viral" or infectious types of badness; whether the infectious agent is germs, amoral culture, political corruption, or anything else which spreads from person to person once it has a foothold in the community.

This is why the Jewish religion includes instructions on what not to eat, and how to purify oneself when one is dirty. At first glance to the modern observer, this seems to not belong in a religion because religion is supposed to be about the supernatural. But if you also allow religion to be about communal morality and codes of ethics, then it fits right in, because if you catch some nasty disease it is injurious to the community (who might catch it from you), not just to you; so being pure is a social obligation just like not beating someone up is.

In the future, perhaps computer "hygiene", as Vernor Vinge puts it, which protects us from computer viruses, will fall under the sphere of purity.