Prospect online this week

Why do you have the moral beliefs you do? You will probably be able to clearly articulate your beliefs and the reasons you have for holding them—and even to use these reasons to try to persuade others. So you may think that rationality plays a large part in the formation of your moral belief system.

Yet an emerging cross-disciplinary area of study—call it "moral psychology"—is beginning to find empirical support for the proposition that when it comes to morality, it is our emotions in the driving seat rather than our reason—whether we are aware of it or not. In a fascinating web exclusive for Prospect, Dan Jones explains.

Also this week, Shaun Walker, the Independent's Moscow correspondent, on how the west's recognition of Kosovo has given fresh impetus to the attempts by Abkhazia, the breakaway province of Georgia, to achieve full independence.