Abstract: Whereas evidence from social surveys and neuroscience research suggests that disgust is correlated with moral judgment, there is a debate over whether disgust influences general or specific moral judgment. The present review presents arguments and evidence from both sides of the debate and discusses them from an evolutionary perspective that emphasizes the functioning of disgust in defending germs and diseases. Future research needs to identify and categorize sources of disgust, distinguish between physical disgust and moral disgust, and measure implicit attitudes towards moral violations after disgust priming.

Key words: disgust, moral judgment, moral disgust, purity, social emotion, domain-specificity