Moral Brains: The Neuroscience of Morality
S. Matthew Liao
Abstract
In the last fifteen years, there has been significant interest in studying the brain structures involved in moral judgments using novel techniques from neuroscience such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Many people, including a number of philosophers, believe that results from neuroscience have the potential to settle or at least move seemingly intractable debates concerning the nature, practice, and reliability of moral judgments. This has led to a flurry of scientific and philosophical activities, resulting in the rapid growth of the new field of moral neuroscience. This volu ... More
In the last fifteen years, there has been significant interest in studying the brain structures involved in moral judgments using novel techniques from neuroscience such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Many people, including a number of philosophers, believe that results from neuroscience have the potential to settle or at least move seemingly intractable debates concerning the nature, practice, and reliability of moral judgments. This has led to a flurry of scientific and philosophical activities, resulting in the rapid growth of the new field of moral neuroscience. This volume is the first to take stock of fifteen years of research in this fast-growing field of moral neuroscience and to recommend future directions for research. It features the most up-to-date research in this area, and it presents a wide variety of perspectives from some of the most significant figures in philosophy, neuroscience, and psychology. The volume is divided into four parts. Part I considers how evidence from neuroscience affects the debate concerning whether moral judgments are the product of reasoning or emotions. Part II assesses the claim that neuroscientific evidence supports the idea that consequentialist judgments are more reliable than nonconsequentialist judgments. Part III presents the latest findings from leading neuroscientists on the study of moral judgments. Part IV offers new ways of drawing philosophical lessons from the scientific data.
Keywords:
neuroscience,
morality,
moral brain,
reasoning,
nonconsequentialism,
consequentialism,
moral judgment,
moral emotions
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2016 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199357666 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2016 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199357666.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
S. Matthew Liao, editor
Director and Associate Professor of the Center for Bioethics, and Affiliated Professor in the Department of Philosophy, New York University
More
Less
