Moral Brains: The Neuroscience of Morality

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 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. There is now a vast array of ongoing scientific research devoted towards understanding the neural correlates of moral judgments, accompanied by a large philosophical literature aimed at interpreting and examining the methodology and the results of this research. This is the first volume to take stock of fifteen years of research of 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 on this topic.

Table of Contents:
Contributors Morality and Neuroscience: Past and Future S. Matthew Liao Part I: Emotion vs. Reason 1. Sentimentalism and the Moral Brain Jesse Prinz 2. The Rationalist Delusion? A Post Hoc Investigation Jeanette Kennett and Philip Gerrans 3. Emotion versus Cognition in Moral Decision-Making: A Dubious Dichotomy James Woodward Part II: Deonotology vs. Consequentialism 4. Beyond Point-and-Shoot Morality: Why Cognitive (Neuro)Science Matters for Ethics Joshua Greene 5. The Limits of the Dual-Process View Julia Driver 6. Getting Moral Wrongness into the Picture Stephen Darwall 7. Reply to Driver and Darwall Joshua Greene Part III: New Methods in Moral Neuroscience 8. Emotional Learning, Psychopathy, and Norm Development James Blair, Soonjo Hwang, Stuart F. White, and Harma Meffert 9. The Neuropsychiatry of Moral Cognition and Social Conduct Ricardo de Oliveira-Souza, Roland Zahn, and Jorge Moll 10. Morphing Morals: Neurochemical Modulations of Moral Judgment and Behavior Molly Crockett 11. Of Mice and Men: The Influence of Rodent Models of Empathy on Human Models of Harm Prevention Jana Schaich Borg Part IV: Philosophical Lessons 12. Is, Ought and the Brain Guy Kahane 13. Are Intuitions Heuristics? S. Matthew Liao 14. The Disunity of Morality Walter Sinnott-Armstrong Index

About the Author :
S. Matthew Liao is Director and Associate Professor of the Center for Bioethics, and Affiliated Professor in the Department of Philosophy at New York University. He is the author of The Right to Be Loved (Oxford University Press); co-editor of Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights (Oxford University Press); and over 50 articles in philosophy and bioethics. He has given a TED talk in New York, will give a TEDx talk at CERN in October, and has been featured in the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, the BBC, Harper's Magazine, Sydney Morning Herald, Scientific American and other media outlets. He is the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Moral Philosophy, a peer-reviewed international journal of moral, political and legal philosophy.

Review :
"An accessible, comprehensive, and straightforward introduction to the neuroscientific study of morality and its use in philosophical arguments. The book aims to take stock of the last fifteen years of research and features fifteen essays by renowned scholars in the field. The comprehensive introduction by Liao and the book's reflections on the latest developments in the field set it apart from alternatives...researchers and students interested in morality today are well advised to be familiar with its neurological underpinnings, not only to gain more robust evidence about how 'we' think about morality but also to find out what kind of research would be needed to advance the philosophical debate. Reading this book will set them up to a solid start." --Metapsychology Online Reviews