Moral Psychology: The Cognitive Science of Morality: Intuition and Diversity (Bradford Books) (Volume 2) [Paperback]

Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0262693577 | ISBN-13: 978-0262693578

For much of the twentieth century, philosophy and science went their separate ways. In moral philosophy, fear of the so-called naturalistic fallacy kept moral philosophers from incorporating developments in biology and psychology. Since the 1990s, however, many philosophers have drawn on recent advances in cognitive psychology, brain science, and evolutionary psychology to inform their work. This collaborative trend is especially strong in moral philosophy, and these three volumes bring together some of the most innovative work by both philosophers and psychologists in this emerging interdisciplinary field. The contributors to volume 2 discuss recent empirical research that uses the diverse methods of cognitive science to investigate moral judgments, emotions, and actions. Each chapter includes an essay, comments on the essay by other scholars, and a reply by the author(s) of the original essay. Topics include moral intuitions as a kind of fast and frugal heuristics, framing effects in moral judgments, an analogy between Chomsky's universal grammar and moral principles, the role of emotions in moral beliefs, moral disagreements, the semantics of moral language, and moral responsibility.Walter Sinnott-Armstrong is Professor of Philosophy and Hardy Professor of Legal Studies at Dartmouth College.ContributorsFredrik Bjorklund, James Blair, Paul Bloomfield, Fiery Cushman, Justin D'Arms, John Deigh, John Doris, Julia Driver, Ben Fraser, Gerd Gigerenzer, Michael Gill, Jonathan Haidt, Marc Hauser, Daniel Jacobson, Joshua Knobe, Brian Leiter, Don Loeb, Ron Mallon, Darcia Narvaez, Shaun Nichols, Alexandra Plakias, Jesse Prinz, Geoffrey Sayre-McCord, Russ Shafer-Landau, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Cass Sunstein, William Tolhurst, Liane Young

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Moral Psychology is a remarkable publishing achievement. Sinnott-Armstrong has a real talent for drawing together the cutting-edge researchers in the field, and letting them present their positions and challenge each other. These three substantial volumes cover many of the newer and more exciting issues being raised in ethics and moral psychology today. Essential reading for anyone who wants to know where the field is heading." --Peter Singer, Ira W. Decamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University "In the last decade moral psychology has been transformed into one of the most interesting and important areas of interdisciplinary research--a field where philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, anthropologists and economists interact productively. Recent theories and findings have generated a genuine and justified sense of intellectual excitement. If you want to see what all the excitement is about, this book is a great place to start." --Stephen Stich, Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Rutgers University "Moral Psychology represents a powerful and penetrating discussion of the emerging science of moral behavior. Each volume cross-examines important arguments which lead to fascinating dialogues on this compelling subject. With these volumes, Sinnot-Armstrong is revealed as a leading mind in this field." --Michael S. Gazzaniga, Director, Sage Center for the Study of the Mind, University of California, Santa Barbara

About the Author

Walter Sinnott-Armstrong is Professor of Philosophy and Hardy Professor of Legal Studies at Dartmouth College.

Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: A Bradford Book (October 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262693577
• ISBN-13: 978-0262693578
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #236,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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This review is from: Moral Psychology: The Cognitive Science of Morality: Intuition and Diversity (Bradford Books) (Volume 2) (Paperback)

This second volume of the series on moral psychology continues the fine quality of the first, but with a different emphasis. This time the contributors discuss what role cognitive science has in morality and ethics, but the most important part of the book is in addressing the question of why there is so much variability in ethical doctrines and social mores throughout the peoples of the world. Such diversity raises doubts on the truth of the assertion of a "universal" ethical foundation that is applicable in all cultures and contexts.

The debate on moral diversity takes the form of convergent versus divergent moral realism and is strongly dependent on the ability of each individual to conceptualize or intuit moral concepts. The "common" or "folk theory" usage of moral concepts may be very different than what "professional" philosophers put forward as ethical theories. Even further, and maybe even more interesting, is the (very plausible) assertion made in a few places in the book that contributions by professional philosophers are even completely unnecessary in dialog on ethics and morality. The arguments put forward for this are very convincing but not final, for the fact that philosophers are generally absent in everyday life when real decision-making is taking place raises considerable doubt on the need for their ideas or presence. They have no "dog in the fight" to quote one contributor to the volume. Other contributors though are not so quick to judgment, presenting the need and efficacy of the thought experiments and "armchair" methods of professional philosophers.

Debates on moral responsibility inevitably lead to questions on causation, and this topic is amply represented in this volume. At least to this reviewer, the attribution of causation to certain events is usually done so quickly and "on-the-fly" without in-depth analysis and usually not deploying sophisticated concepts. Perhaps this attribution is a useful fiction that works in the short term in order to avoid lengthy (and therefore) costly deliberations on human actions. Along these same lines, some contributors to this volume are careful to note the difference between moral and criminal responsibility.

But expediency (or pragmatism, which may be a synonym) in dealing with causation may eventually be repeated so often that it becomes codified as a timeless, objective philosophical system. This may result in what some contributors have labeled as "conversational pragmatics", which results in a much wider view of causation in public use than what is actually believed privately.

Considerations of how "ordinary" people (a class never defined in the book) use moral concepts or "moral vocabulary", results in the assertion by some contributors that a clarification or dissection of these concepts will result in a "convergence" to moral truth. Moral relativism is viewed in this framework as a kind of "statistical outlier" that in the final form (after "convergence") will be insignificant or inconsequential. Other contributors however write that moral systems are so incoherent that any sensible discussion of what is moral will always be frustrated. Attempting to collect empirical evidence on moral vocabularies will only reveal more and more divergence, they argue.

For this reviewer, the in-depth study of this book has resulted in the conviction that cognitive science has much to say about ethics and morality, and the volume forms an excellent prequel to the third and final book of the series, which deals with how the field of neuroscience has affected discussions of morality and ethics. Now labeled as `neuroethics", it will put morality and ethics where it should be: in the synapses and processes of the human brain, and it will be the predominant one in the twenty-first century.