The Neuroscience of Morality

Dr Guy Kahane reviews some of the most striking findings of recent neuroscientific research on morality, and consider whether this research might indeed change to the way we think about ethics.

Moral philosophers have been arguing for centuries about the fundamental questions of ethics. In recent years, neuroscience has joined the debate, reporting surprising findings about the neural basis of morality, and the role of emotion in moral judgment. Some scientists predict that this research will revolutionise the practice of ethics; many ethicists think that this is confused, and that there is only one way to pursue ethics: from the philosopher’s armchair.

Dr Guy Kahane is deputy director of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and the Wellcome Centre for Neuroethics, both at the Faculty of Philosophy, the University of Oxford. Kahane has published on the neuroscience of morality, applied ethics, and metaethics. He is co-editor of 'Enhancing Human Capacities', forthcoming from Wiley-Blackwell.

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