OSHER 199 - Minds & Morals

Recent research from the cognitive sciences and neuro-sciences has attempted to look at the evolutionary and neural origins of moral decisions and judgments. In this course, we will survey some of the more prominent claims of this research and examine the philosophical and ethical implications. For example, some researchers claim we have a 'moral faculty' in the brain designed to identify when events are morally relevant, and that this moral faculty constrains the type of moral system we are able to learn or act on. We'll consider questions such as: Does this mean there is a universal moral system of values that we can discover in virtue of our biological history? What room does this leave for the notion of moral progress, and changing moral values for the better? Other topics include the role of emotion and reason in moral decisions as well as the issues regarding moral responsibility and the prospect of human happiness. The topic is an area of lively current research that is both intrinsically interesting and controversial, and has many implications for how we view human social life.