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Paul Grobstein's picture

morality as a brain construction

Submitted by Paul Grobstein on Mon, 04/21/2008 - 10:52am.

Its an interesting thought indeed that morality isn't something "out there" but rather something that is constructed by and within brains. And an even more interesting thought that it is largely something we construct without "thinking about it" and then provide rationales for after the fact. The parallels to language are intriguing. Perhaps we're born not with a morality but rather with an inclination to build one reflecting our experiences with people around us?

From that follows several further interesting questions.

  • How much variation is there in our unconscious morality (follow Rebecca's suggestion and let her compile our responses)?
  • Can we build a more deliberate, ie conscious morality? (follow Ian's suggestion of reflecting on some earlier discussions about moral issues?)
  • What would such a morality look like, and why?

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