Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us About Morality

What is morality? Where does it come from? And why do most of us heed its call most of the time? In Braintrust, neurophilosophy pioneer Patricia Churchland argues that morality originates in the biology of the brain. She describes the "neurobiological platform of bonding" that, modified by evolutionary pressures and cultural values, has led to human styles of moral behavior. The result is a provocative genealogy of morals that asks us to reevaluate the priority given to religion, absolute rules, and pure reason in accounting for the basis of morality. Moral values, Churchland argues, are rooted in a behavior common to all mammals--the caring for offspring. The evolved structure, processes, and chemistry of the brain incline humans to strive not only for self-preservation but for the well-being of allied selves--first offspring, then mates, kin, and so on, in wider and wider "caring" circles. Separation and exclusion cause pain, and the company of loved ones causes ple

• Conscience: The Origins of Moral Intuition
• Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain
• Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
• The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
• Touching a Nerve: Our Brains, Our Selves
• Neuroethics: Challenges for the 21st Century
• The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Penguin Classics)
• The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge
• Neuroethics: Mapping the Field
• The Evolution of Morality (Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology)