Morality without religion (F. de Waal. TED 2011) - and without philosophy?

The two pilars of morality: Empathy and reciprocity

Moral enhancement (Julian Savulescu)

Julian Savulescu on the moral obligation to improve our moral dispositions (BBC Free Thinking Festival, 2011)


Julian Savulescu on moral enhancement  (from Nigel Warburton's website)

Oxytocin, trust, empathy and morality (Paul Zak)

Trust, morality — and oxytocin: Paul Zak on TED.com

What drives our desire to behave morally? Neuroeconomist Paul Zak shows why he believes oxytocin (he calls it “the moral molecule”) is responsible for trust, empathy, and other feelings that help build a stable society. (Recorded at TED Global, July 2011, in Edinburg, Scotland. Duration: 16:35.



Video: Link

How the Mind Makes Morals (P. Churchland, 2011)

"Self-preservation is embodied in our brain’s circuitry: we seek food when hungry, warmth when cold, and sex when lusty. In the evolution of the mammalian brain, circuitry for regulating one’s own survival and well-being was modified. For sociality, the important result was that the ambit of me extends to include others — me-and-mine. In some species, including humans, seeing to the well-being of others may extend to include friends, business contacts, and even strangers, in an ever-widening circle. Oxytocin, an ancient body-and-brain molecule, is at the hub of the intricate neural adaptations sustaining mammalian sociality. Among its many roles, oxytocin decreases the stress response, making possible the friendly, trusting interactions typical of life in social mammals. Two additional interconnected evolutionary changes are crucial for mammalian sociality/morality: first, modifications to the reptilian pain system that yield the capacity to evaluate and predict what others will feel and do, and notably in humans, also what others want, see, and believe; second, an enhanced capacity to learn, underscored by social pain and social pleasure, which allowed acquisition of the clan’s social practices, however subtle and convoluted."
Link to the video

Churchland and Sinnott-Armstrong: Two neurophilosophers talk about recent research on neuroenhancement, psychopathy, etc... and why some philosophers become experimental neuroscientists

Link to the video below:

A Conversation between Patricia Smith Churchland and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong

Tania Singer on Social Neuroscience

Social neuroscience, emotional contagion, empathy and compassiom

Patricia Churchland's new book: BRAINTRUST

The Science Network (TSN) has recorded a conversation on the brain and morality at Columbia University between Roger Bingham, neurophilosopher Patricia Churchland and philosopher Jesse Prinz. Bingham followed up with Churchland for a discussion about "Braintrust" as a part of TSN's Science Studio series. TSN has also filmed an informal presentation Churchland gave on “Braintrust” at Warwick’s bookstore in La Jolla, California. Link to these videos here

Literature meets neuroscience: novelist Siri Hustvedt talks with Antonio Damasio

Neuroscience, free will, the unconscious, Freud, literature, philosophy, Merleau-Ponty, psychopathy, the neural basis of morality, language, memory...


Siri Hustvedt and Antonio Damasio: VIDEO

Buddhist ethics and the brain: Matthieu Ricard

Rebecca Saxe: On the neural basis of morality - changing moral judgments by using TMS

Changing the moral judgments of people using transcranial magnetic stimulation. 



G. Bedi e.a. (2010): "Is Ecstasy an "Empathogen"? Effects of ±3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine on Prosocial Feelings and Identification of Emotional States in Others"

 

Abstract

Background: Users of ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), "ecstasy," report that the drug produces unusual psychological effects, including increased empathy and prosocial feelings. These "empathogenic" effects are cited as reasons for recreational ecstasy use and also form the basis for the proposed use of MDMA in psychotherapy. However, they have yet to be characterized in controlled studies. Here, we investigate effects of MDMA on an important social cognitive capacity, the identification of emotional expression in others, and on socially relevant mood states. Methods: Over four sessions, healthy ecstasy-using volunteers (n = 21) received MDMA (.75, 1.5 mg/kg), methamphetamine (METH) (20 mg), and placebo under double-blind, randomized conditions. They completed self-report ratings of relevant affective states and undertook tasks in which they identified emotions from images of faces, pictures of eyes, and vocal cues. Results: MDMA (1.5 mg/kg) significantly increased ratings of feeling "loving" and "friendly", and MDMA (.75 mg/kg) increased "loneliness". Both MDMA (1.5 mg/kg) and METH increased "playfulness"; only METH increased "sociability". MDMA (1.5 mg/kg) robustly decreased accuracy of facial fear recognition relative to placebo. Conclusions: The drug MDMA increased "empathogenic" feelings but reduced accurate identification of threat-related facial emotional signals in others, findings consistent with increased social approach behavior rather than empathy. This effect of MDMA on social cognition has implications for both recreational and therapeutic use. In recreational users, acute drug effects might alter social risk-taking while intoxicated. Socioemotional processing alterations such as those documented here might underlie possible psychotherapeutic benefits of this drug; further investigation of such mechanisms could inform treatment design to maximize active components of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy.


Biological psychiatry  2010, vol. 68, n^o12, pp. 1134-1140

Looking for the frontiers of human flourishing and well-being: Morality as an undeveloped branch of neuroscience and psychology (Sam Harris, 2010)

SB: A philosophically very controversial and problematic attempt to formulate the bases of  a science of morality.

On Being No One: Neuroscience and the myth of the self (a lecture by philosopher and cognitive scientist Thomas Metzinger)

"The self is an illusion that is no one's illusion"

"The tragedy of the ego disolves because strictly speaking nobody is ever born and nobody ever dies"

Neuroscientist and philosopher Adina Roskies on free will and how we make moral decisions

(Professor Roskies, min. 18 - 40)

Patricia Churchland on neuroethics

Early prefrontal cortex damage and impairment of moral capacities: a psychopathy-like syndrome

“No behavioral abnormalities were observed until the age of three years, when she was first noted to be largely unresponsive to verbal or physical punishment. Her behavior became progressively disruptive, so much so that, by age 14, she required placement in the first of several treatment facilities. Her teachers considered her to be intelligent and academically capable, but she routinely failed to complete assigned tasks. Her adolescence was marked by disruptive behavior in school and at home (for example, failure to comply with rules, frequent loud confrontations with peers and adults). She stole from her family and from other children and shoplifted frequently, leading to multiple arrests. She was verbally and physically abusive to others. She lied chronically. Her lack of friends was conspicuous. She ran away from home and from treatment facilities. She exhibited early and risky sexual behavior leading to a pregnancy at age 18. Contingency management in residential treatment facilities and the use of psychotropic medication were of no help. After repeatedly putting herself at physical and financial risk, she became entirely dependent on her parents and on social agencies for financial support and oversight of her personal affairs. She did not formulate any plans for her future and she sought no employment. Whenever employment was arranged, she was unable to hold the job due to lack of dependability and gross infractions of rules. Affect was labile and often poorly matched to the situation, but superficial social behavior was unremarkable. She never expressed guilt or remorse for her misbehavior. There was little or no evidence that she experienced empathy, and her maternal behavior was marked by dangerous insensitivity to the infant’s needs. She blamed her misdeeds and social difficulties on other people, and she denied any difficulties with cognition or behavior.”

“Impairment of social and moral behavior related to early damage in human prefrontal cortex” Steven W. Anderson, Antoine Bechara, Hanna Damasio, Daniel Tranel and Antonio R. Damasio (1999)

The "is" of science and the "ought" of morality

"So, I come to this field both as a philosopher and as a scientist, and so, my real, core interest is in this relationship between the "is" of moral psychology, the "is" of science, and the "ought" of morality. What I'd like to do is present an alternative metaphor [to the one that Haidt offered], an alternative analogy, to the big picture of moral psychology. " Joshua Greene.

Emotional intelligence (EI), moral behaviour and stroke lesions

EI is linked to virtues like sincerity, having a good perception of one's own and other
people’s feelings, being capable of communicating our feelings to others,
being capable of controlling our emotions, self-esteem, not
giving up in the face of adversity, social awareness, being empathetic, being
satisfied with one's own lives, being confident and optimistic... (see e.g. 1 or 2 for different approches to EI)

Recent research - see "The impact of stroke on emotional intelligence"  Hoffmann e.a. (2010)  - suggest certain stroke lesions impair emotional intelligence.

The authors of the study conclude that:

"Stroke impairs EI and is associated with the three principal frontal syndrome
complexes of apathy, disinhibition and dysexecutive functioning. In addition
it was demonstrated that an extensive emotional network, at least by lesion
analysis, impairs EI. Does EI testing really matter? Neuroplasticity is an
inherent process whereby the brain shapes itself through repeated experiences.
The corresponding neural connections are strengthened and the ones less used,
weakened. The discovery of the relatively late maturation of the
prefrontal circuitry for modulation of emotion suggests a neurological window
of opportunity for helping children (or adults), for example to learn the best
EI repertoire. With the newly appreciated concept of adult neurogenesis
and ongoing neuroplasticity, one may extrapolate that this applies to people
with stroke or traumatic brain injury."

The Virtue of Creativity

Susan Greenfield on creativity (2008):

Review of recent (2010) empirical work on moral psychology

For an exhaustive presentation of research on moral psychology see the chapter "Morality" (Haidt, J., & Kesebir, S. (2010). in S. Fiske, D. Gilbert, & G. Lindzey (Eds.) Handbook of Social Psychology, 5. Hobeken, NJ: Wiley. Pp. 797-832.th Edition

It can be requested from http://people.virginia.edu/~jdh6n/mailit.php?src=haidt.kesebir.2010.morality.handbook-of-social-psych.pub077.pdf