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NEUROETHICS Evolution & the Social Brain Social Neuroscience Decision-making Planning Social Attachment Aggression Cooperation Punishment Brain Development Ethology Anthropology Molecular Biology Developmental Psychology Philosophy/Ethics Neuroethics Law & Policy Patricia Churchland UCSD 05/2006 Mental competence Frontality & Responsibility Enhancement Intervention Status as a Person Neural Prosthetics Stem Cells Where do moral principles Come from? 1.Divine authority? 2.Reason? 3.Moral intuition ? Genes Culture Learning Hamilton Axelrod Wilson Frank • we are social creatures • trustworthiness is a value • social isolation is a cost • untrustworthiness is a cost Tom Insel NIMH Larry Young, Emory University Sue Carter, UI at Chicago Densities of oxytocin & vasopressin receptors Pressure on Folk Psych. 1. Reasoning is not indep. of emotion 2. Reasoning is often constraint satisfaction, pattern matching, or imagery 3. Control is regulated by the reward system -- neurochemicals 4. Decisions caused, noncon factors The Self Self - representation Multi-dimensional Brain construct Representations usually valenced Separating fact from values a late sophistication Morality From the Biological Perspective 1. Platform: oxytocin, vasopressin et al. 2. Tuned up by reward system 3. Uses mirror neurons 4. Bonding uses uncon imitation 5. Choice is approx.constraint satisfaction What explains human style altruism? Imitation in Affiliative Behavior 1. In young predicts normal social brain 2. In kith, predicts kin-like & normal social brain 3. In new group member, predicts normal social brain, is like us, will be loyal. RULES: Mainstream Philosophy 1. Needed for morality 2. Determined by reason 3. Internalized by the young 4. Used in moral reasoning to decided what one ought to do Moral resp. arises from social need for civil behavior. a.Socialize children b.Protect ourselves c.Deter adults d. institutionalize revenge Holding Responsible: Did he do it? Can he be treated? Will he do it again? “You cannot derive an ought from an is” Representations are valenced • we are attracted, repelled, curious, etc. Fundamental oughts determined by what we are wired to care about. Self-representations & Subjectivity Basic Platform: coordinating inner body signals & selecting motor command Fancier: Inner distinction between: about me --- about that self/nonself What we count as the “best”explanations are relative to background theories; e.g. Newtonian mechanics, statistical mechanics…….. What we count as the “best” decisions are relative to background theories; e.g. that psychiatric symptoms are neuro, that there are no witches, that homosexuality is not a character flaw…… Derive ‘ought’ from an ‘is’? Scientific reasoning: inference to the best explanation Practical reasoning: inference to the best decision What we ought to believe What we ought to do Moral resp. & sanction arises from social need for civil behavior. a.Socialize children b.Protect ourselves c. Deter adults d. institutionalize revenge