Transcript Week 3 - Lifelong Learning Academy

The Moral Instinct
Definition
Morality is a system of
complex behaviors
which evolved to
promote social cohesion
and hence contribute to
individual survival.
The Moral Instinct
• Universal innate tool-kit created thru Darwinian
selection and modified by cultural and religious
influence.
• Modeled on Chomsky’s universal language.
• Largely unconscious without conscious reasoning.
• Emotion first. Reason follows post-hoc.
• Generally involves issues of harm, fairness and
disgust.
• Damage causes deficit in moral judgment.
Morality
The Moral System
• Complex interrelationship of somatic sensations,
limbic input, and frontal lobe restraint and
modification.
• Unconscious- fast, automatic, limited and
involuntary.
• Conscious: slow, deliberate, wide-ranging and
thoughtful.
The Social Imperative
• Groups survive better than individuals in
securing food and in protection from
predators.
• Animals demonstrate mutualism, empathy and
cooperative territorialism.
• A system of complex behaviors evolved to
promote social cohesion and hence contribute
to individual survival.
• Cooperation and reciprocity.
Moral v. Social Rules
• Moral Rules are universal principles with
early childhood acquisition that govern
welfare and fairness and usually expressed
unconsciously.
• Social Rules govern group coordination
which are acquired thru learning and tend to
be more relative and less imperative.
Natural
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Unconscious
Orbitofrontal
Instinctive
Favor those close
Active worse than
passive
• Immediate > distant
Rational
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Conscious
Dorsolateral frontal
Weigh priorities
Treat all the same.
Consequences
important
• Immediate = distant
Animal Behavior
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Reciprocity- Food for sex (chimps)
Theory of Mind- Concealment and empathy
Mutualism but not long-term cooperation.
Animals have laser-beam intelligence.
Humans have flood-light intelligence i.e.
greater flexibility.
Gazzaniga Social and Ethical
Modules
• Reciprocity- fairness
and equality
• Suffering- sympathy
• Hierarchy – rank and
dominance
• In-group / out-group
– identifiable
differences
• Purity – disease
defense, virginity
Ethical Modules
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Universal toolkit. Analogy with language.
Intuitive, unconscious, generally
uncompromising
Emotion first, reason follows
Swiss Army knife analogy.
Injury (Phineas Gage) Disease ( Frontal
Temporal Dementia)
Fairness/Reciprocity Module
• Social contract: fairness and equality.
• Cooperation: Virtues- trust, gratitude,
respect, admiration, satisfaction.
• Cheat: guilt, shame, gossip, revenge,
contempt, anger.
• Issues of Distribution. Equality (need) vs.
Proportionality (effort)
Harm/Suffering Module
• Harm condemned with exceptions e.g. selfdefense.
• Intent vs. accident.
• Sympathy for those in pain, contempt for
those who cause pain.
• Virtues: compassion, empathy, kindness.
• Conflict- Infanticide, abortion.
In-group / Out-group Module
• Kin group cohesion ( shared genes)
• Detection of danger.
• Identifiable differences –skin color, dress,
and accent.
• Virtues: cooperation, self-sacrifice, loyalty,
patriotism, and heroism.
• Robber’s Cave.
Golden Rule
• Present in all major religions- a statement of
reciprocity.
• Hamilton’s Rule- Golden Rule is
proportional to genetic relatedness.
Disgust/Purity Module
• Defense against disease.
• Universal disgust and fear: spoiled foods,
body fluids, death, pedophilia
• Control of genetic certainty-virginity.
• Powerful, rapid and automatic.
• Cultural- Stereotypes, language, skin color.
Secrets, Lying and Promises
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Less rigid and more situationally dependent.
Part of the moral toolkit.
“ white lies”
Intention v. omission
Breaking promises for the greater good.
Delayed Gratification
• Moral support system to control temptation for
long term goals.
• Impulsive behavior leads to social problems:
gambling, overeating, sexual promiscuity,
alcoholism.
• Children and cookies- SAT scores, stable
marriages. The Marshmallow Experiment.
• When resources limited, impulsivity may be
better.
Trolley Dilemma
Trolley Dilemma
• Scenarios
• Principle of intentional battery: forbids
unpermitted bodily contact.
• Principle of foreseen consequences:
foreseen bad effects are outweighed by the
greater good.
• Choose kin over non-kin, humans over
animals, in-group over foreigners.
Summary
• Moral actions are judged by unconscious and
inaccessible systems.
• Principles are fixed as to what is forbidden,
permissible, and obligatory but the range of
behaviors are not limited.
• Religions and laws do not create moral judgments.
They have adopted them.
• Rationality and utilitarianism do not always
prevail.