Morality

About: Morality is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 22623 publications have been published within this topic receiving 545733 citations. The topic is also known as: moral & morals.

Institutions and Culture

Abstract: How and why does distant political and economic history shape the functioning of current institutions? This paper argues that individual values and convictions about the scope of application of norms of good conduct provide the "missing link". Evidence from a variety of sources points to two main findings. First, individual values consistent with generalized (as opposed to limited) morality are widespread in societies that were ruled by non-despotic political institutions in the distant past. Second, well functioning institutions are often observed in countries or regions where individual values are consistent with generalized morality, and under different identifying assumptions this suggests a causal effect from values to institutional outcomes. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications for future research.

"Any animal whatever': Darwinian building blocks of morality in monkeys and apes.

Abstract: To what degree has biology influenced and shaped the development of moral systems? One way to determine the extent to which human moral systems might be the product of natural selection is to explore behaviour in other species that is analogous and perhaps homologous to our own. Many non-human primates, for example, have similar methods to humans for resolving, managing, and preventing conflicts of interests within their groups. Such methods, which include reciprocity and food sharing, reconciliation, consolation, conflict intervention, and mediation, are the very building blocks of moral systems in that they are based on and facilitate cohesion among individuals and reflect a concerted effort by community members to find shared solutions to social conflict. Furthermore, these methods of resource distribution and conflict resolution often require or make use of capacities for empathy, sympathy, and sometimes even community concern. Non-human primates in societies in which such mechanisms are present may not be exactly moral beings, but they do show signs of a sense of social regularity that — just like the norms and rules underlying human moral conduct — promotes a mutually satisfactory modus vivendi.

Nothing more than feelings? The role of emotions in moral judgment

Abstract: There is a powerful tradition that views emotions as harmful to the process of moral judgment and decision-making. Stemming from the writings of Kant and others, who viewed emotions as undependable forces that are largely outside of our control, this view has had a large influence on moral psychology. It is argued that this tradition is based on a definition of emotion that is no longer tenable given recent evidence concerning emotional processes. Rather, emotions are often reliable reflections of moral beliefs, and are open to conscious regulatory control, enabling the individual to use emotional responses to serve moral goals. In support of this, evidence is reviewed demonstrating the features of emotion-specifically the empathic response-that make it advantageous for the process of moral judgment. These features are then organized into a theoretical framework of moral judgment that describes the dialectic between affect and moral reasoning, thus allowing emotions to re-enter the arena of the study of moral reasoning and moral judgment.

The nature of morality : an introduction to ethics

Abstract: Gilbert Harman, Princeton University. D This introductory ethics text opens with an examination of a central problem about ethics-its apparent immunity from observational testing. In an informal yet precise style, Professor Harman considers possible responses to this problem, such as extreme nihilism, ethical naturalism, emotivism, and the Ideal Observer Theory. He also relates the way morality appears to involve some sort of moral law, incorporating Kant's theory, then Hare's and Sartre's in his discussion, and asks how this is to be understood. Then the possibility of a social source of moral law is explored. The discussion moves on to a consideration of how moral principles can be said to give one reasons to do things, in which the author offers a naturalistic theory of reasons. Finally, he introduces egoism and utilitarianism as views about the nature of reasons.