Introductory description

PH380-15 Moral Psychology: The Science of Good and Evil

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

• Why do humans experience moral intuitions, and why do they make ethical judgements?
  Is this a consequence of their cooperative natures (Hamlin 2015)? Or could it be an
  elaborate way of managing terror of death (Pyszczynski 2016)?
• What are the effects of social inequality on the ethical behaviours of nonhuman animals
  (Hippel, Ronay, and Maddux 2016)?
• Why does morality vary so much across cultures, and why are there themes that recur
  across cultures (Graham et al. 2013; Curry, Mullins, and Whitehouse 2019)?
• Could scientific discoveries undermine or support moral principles (Singer 2005; Greene
  2014)?
• Do humans substantially and systematically disagree on ethical matters? If so, does this threaten moral realism or moral epistemology (Doris and Plakias 2008; Enoch 2009; McGrath 2008)?
• What do dual-process theories of moral cognition claim? Is there any evidence for them (Van Bavel, FeldmanHall, and Mende-Siedlecki 2015; Greene 2015)?
• What is the role of emotion in moral psychology (Haidt 2001; Huebner, Dwyer, and Hauser 2009; Cameron, Lindquist, and Gray 2015; Nichols 2002)?
• Are there innate drivers of morality? Why do infants behave prosocially and respond to prosocial behaviour by others from the second year of life or earlier (Brownell 2013; Hamlin, Wynn, and Bloom 2007; Hamlin 2013; Olson and Spelke 2008)?
• Moral judgements modulate, and are modulated by, thoughts and acts of physical cleansing (Schnall, Benton, and Harvey 2008; Zhong and Liljenquist 2006). What, if anything, does this tell us about the nature of morality in humans?
• Your brain can distinguish harm-related events in around 120 miliseconds (Decety and Cacioppo 2012). What might this reveal about the origins of your moral principles?
• Why do ethical failures threaten the sense of self (Barkan et al. 2012; Shalvi et al. 2015)? · Could human moral psychology make mitigating climate change democratically infeasible (Markowitz and Shariff 2012; Gardiner 2011)? And why are some people moved to act on climate change by thoughts of harm, others by thoughts of purity (Feinberg and Willer 2013)?

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• By the end of the module the student should be able to understand and accurately report discoveries that bear, or have been thought to bear, on ethical questions. They should be able to critically analyse how discoveries actually bear, or fail to bear, on ethical questions. And they should be competent in transdisciplinary research which involves linking discoveries in moral psychology with philosophical issues in ethics.

Indicative reading list

Reading lists can be found in Talis

Subject specific skills

• Students should be able to pursue and
  organize philosophical, scientific and anthropological
  research using a range of sources (print and electronic
  media), to critically evaluate reports of experiments, and to
  engage independently in philosophical debate, and to use
  information provided by these reports when engaged in
  independent philosophical debate.

Transferable skills

• Students should be able to communicate clearly
  and substantively in speech and in writing on the questions
  addressed in the module.
• Students should be able to isolate the
  important claims within readings, both philosophical and
  scientific. They should be able to understand a range of experimental
  methods interpret data presented in tables and charts.
  They should be able to understand the structure of
  arguments, test views for strengths and weaknesses, make
  pertinent use of examples, and compare the substance of
  views consistently.