#252 Patricia Churchland: Conscience, Morality, and Moral Philosophy
RECORDED ON OCTOBER 25th, 2019.
Dr. Patricia Churchland is a Canadian-American Philosopher noted for her contributions to neurophilosophy and the philosophy of mind. She is UC President’s Professor of Philosophy Emerita at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). She has also held an adjunct professorship at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies since 1989. She is a member of the Board of Trustees Moscow Center for Consciousness Studies of Philosophy Department, at Moscow State University. In 2015, she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She’s also the author of a number of books, including Neurophilosophy: Toward a Unified Science of the Mind-Brain, Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality, and Conscience: The Origins of Moral Intuition.
In this episode, we talk about Dr. Churchland’s most recent book, Conscience. We go through what conscience is; the evolution of morality; and some of the neuroscience of morality. We also discuss how we go from our evolved morality to moral intuitions, and how we acquire social norms, and how they change. We talk briefly about the case of psychopaths, free will, and the legal system. Finally, we address how philosophy is limited in dealing with ethics and morality, Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations theory, and the case of disgust sensitivity.
Time Links:
What is conscience?
The evolution of morality
The neuroscience of morality
Evolved morality, and our moral intuitions
Acquiring social norms
Why do norms change?
The case of psychopaths
Free will, and the legal system
Problems with approaches in metaethics (with the example of utilitarianism)
Moral foundations theory, and the case of disgust sensitivity
The problems with the philosophy of ethics
Can we derive a metaethical theory from science?
Follow Dr. Churchland’s work:
Faculty page: http://bit.ly/2L1iP3o
Personal website: http://bit.ly/2MKJAeA
ResearchGate profile: http://bit.ly/2Jn35Ia
Amazon page: https://amzn.to/2p4jxGk
Conscience: The Origins of Moral Intuition: https://amzn.to/2Pbqa5Q
Twitter handle: @patchurchland