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Introduction

Lecture 01

Moral Psychology

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linguistic / mathematical / aesthetic /

ethical abilities

judge
feel
act
respond to moral suasion
...

linguistic / mathematical / aesthetic /

ethical abilities

judge
feel
act
respond to moral suasion
...

linguistic / mathematical / aesthetic /

ethical abilities

judge
feel
act
respond to moral suasion
...

Everyone else ran away, but this woman did not. She put herself at great danger for no personal gain.

linguistic / mathematical / aesthetic /

ethical abilities

judge
feel
act
respond to moral suasion
...

linguistic / mathematical / aesthetic /

ethical abilities

judge
feel
act
respond to moral suasion
...

Note that we should allow that there is room for discoveries about which ethical abilities particular kinds of individual possess. For example, what ethical abilities do dogs have, or do humans in the first year of life have? There is even room for discovery about the ethical abilities of adult humans.

Moral psychology is the study of psychological aspects of ethical abilities.

Similar questions could be asked about linguistic abilities, that is, abilities to communicate with words. [psycholinguistics]

We can also compare ethical abilities to mathematical or aesthetic abilities. While ethical abilities are in some ways more fundamental---because they explain the possibility

These comparisons are going to be useful in what follows. Because more is known about linguistic and mathematical abilities, we may be able to use theories about these as a model for ethical abilities.

But this is a course about ethical abilities. Our main question is ...

Questions for this course:

What ethical abilities do humans have? What states and processes underpin them?

What, if anything, do discoveries about ethical abilities imply for political conflict, and what do they imply about ethics?

Structure of this course

Course Structure

Part 1: psychological underpinnings of ethical abilities

Part 2: political consequences

Part 3: implications for ethics

There will also be a little on the evolution, and the development, of ethical abilities along the way. And we will also explore a little of the research on cultural diversity.

Moral Psychology:
The Science of Good and Evil?

They left off my question mark!