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Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality Broché – 22 mai 2018
Édition en Anglais
de
Patricia S. Churchland
(Auteur, Préface)
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A provocative new account of how morality evolved
What is morality? Where does it come from? And why do most of us heed its call most of the time? In Braintrust, neurophilosophy pioneer Patricia Churchland argues that morality originates in the biology of the brain. She describes the "neurobiological platform of bonding" that, modified by evolutionary pressures and cultural values, has led to human styles of moral behavior. The result is a provocative genealogy of morals that asks us to reevaluate the priority given to religion, absolute rules, and pure reason in accounting for the basis of morality.
Moral values, Churchland argues, are rooted in a behavior common to all mammals--the caring for offspring. The evolved structure, processes, and chemistry of the brain incline humans to strive not only for self-preservation but for the well-being of allied selves--first offspring, then mates, kin, and so on, in wider and wider "caring" circles. Separation and exclusion cause pain, and the company of loved ones causes pleasure; responding to feelings of social pain and pleasure, brains adjust their circuitry to local customs. In this way, caring is apportioned, conscience molded, and moral intuitions instilled. A key part of the story is oxytocin, an ancient body-and-brain molecule that, by decreasing the stress response, allows humans to develop the trust in one another necessary for the development of close-knit ties, social institutions, and morality.
A major new account of what really makes us moral, Braintrust challenges us to reconsider the origins of some of our most cherished values.
- Nombre de pages de l'édition imprimée288 pages
- LangueAnglais
- ÉditeurPrinceton University Press
- Date de publication22 mai 2018
- Dimensions13.72 x 2.54 x 21.59 cm
- ISBN-100691180970
- ISBN-13978-0691180977
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4,5 étoiles sur 5
4,5 sur 5
81 évaluations globales
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Un problème s'est produit lors du filtrage des commentaires. Veuillez réessayer ultérieurement.
Commenté en France le 7 septembre 2012
L'ouvrage de Patricia Churchland prouve, contrairement à ce qu'avancent souvent les détracteurs du matérialisme, que une philosophie matérialiste n'est pas nécessairement amorale, encore moins immorale et que l'on peut trouver les bases scientifiques à la moralité.
Meilleurs commentaires provenant d’autres pays
PembrokeSorbonne
4,0 sur 5 étoiles
Interesting original study of morality from neuroscience
Commenté aux États-Unis le 8 septembre 2023
This is an impressive and original work that offers a neuroscience account of morality. It integrates also cognitive psychology, genetics, evolutionary biology. The book features detailed studies and experimental results in those disciplines. The main proposal is that morality originates from social behaviour of caring and bonding which are generated by brain-based values induced in the internal milieu of brain networks affected by oxytocin and vasopressin
Peptides such as oxytocin and vasopressin affects mammalian caring of offspring and social interactions with others which contribute to its brain-based values of social behaviour. The brain stem and hypothalamus of a mammal monitor the inner state of networks that matters for survival. So the social behaviour relates to homeostatic reactions or survival related reactions. An important part of the brain that regulates emotional responses is the paralimbic area which includes the hippocampus, orbitalfrontal cortex, lateral temporal lobe, corpus callosum. A study mentioned was psychopaths have a smaller paralimbic area, and lower level of activity in emotional learning and decision making.
In terms of genetic study, due to pleiotrophy, the notion that a gene plays multiple roles including the functionality of organs and emotional responses such as caring and aggression that it is difficult to isolate genetically a gene for specific emotion of the genotype. However there are studies of mirror neurons in mammals that shed lights on how mammals attribute mental states to others enabling them to learn behaviour from others, as well as revealing how similarity in shared behaviour affects social interactions. Studies in the prefrontal cortex and its pathways to emotional brain structure yields intelligence in human social behaviour.
The book has a wealth of experimental results and studies, to include those that are inconclusive and misguided. To name one is a model that suggests moral values as innate similar to the internal grammar of Chomskyan I-language seemed to be misguided because of the difficulty of locating a notion of universal innate moral values.
Peptides such as oxytocin and vasopressin affects mammalian caring of offspring and social interactions with others which contribute to its brain-based values of social behaviour. The brain stem and hypothalamus of a mammal monitor the inner state of networks that matters for survival. So the social behaviour relates to homeostatic reactions or survival related reactions. An important part of the brain that regulates emotional responses is the paralimbic area which includes the hippocampus, orbitalfrontal cortex, lateral temporal lobe, corpus callosum. A study mentioned was psychopaths have a smaller paralimbic area, and lower level of activity in emotional learning and decision making.
In terms of genetic study, due to pleiotrophy, the notion that a gene plays multiple roles including the functionality of organs and emotional responses such as caring and aggression that it is difficult to isolate genetically a gene for specific emotion of the genotype. However there are studies of mirror neurons in mammals that shed lights on how mammals attribute mental states to others enabling them to learn behaviour from others, as well as revealing how similarity in shared behaviour affects social interactions. Studies in the prefrontal cortex and its pathways to emotional brain structure yields intelligence in human social behaviour.
The book has a wealth of experimental results and studies, to include those that are inconclusive and misguided. To name one is a model that suggests moral values as innate similar to the internal grammar of Chomskyan I-language seemed to be misguided because of the difficulty of locating a notion of universal innate moral values.
Warren G
5,0 sur 5 étoiles
Caution Is the Order of the Day
Commenté aux États-Unis le 17 mars 2011
Not since I read Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini's book,
What Darwin Got Wrong
(which, although this puts me in the minority, I happened to have enjoyed), have I been witness to such a comprehensive and thorough debunking of what passes for mainstream science. Sadly for me, Professor Churchland managed to slay several of my favorite thinkers pet projects: Jonathan Haidt
], Giacomo Rizzolatti
], and Marco Iacoboni
]. What's more, Professor Churchland excoriates the likes of Immanual Kant, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, John Rawls and Peter Singer, to name a handful. And she does all this with science and logic on her side. She states from the beginning that, "My aim here is to explain what is probably true about our social nature, and what that involves in terms of the neural platform for moral behavior. As will become plain, the platform is only the platform; it is not the whole story of human moral values. Social practices, and culture more generally, are not my focus here, although they are, of course, hugely important in the values people live by. Additionally, particular moral dilemmas, such as when a war is a just war, or whether inheritance taxes are fair, are not the focus here."
Professor Churchland begins, rightly so, from the source (i. e. the brain): "The hypothesis on offer is that what we humans call ethics or morality is a four-dimensional scheme for social behavior that is shaped by interlocking brain processes: (1) caring (rooted in attachment to kin and kith and care for their well-being), (2) recognition of others' psychological states (rooted in the benefits of predicting the behavior of others), (3) problem-solving in a social context (e.g., how we should distribute scarce goods, settle land disputes; how we should punish the miscreants), and (4) learning social practices (by positive and negative reinforcement, by imitation, by trial and error, by various kinds of conditioning, and by analogy). The simplicity of this framework does not mean its form, variations, and neural mechanisms are simple. On the contrary, social life is stunningly complex, as is the brain that supports our social lives." She goes on to state that, "The main hypothesis of this book, that morality originates in the neurobiology of attachment and bonding, depends on the idea that the oxytocin-vasopressin network in mammals can be modified to allow care to be extended to others beyond one's litter of juveniles, and that, given that network as a backdrop, learning and problem-solving are recruited to managing one's social life. One might predict, therefore, that cooperation and trust are sensitive to OXT levels. This raises an important question: can changes in OXT levels affect human cooperative behavior?" (The answer is yes.) She surveys, in nine brilliant chapters, the real roots of human morality; "Depending on ecological conditions and fitness considerations, strong caring for the well-being of offspring has in some mammalian species extended further to encompass kin or mates or friends or even strangers, as the circle widens. This widening of other-caring in social behavior marks the emergence of what eventually flowers into morality." There is also great discussion of the roles that genes, mimicry, and neurological disorders play. A great companion piece to this book might be V. S. Ramachandran's book, The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human .
In conclusion, Professor Churchland has written what amounts to both a critique of current trends in moral philosophy as well as a foundation for further research. Indeed, I found Churchland's compact book applicable to a great many issues, such as: resource scarcity ], how the brain makes predictions and performs valuations ], behavioral economics (and the games they play: Ultimatum, Dictator, and Trust) ]. By the time she reaches Chapter 9: Religion and Morality, I thought it was simply a bonus - "Morality seems to me to be a natural phenomenon - constrained by the forces of natural selection, rooted in neurobiology, shaped by the local ecology, and modified by cultural developments." I love this book. To be sure, you gotta love anyone who makes positive examples out of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
Professor Churchland begins, rightly so, from the source (i. e. the brain): "The hypothesis on offer is that what we humans call ethics or morality is a four-dimensional scheme for social behavior that is shaped by interlocking brain processes: (1) caring (rooted in attachment to kin and kith and care for their well-being), (2) recognition of others' psychological states (rooted in the benefits of predicting the behavior of others), (3) problem-solving in a social context (e.g., how we should distribute scarce goods, settle land disputes; how we should punish the miscreants), and (4) learning social practices (by positive and negative reinforcement, by imitation, by trial and error, by various kinds of conditioning, and by analogy). The simplicity of this framework does not mean its form, variations, and neural mechanisms are simple. On the contrary, social life is stunningly complex, as is the brain that supports our social lives." She goes on to state that, "The main hypothesis of this book, that morality originates in the neurobiology of attachment and bonding, depends on the idea that the oxytocin-vasopressin network in mammals can be modified to allow care to be extended to others beyond one's litter of juveniles, and that, given that network as a backdrop, learning and problem-solving are recruited to managing one's social life. One might predict, therefore, that cooperation and trust are sensitive to OXT levels. This raises an important question: can changes in OXT levels affect human cooperative behavior?" (The answer is yes.) She surveys, in nine brilliant chapters, the real roots of human morality; "Depending on ecological conditions and fitness considerations, strong caring for the well-being of offspring has in some mammalian species extended further to encompass kin or mates or friends or even strangers, as the circle widens. This widening of other-caring in social behavior marks the emergence of what eventually flowers into morality." There is also great discussion of the roles that genes, mimicry, and neurological disorders play. A great companion piece to this book might be V. S. Ramachandran's book, The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human .
In conclusion, Professor Churchland has written what amounts to both a critique of current trends in moral philosophy as well as a foundation for further research. Indeed, I found Churchland's compact book applicable to a great many issues, such as: resource scarcity ], how the brain makes predictions and performs valuations ], behavioral economics (and the games they play: Ultimatum, Dictator, and Trust) ]. By the time she reaches Chapter 9: Religion and Morality, I thought it was simply a bonus - "Morality seems to me to be a natural phenomenon - constrained by the forces of natural selection, rooted in neurobiology, shaped by the local ecology, and modified by cultural developments." I love this book. To be sure, you gotta love anyone who makes positive examples out of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
Ronodeep Srimani
4,0 sur 5 étoiles
A Unique Look into the Principles by Which We Live Our Lives
Commenté aux États-Unis le 8 octobre 2012
Patricia Churchland's Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality is a great read for anyone who is interested in the more technical, evolutionary reasoning as to why we have morals and principles. The book provides both detailed descriptions of possible mechanisms that led to the morals and social norms we have today, as well as strong viewpoints on the current philosophical and religious views on moral behavior, both in the past and today. Although some technical knowledge of neuroscience and general biology is necessary to fully grasp the concepts presented in this book, by no means does one need to be an expert to understand Churchland's clear, concise arguments for her theories. I aim to give a synopsis of the book's organization, its main topics/claims, and some of its interesting points.
Book Organization
Braintrust is organized into 8 chapters. The first chapter provides an introduction into the rationale behind using neuroscience to try to explain morality. It also gives reasoning as to why this has not been done all that much before, and why the increasing knowledge of how evolution has shaped our brain allows us to take a deeper look into why we perceive things as "right" and "wrong," and why we attribute such importance to this concept of morality. The next chapters have varying degrees of specificity, starting with why specific behaviors are selected for, to much more broad and encompassing topics such as how a neuroscience based approach to morality relates to current approaches: religious, philosophical, etc.
In the first few chapters of the book, Churchland speaks a lot to the specifics of neurobiological evolution. She splits it up into specific behavior types, such as mating, offspring raising, etc. Her most significant claim is about the role of hormones oxytocin and vasopressin in governing social behavior. She states that "Oxytocin, a very ancient peptide, is at the hub of the intricate network of mammalian adaptations for caring for others...Oxytocin is found in all vertebrates, but the evolution of the mammalian brain adapted oxytocin to new jobs in caring for offspring and eventually for wider forms of sociability." One of the downfalls of her approach in the beginning is that she stays quite focused on the small details of the roles of specific hormones, how specific behaviors were selected for, etc.; she sometimes did not do a great job relating this to morality as a whole. While reading the first few chapters, one may get the sense that this book would be just another detailed, scientific account that spouts various small theories without really ever tying them together. This is not the case, however; Churchland just decides to start the reader with the details, and draw more broad conclusions in the later chapters of the book.
That being said, the ending chapters of the book are extremely well thought out. My favorite was the last chapter, where she compares her neurobiological approach to morality to the most popular approaches to morality of the day. This section is, however, somewhat controversial. She is quite obviously biased towards a more rational, thought out, scientific approach as opposed to some of the more traditional approaches to morality, and in pointing out the flaws in said traditional approaches, could easily offend some people. However, I do not think it was at all her intent to degrade anyone's moral/religious beliefs; Churchland merely supports using the knowledge gained by scientific inquiry and the experience we gain in our social lifestyles to really think about what we consider "right" and "wrong," as opposed to blindly following a set of rules.
Overall
Overall, this book does an excellent job of bridging the gap between current neurobiological discoveries and the ill-defined topic of morality. Although not geared towards your average reader, one can understand her viewpoints quite clearly with just a little background biology/neuroscience knowledge. More importantly, the author takes data from all of these somewhat unlinked studies and is able to draw important, valid conclusions in a way that the individual studies never could. She also challenges readers to abandon the archaic view that if morality is biological, or even explainable, it becomes of lesser value in some way. It is much easier to think of moral law as this independent group of rules that has no background and no reasoning but as she says, "...we have no option but to wrestle with difficult social issues, to hear the other side and to heed the differences, to negotiate as wisely as we can, to understand the history, and to try to foresee future consequences." This is by far my favorite quote from the book; after all of the conclusions she draws, and the viewpoints she asks the reader to consider, she ends by urging us to let go of some cherished views about rules and morals, and to take responsibility for our actions, and take morality into our own hands.
Book Organization
Braintrust is organized into 8 chapters. The first chapter provides an introduction into the rationale behind using neuroscience to try to explain morality. It also gives reasoning as to why this has not been done all that much before, and why the increasing knowledge of how evolution has shaped our brain allows us to take a deeper look into why we perceive things as "right" and "wrong," and why we attribute such importance to this concept of morality. The next chapters have varying degrees of specificity, starting with why specific behaviors are selected for, to much more broad and encompassing topics such as how a neuroscience based approach to morality relates to current approaches: religious, philosophical, etc.
In the first few chapters of the book, Churchland speaks a lot to the specifics of neurobiological evolution. She splits it up into specific behavior types, such as mating, offspring raising, etc. Her most significant claim is about the role of hormones oxytocin and vasopressin in governing social behavior. She states that "Oxytocin, a very ancient peptide, is at the hub of the intricate network of mammalian adaptations for caring for others...Oxytocin is found in all vertebrates, but the evolution of the mammalian brain adapted oxytocin to new jobs in caring for offspring and eventually for wider forms of sociability." One of the downfalls of her approach in the beginning is that she stays quite focused on the small details of the roles of specific hormones, how specific behaviors were selected for, etc.; she sometimes did not do a great job relating this to morality as a whole. While reading the first few chapters, one may get the sense that this book would be just another detailed, scientific account that spouts various small theories without really ever tying them together. This is not the case, however; Churchland just decides to start the reader with the details, and draw more broad conclusions in the later chapters of the book.
That being said, the ending chapters of the book are extremely well thought out. My favorite was the last chapter, where she compares her neurobiological approach to morality to the most popular approaches to morality of the day. This section is, however, somewhat controversial. She is quite obviously biased towards a more rational, thought out, scientific approach as opposed to some of the more traditional approaches to morality, and in pointing out the flaws in said traditional approaches, could easily offend some people. However, I do not think it was at all her intent to degrade anyone's moral/religious beliefs; Churchland merely supports using the knowledge gained by scientific inquiry and the experience we gain in our social lifestyles to really think about what we consider "right" and "wrong," as opposed to blindly following a set of rules.
Overall
Overall, this book does an excellent job of bridging the gap between current neurobiological discoveries and the ill-defined topic of morality. Although not geared towards your average reader, one can understand her viewpoints quite clearly with just a little background biology/neuroscience knowledge. More importantly, the author takes data from all of these somewhat unlinked studies and is able to draw important, valid conclusions in a way that the individual studies never could. She also challenges readers to abandon the archaic view that if morality is biological, or even explainable, it becomes of lesser value in some way. It is much easier to think of moral law as this independent group of rules that has no background and no reasoning but as she says, "...we have no option but to wrestle with difficult social issues, to hear the other side and to heed the differences, to negotiate as wisely as we can, to understand the history, and to try to foresee future consequences." This is by far my favorite quote from the book; after all of the conclusions she draws, and the viewpoints she asks the reader to consider, she ends by urging us to let go of some cherished views about rules and morals, and to take responsibility for our actions, and take morality into our own hands.
Book Shark
4,0 sur 5 étoiles
A Skeptic's Skeptic
Commenté aux États-Unis le 27 mars 2011
Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality by Patricia S. Churchland
"Braintrust..." is the latest book from self proclaimed neurophilosopher Patricia S. Churchland, a fitting term for the accomplished author and philosopher. This book is about answering questions regarding moral values from a neuroscientist's point of view. Churchland uses a scientific sound approach to not only seek such answers but to tell us what we don't know about the brain and its relation with morality. This 288-page book is composed of the following eight chapters: 1. Introduction, 2. Brain-Based Values, 3. Caring and Caring For, 4. Cooperating and Trusting, 5. Networking: Genes, Brains, and Behavior, 6. Skills for a Social Life, 7. Not as a Rule, and 8. Religion and Morality.
Positives:
1. An accessible, well-written and well-researched book.
2. The Churchland name might as well be synonymous with neuroscience. Mrs. Churchland an accomplished philosopher herself is married to renowned neuroscientist Paul Churchland and has a son and daughter who are also neuroscientists. As a philosopher and with the aforementioned background, she has the best tools to write such wonderful books.
3. Great use of the most current scientific evidence and theories to answer the aforementioned profound questions. Many scientific studies spread across this book.
4. Great use of illustrations.
5. Professor Churchland is a skeptic's skeptic. What she does best is keeping science grounded to the facts. Scientists are human too and even they commit the fallacy of jumping to conclusions. Professor Churchland throughout the book states specifically when she feels that is the case and does so with compelling scientific evidence. By far the strongest suit of this book.
6. The importance of oxytocin in the evolution of mammalian brains.
7. The neural platform for morality established. Excellent.
8. Once again, mere speculations are put in their proper place.
9. The dynamics of cultural evolution.
10. The importance of oxytocin (OXT) and vasopressin (AVP) in the female mammalian brain.
11. Honestly, where would we be without evolution?
12. The interesting mechanisms of mate attachments.
13. You gotta' love bonobos.
14. The relations between genes and behavior, a many-to-many proposition.
15. The following statement captures one of the recurring themes of this book, "Speculations are of course useful in inspiring experiments, and are not to be discouraged. The point is, I prefer not buy into one, or be asked to, until some results bear upon its truth."
16. Moral claims hammered unmercifully.
17. Psychopaths!
18. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in the same book? Get out of here.
19. Mirror neurons in a totally different light.
20. What we know about intentions.
21. Some studies debunked.
22. Why we like imitation.
23. The Golden Rule in detail, interesting and unique take.
24. Consequentialism and utility.
25. A reality based morality.
26. Moore's theory debunked. Another one bites the dust.
27. "Whatever it is that makes something good or just right is rooted in the nature of humans and the society we make, not in the nature of the gods we invent." Excellent quote.
28. Extensive notes and a thorough bibliography.
29. Links work great, thank you Kindle.
30. An overall good read.
Negatives:
1. The book did an awesome job of telling us what we don't know about the brain and its relation to morality. I just felt it didn't do enough to tell me what we do know. It's the main reason I didn't give it five stars.
2. Oh I wanted so badly to have Professor Churchland go after the soul. The appetizer she provided was delicious but I wanted the entree.
3. I wanted more conviction on the things that we do know. A little more passion.
4. The book can be a little dry at times, especially when caught up in game examples.
In summary, I gained a lot of valuable knowledge from this book but I clearly wanted more. Neuroscience is indeed a very young field and there is so much more that we need to learn. Churchland clearly objects to scientists jumping to conclusions without meeting the burden of proof. At the other side, she makes it clear that morality is biologically based and uses current scientific studies to back her arguments. An important book indeed.
Recommendations:, " The Brain and the Meaning of Life " by Paul Thagard, " Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique " by Michael S. Gazzaniga, " Hardwired Behavior: What Neuroscience Reveals about Morality " by Laurence Tancredi, " The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values " by Sam Harris and " The Myth of Free Will, Revised & Expanded Edition " by Cris Evatt.
"Braintrust..." is the latest book from self proclaimed neurophilosopher Patricia S. Churchland, a fitting term for the accomplished author and philosopher. This book is about answering questions regarding moral values from a neuroscientist's point of view. Churchland uses a scientific sound approach to not only seek such answers but to tell us what we don't know about the brain and its relation with morality. This 288-page book is composed of the following eight chapters: 1. Introduction, 2. Brain-Based Values, 3. Caring and Caring For, 4. Cooperating and Trusting, 5. Networking: Genes, Brains, and Behavior, 6. Skills for a Social Life, 7. Not as a Rule, and 8. Religion and Morality.
Positives:
1. An accessible, well-written and well-researched book.
2. The Churchland name might as well be synonymous with neuroscience. Mrs. Churchland an accomplished philosopher herself is married to renowned neuroscientist Paul Churchland and has a son and daughter who are also neuroscientists. As a philosopher and with the aforementioned background, she has the best tools to write such wonderful books.
3. Great use of the most current scientific evidence and theories to answer the aforementioned profound questions. Many scientific studies spread across this book.
4. Great use of illustrations.
5. Professor Churchland is a skeptic's skeptic. What she does best is keeping science grounded to the facts. Scientists are human too and even they commit the fallacy of jumping to conclusions. Professor Churchland throughout the book states specifically when she feels that is the case and does so with compelling scientific evidence. By far the strongest suit of this book.
6. The importance of oxytocin in the evolution of mammalian brains.
7. The neural platform for morality established. Excellent.
8. Once again, mere speculations are put in their proper place.
9. The dynamics of cultural evolution.
10. The importance of oxytocin (OXT) and vasopressin (AVP) in the female mammalian brain.
11. Honestly, where would we be without evolution?
12. The interesting mechanisms of mate attachments.
13. You gotta' love bonobos.
14. The relations between genes and behavior, a many-to-many proposition.
15. The following statement captures one of the recurring themes of this book, "Speculations are of course useful in inspiring experiments, and are not to be discouraged. The point is, I prefer not buy into one, or be asked to, until some results bear upon its truth."
16. Moral claims hammered unmercifully.
17. Psychopaths!
18. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in the same book? Get out of here.
19. Mirror neurons in a totally different light.
20. What we know about intentions.
21. Some studies debunked.
22. Why we like imitation.
23. The Golden Rule in detail, interesting and unique take.
24. Consequentialism and utility.
25. A reality based morality.
26. Moore's theory debunked. Another one bites the dust.
27. "Whatever it is that makes something good or just right is rooted in the nature of humans and the society we make, not in the nature of the gods we invent." Excellent quote.
28. Extensive notes and a thorough bibliography.
29. Links work great, thank you Kindle.
30. An overall good read.
Negatives:
1. The book did an awesome job of telling us what we don't know about the brain and its relation to morality. I just felt it didn't do enough to tell me what we do know. It's the main reason I didn't give it five stars.
2. Oh I wanted so badly to have Professor Churchland go after the soul. The appetizer she provided was delicious but I wanted the entree.
3. I wanted more conviction on the things that we do know. A little more passion.
4. The book can be a little dry at times, especially when caught up in game examples.
In summary, I gained a lot of valuable knowledge from this book but I clearly wanted more. Neuroscience is indeed a very young field and there is so much more that we need to learn. Churchland clearly objects to scientists jumping to conclusions without meeting the burden of proof. At the other side, she makes it clear that morality is biologically based and uses current scientific studies to back her arguments. An important book indeed.
Recommendations:, " The Brain and the Meaning of Life " by Paul Thagard, " Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique " by Michael S. Gazzaniga, " Hardwired Behavior: What Neuroscience Reveals about Morality " by Laurence Tancredi, " The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values " by Sam Harris and " The Myth of Free Will, Revised & Expanded Edition " by Cris Evatt.
Barbara A. Oakley
5,0 sur 5 étoiles
A FANTASTIC BOOK!
Commenté aux États-Unis le 28 mai 2011
If you truly want to understand morality, you could not do better than to start with this book.
I've always had problems with philosophy. I read one school's literature, and it seems to make sense. Then I read the debunking of the first school by another school, and that makes sense too, although there always seems to be something that leaves me groping. I never realized before I read Dr. Churchland's book that what has been bothering me all along is that many previous approaches to philosophy haven't been grounded on any real understanding of how the brain actually works.
I've been especially fascinated over the years by whether there is an innate sense of human morality. I've found previous approaches to this issue to be unsatisfactory--based on simplistic, unrealistic experiments that didn't start from "first principals"--that is, how the brain is structured an organized. Dr. Churchland's careful explanation of the anatomy and chemistry of the brain, how that anatomy and chemistry might support moral issues, was marvelous science writing--simple, direct, and marvelously to the point.
Some of her points are particularly important, and worth noting here:
* The moral cases of the world are typically resolved by constraint-satisfaction. (pg 184)
* Unhitched from the neurobiology of sociality and social learning, conscience, as a metaphysical entity with moral knowledge, loses its footing.( pg 193)
* There is no moral heaven where platonic truths reside.(pg 181)
* Counting on rationality to underpin morality is mistaken. (pg 175)
* The claim that essentially all societies espouse the Golden Rule is misleading. Some societies have the negative version, where we are asked NOT to do harm; the other is a positive version--a "do gooder" rule that urges us to go out and do for others that which we think is good--which can sometimes have alarming consequences (pg 171)
* In general, decision-making is a constraint-satisfaction process and when it goes well, we say that rationality has prevailed. (pg 23)
If you are interested in moral issues, or want to see important philosophical issues treated in a unique and enlightening new way, you could not do better than to read this marvelous book.
I've always had problems with philosophy. I read one school's literature, and it seems to make sense. Then I read the debunking of the first school by another school, and that makes sense too, although there always seems to be something that leaves me groping. I never realized before I read Dr. Churchland's book that what has been bothering me all along is that many previous approaches to philosophy haven't been grounded on any real understanding of how the brain actually works.
I've been especially fascinated over the years by whether there is an innate sense of human morality. I've found previous approaches to this issue to be unsatisfactory--based on simplistic, unrealistic experiments that didn't start from "first principals"--that is, how the brain is structured an organized. Dr. Churchland's careful explanation of the anatomy and chemistry of the brain, how that anatomy and chemistry might support moral issues, was marvelous science writing--simple, direct, and marvelously to the point.
Some of her points are particularly important, and worth noting here:
* The moral cases of the world are typically resolved by constraint-satisfaction. (pg 184)
* Unhitched from the neurobiology of sociality and social learning, conscience, as a metaphysical entity with moral knowledge, loses its footing.( pg 193)
* There is no moral heaven where platonic truths reside.(pg 181)
* Counting on rationality to underpin morality is mistaken. (pg 175)
* The claim that essentially all societies espouse the Golden Rule is misleading. Some societies have the negative version, where we are asked NOT to do harm; the other is a positive version--a "do gooder" rule that urges us to go out and do for others that which we think is good--which can sometimes have alarming consequences (pg 171)
* In general, decision-making is a constraint-satisfaction process and when it goes well, we say that rationality has prevailed. (pg 23)
If you are interested in moral issues, or want to see important philosophical issues treated in a unique and enlightening new way, you could not do better than to read this marvelous book.
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