Taking moral action / Chuck Huff and Almut Furchert.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Table of Contents
Preface ix

Introduction xiii

Part I Contexts 1

1 Evolution 3

2 Neuroscience of Moral Action 29

3 Moral Ecology 57

Part II Influences 87

4 Personality 89

5 Moral Identity and the Self 115

6 Skills and Knowledge 145

Part III Processes 177

7 Moral Reason 179

8 Moral Emotion 215

9 Moral Formation: Shaping Moral Action 246

Coda: Taking Moral Action 291

Index 299

"The human brain is among the largest relative to body size in mammals (Herculano-Houzel, 2009), but more surprising is that in the evolutionary time scale, the brain has recently (in the last million years or so) shown rapid increases in size (Adolphs, 2009). This poses a puzzle: why such a massive increase in such a relatively short time? One widely accepted answer to this puzzle is the social brain hypothesis (Adolphs, 2009; Byrne & Whiten, 1988; Whiten & van Schaik, 2007). This is the idea that the rapid development of the brain was in response to increases in the complexity of the social problems that were necessary for early hominids to solve. These problems include many of those we will review in this chapter: various forms of cooperation, deception, status hierarchy negotiation, altruistic punishment, and anticipatory fear of punishment. It is during this rapid spate of development that humans became a species able to enact a complex (im)morality"-- Provided by publisher.

About the Author
CHUCK HUFF is Professor of Psychology and Computer Science at St. Olaf College, MN, where he teaches courses in social psychology, ethical issues in software design, the psychology of good and evil, and the psychology of religion. He has published quantitative and qualitative research on moral psychology, the ethical design of software, gender and computing, and digital ethics. His articles have appeared in computer science, education, philosophy, psychology, and sociology journals.

ALMUT FURCHERT is a German philosopher and psychologist in independent practice with expertise in existential, phenomenological, and hermeneutic traditions. She has published internationally in the intersection of philosophy, psychology, theology, and the caring professions, and has held academic positions at the Jesuit School of Philosophy in Munich, the Technical University of Munich, and the Hong Kierkegaard Research Library at St Olaf College. She is also a member of the Hildegard of Bingen Academy in Eibingen, Germany.