Reviews:
“Conscience is an
entertaining, erudite, and timely reminder of the neurobiological origins of
those voices in our head telling us to behave. Moral philosophers, zealots and
ideologues have been arguing for their versions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ for
millennia; now it’s time for Patricia S. Churchland to remind us that morality
doesn’t come from a stone tablet or a logical axiom, but is rather one of
Nature’s inventions enabling our greatest superpower: sociality. It’s messy,
useful, and very human—like thumbs.”
—Blaise Agüera y Arcas,
distinguished scientist, Google AI
“Informative, accessible, and
engaging.”
—Glenn C. Altschuler , Psychology
Today
“There are fascinating nuggets in
the research Churchland cites…Her examples are varied and provocative.”
—Olivia Goldhill, New
York Times
“Patricia S. Churchland has done
it again! She wisely guides readers on a lively romp through recent research in
neuroscience, genetics, evolution, psychology, psychiatry, anthropology,
economics, politics, and philosophy in order to reach a more complete
understanding of how and why we can get along despite our deep disagreements
about what is wrong or right. This fun and fascinating journey shows why
morality cannot be fully understood without the wide variety of perspectives
and of scientific information that this tour de force provides.”
—Walter Sinnott-Armstrong,
author of Think Again
“A thoughtful, accessible, and
enlightening book.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Lucid, stimulating accounts of
recent discoveries in neuroscience and psychology.”
—Sissela Bok, American
Scholar
“No one blends philosophy and
neuroscience as well as Patricia S. Churchland. Here she provides a much-needed
correction to the usual emphasis on reasoning and logic in moral philosophy.
Our judgements are guided by ancient intuitions and brain processes shared with
other mammals.”
—Frans de Waal, author of Mama’s
Last Hug
“In Conscience, Patricia
S. Churchland pulls back the curtains and takes us behind the scenes to show
where our morals come from. Packed with the latest neuroscience research, the
surprising answer turns out to be our very own brains. A must-read for anyone
with a conscience.”
—Gregory Berns, author of How
Dogs Love Us
“The British intellectual C.P.
Snow gave a lecture in which he argued that the sciences and humanities were
different enterprises that could never be bridged. Churchland’s pioneering book
Neurophilosophy showed that the bridge is in fact the human brain. Now
she tackles the last stronghold of orthodox philosophers—human morality itself.
And she has done it again, providing a powerful argument for a neuroscientific
approach to morality”
—V. S. Ramachandran,
author of The Tell-Tale Brain
“Patricia S. Churchland takes us
on a fascinating journey intertwining philosophy from Socrates and Aristotle to
Kant and Solzhenitsyn to the latest ideas in neuroscience, covering a vast span
of knowledge in a graceful and appealing style that is spellbinding. A jewel
among books about human nature.”
—Ann Graybiel,
investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
Illuminating, entertaining and
wise.
—Nicholas A. Christakis, Nature
Description:
How do we determine right from
wrong? Conscience illuminates the answer through science and philosophy.
In her brilliant work Touching
a Nerve, Patricia S. Churchland, the distinguished founder of
neurophilosophy, drew from scientific research on the brain to understand its
philosophical and ethical implications for identity, consciousness, free will,
and memory. In Conscience, she explores how moral systems arise from our
physical selves in combination with environmental demands.
All social groups have ideals for
behavior, even though ethics vary among different cultures and among
individuals within each culture. In trying to understand why, Churchland brings
together an understanding of the influences of nature and nurture. She looks to
evolution to elucidate how, from birth, our brains are configured to form
bonds, to cooperate, and to care. She shows how children grow up in society to
learn, through repetition and rewards, the norms, values, and behavior that
their parents embrace.
Conscience delves into scientific studies, particularly the fascinating work
on twins, to deepen our understanding of whether people have a predisposition
to embrace specific ethical stands. Research on psychopaths illuminates the
knowledge about those who abide by no moral system and the explanations science
gives for these disturbing individuals.
Churchland then turns to
philosophy—that of Socrates, Aquinas, and contemporary thinkers like Owen
Flanagan—to explore why morality is central to all societies, how it is
transmitted through the generations, and why different cultures live by
different morals. Her unparalleled ability to join ideas rarely put into
dialogue brings light to a subject that speaks to the meaning of being human.
Contents:
Introduction: Wired to Care
Chapter 1. The Snuggle for Survival
Chapter 2. Getting Attached
Chapter 3. Learning and Getting Along
Chapter 4. Norms and Values
Chapter 5. I’m Just That Way
Chapter 6. Conscience and Its Anomalies
Chapter 7. What’s Love Got to Do With It?
Chapter 8. The Practical Side
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
About the Author:
Patricia S. Churchland is the author of, most recently, Conscience: The Origins of
Moral Intuition and Touching a Nerve: Our Brains, Our Selves. She is
professor emerita of philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, and
the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. She lives in San Diego.
Target Audience:
Students and academicians of
ethics, moral philosophy & neurophilosophy.