Morality and the Brain

Brain damage, evolution, and the future of morality. - By William Saletan - Slate Magazine

Very interesting article. The conflicts that one occasionally feels while making difficult decisions are actually played out in the brain as a "neuron" war between two different sub-systems. On one side, there is one sub-system that deals with emotion and social responses (morality, etc), and on the other side, there is another sub-system that is based on logic, prediction and maximizing utility. How often has one not struggled to balance rational thought with irrational impulses ? Well, apparently which side wins depends on the relative strengths of the two subsystems. Its interesting how neuroscientists figured this out. Apparently, they presented situations that involved conflicting decisions, to two sets of people. For example, the situation could be something like this - would you sacrifice a fatally injured person on a life boat to save the others on the boat? "Normal" people made the decision that was purely emotional, but illogical - they could not bring themselves to sacrifice the injured person. However, people whose "emotional" sub-system was damaged had no hesitation whatsoever in throwing the poor chap to the sharks.

This is something that I suspected all along. Morality, emotion etc., - these are all present in humans because of evolution- it must have been beneficial for our ancestors to have these feelings. Probably made them stick around in groups and hunt together (This is not restricted to humans - I saw a program on National Geographic where they showed this baboon trying to save another baboon from the clutches of an alligator. Baboons - like humans - have a very complex social structure).

The article argues that the need for these emotions have lessened in the modern world - and we are becoming more utilitarian. I don't think I agree with that. Its true that on a macro-scale, things have become very utilitarian. But isn't that because we've finally figured out that the best way to "progress" is if everyone "progresses"? On a macro-scale, decisions are increasingly made with an attempt at maximizing collective good (lets not get into the beliefs of the republican party here) . On a micro-level, we still maintain our "emotional" instincts - its what maintains our families, makes us find mates and raise our children.


P.S The article had a link to what seems like an interesting book. Going to be my next read.


Woman dropped on head

Woman dropped on head alleges 'negligent dancing' - CNN.com