"Emotions, Reasons, and the Functional Imaging of Moral Deliberation"

Colin Klein (University of California-Los Angeles, Philosophy)

Abstract:

On Josh Greene's dual-track theory of moral deliberation, rational cognitive processes and irrational emotional ones compete when we make moral decisions. Jorge Moll and Ricardo de Oliveira-Souza, in contrast, argue that moral deliberation is a single process that involves the rational integration of competing social considerations. The debate has both empirical and philosophical consequences: Greene and Singer argue that the dual-track theory should make us skeptics about Kantian ethical systems.