Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id MAA09184 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Mon, 8 May 2000 12:29:17 +0100 Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D31CEB14A@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Researchers Identify Brain's Moral Center Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 12:27:26 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
This would be very interesting if it wasn't entirely flawed in a number of
ways:
First, how does one define a moral statement? 'breaking the law' has
nothing to do with morality much of the time, to give just two examples,
were civil rights marchers in 1960s America morally wrong when they broke
segregation laws? Are homeless people, with no money morally wrong to steal
food, and even if they are, is this likely to stop them?
Second, and concomitent with the the first, how does one define a statement
devoid of moral content? The one cited of 'walking is good for your
health', would undoubtedly be seen as more of a moral statement by sections
of the healthcare industry, or those who see exercise as an essential part
of living.
Both of these criticisms don't matter, the neuro-scientists would probably
say, but then a third point is who did they sample? 10 people is an
abysmally low sample, and they will undoubtedly have selected people with
very particular moral frameworks- because we all have one.
Memetics challenges fundamental ideas about questions like morality (i.e.
that our morals are not innate, but are memes), and perhaps some people
think that if you can prove morality exists in a particular part of the
brain, then the theory must be wrong, and (to quote Robert Wright's book) we
are indeed a 'moral animal'. Personally, I don't buy this at all.
Vincent Campbell
> ----------
> From: Wade T.Smith
> Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Saturday, May 6, 2000 2:31 am
> To: Memetics Discussion List
> Subject: Fwd: Researchers Identify Brain's Moral Center
>
> Researchers Identify Brain's Moral Center
>
> http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtPrint/EMIHC000/333/7228/280174.html?k=ba
> s
> ePrint
>
> May 4, 2000
>
> SAN DIEGO (Reuters Health) - The brain's moral center<the bit that sorts
> "right" from "wrong"<has been identified on brain scans, researchers
> reported here at the American Academy of Neurology's 52nd annual meeting.
>
> Drs. Ricardo de Oliveira-Souza and Jorge Moll of the Neurology and
> Neuroimaging Group, LABS and Hospitais D'or, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, used
> magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to find out which parts of the brain
> were working when people were asked to make moral judgments.
>
> Ten subjects (six men and four women), aged 24 to 43 years, were asked to
> make a series of moral judgments while lying inside an MRI scanner.
>
> On headphones, the study participants listened to a series of statements,
> such as "we break the law if necessary," "everyone has the right to
> live," and "let's fight for peace." In each case, the subjects were asked
> to silently judge if each sentence was "right" or "wrong."
>
> The participants also listened to sentences with no moral content, such
> as "stones are made of water" or "walking is good for health," and judged
> these in a similar fashion.
>
> Results from brain scans taken as these judgments were being considered
> showed that making moral choices was associated with activation of the
> brain's frontal poles<an area known as Brodmann area 10.
>
> According to the research team, their findings tie in with previous
> observations that people who injure this area of the brain may exhibit
> severe antisocial activity.
>
> Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited.
>
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