"From the Armchair to the Magnet and Places In-Between" by Susan Dwyer, UMD

Minds and Morals Series

Once upon a time, a philosopher could do her work solely from the comfort of her armchair. That armchair is still a crucial piece of equipment, but, increasingly, philosophers need to pay attention to how well their views mesh with what is known from various branches of empirical inquiry. This demand has been especially pressing in the field of moral philosophy, particularly, in the subfield of moral psychology. Social and developmental psychologists and neuroscientists have joined in the quest to understand the nature of human moral judgment. For example, subjects have been asked to respond to moral questions while they are in Magnetic Resonating Imaging (MRI) machines. I believe that there is much to be learned in adopting a cognitive science perspective on moral psychology. However, I am deeply skeptical about a good deal of the of empirically-informed work appearing in the journals. In this talk, I will explain why I believe that moral philosophers should get out of their armchairs, but perhaps not walk all the way to the magnet.