What drives people to vehemently disagree about political issues? What role do reasoning, emotion, and intuition play in our assessments of something as morally good or bad? Does an accurate picture of how we form moral and political judgments have implications for what we ought to believe about what is right or wrong or who deserves praise, blame, or punishment? Throughout the semester we will explore if and how research in moral psychology—the study of moral cognition and behavior—should bear on our philosophical theorizing about moral and political issues. Moral psychology is a decisively interdisciplinary research program that draws from work in social, cognitive, and developmental psychology along with neuroscience and (our focus) philosophy to study how we form moral judgments and operate as political entities. As we will discover, a better understanding of how we in fact form moral judgments and navigate the political world can raise serious concerns for our own deeply held moral and political views and our favored philosophical theories of right and wrong action, moral responsibility, and our understanding of what makes someone a moral person.

Course Requirements:

Graded assignments will consist of periodic reading responses, a midterm essay, and a final essay.

Class Format:

The class will meet synchronously to foment discussion.