V. S. Ramachandran
"The British intellectual C.P. Snow gave a lecture in which he argued that the sciences and humanities were different enterprises that could never be bridged. Churchland’s pioneering book Neurophilosophy showed that the bridge is in fact the human brain. Now she tackles the last stronghold of orthodox philosophers—human morality itself. And she has done it again, providing a powerful argument for a neuroscientific approach to morality"
Frans de Waal
"No one blends philosophy and neuroscience as well as Patricia S. Churchland. Here she provides a much-needed correction to the usual emphasis on reasoning and logic in moral philosophy. Our judgements are guided by ancient intuitions and brain processes shared with other mammals."
Ann Graybiel
"Patricia S. Churchland takes us on a fascinating journey intertwining philosophy from Socrates and Aristotle to Kant and Solzhenitsyn to the latest ideas in neuroscience, covering a vast span of knowledge in a graceful and appealing style that is spellbinding. A jewel among books about human nature."
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
"Patricia S. Churchland has done it again! She wisely guides readers on a lively romp through recent research in neuroscience, genetics, evolution, psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, economics, politics, and philosophy in order to reach a more complete understanding of how and why we can get along despite our deep disagreements about what is wrong or right. This fun and fascinating journey shows why morality cannot be fully understood without the wide variety of perspectives and of scientific information that this tour de force provides."
Psychology Today - Glenn C. Altschuler
"Informative, accessible, and engaging."
Sissela Bokn Scholar
"Lucid, stimulating accounts of recent discoveries in neuroscience and psychology."
Blaise Agüera y Arcas
"Conscience is an entertaining, erudite, and timely reminder of the neurobiological origins of those voices in our head telling us to behave. Moral philosophers, zealots and ideologues have been arguing for their versions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ for millennia; now it’s time for Patricia S. Churchland to remind us that morality doesn’t come from a stone tablet or a logical axiom, but is rather one of Nature’s inventions enabling our greatest superpower: sociality. It’s messy, useful, and very human—like thumbs."
Gregory Berns
"In Conscience, Patricia S. Churchland pulls back the curtains and takes us behind the scenes to show where our morals come from. Packed with the latest neuroscience research, the surprising answer turns out to be our very own brains. A must-read for anyone with a conscience."
New York Times - Olivia Goldhill
"There are fascinating nuggets in the research Churchland cites…Her examples are varied and provocative."
Nature - Nicholas A. Christakis
"Illuminating, entertaining and wise."
American Scholar - Sissela Bok
"Lucid, stimulating accounts of recent discoveries in neuroscience and psychology."
Library Journal
★ 06/01/2019
Churchland (philosophy, Univ. of California, San Diego; Neurophilosophy) is renowned for applying research about the brain in particular, and the biological sciences more generally, to philosophical problems. Here the author investigates morality from this perspective. Moral rules do not arise, she argues, from God's commands or from the requirements of pure reason. To the contrary, they are ways the members of a community can adapt to one another to permit peaceful living. People balance various moral constraints on a case-by-case basis, guided by feelings of sympathy for those within the group. Churchland explores in detail how these emotions arise in the brain. Understanding the nature of moral rules, she holds, is of more than theoretical interest. Those who adhere to the theories she rejects all too often view the dictates of their conscience as unquestionable truth, and this is a potent source of fanaticism and intolerance. Her discussion of the "scrupulous conscience" is valuable, and her criticisms of Kantian morality merit careful consideration. Agree with her or not, readers will benefit from the wealth of information she offers about the brain. VERDICT Readers interested in moral philosophy and the sciences will benefit greatly from this book, which bears comparison with Richard Wrangham's The Goodness Hypothesis. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 12/17/18.]—David Gordon, Ludwig von Mises Inst., Auburn, AL
Kirkus Reviews
2019-03-17
The "founder of neurophilosophy" considers the complex, abstract idea of conscience.
MacArthur fellow Churchland (Emerita, Philosophy/Univ. of California, San Diego; Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain, 2013, etc.) draws on neuroscience, genetics, psychology, religion, and philosophy to offer a clear, informative examination of the meaning of conscience. How, she asks, do individuals develop a sense of right and wrong? To what extent is conscience shaped by the social world? What accounts for similarities of cooperation and sharing in human behavior? What accounts for psychopathology and for the disdain for honesty, kindness, and decency displayed by some celebrities and politicians? No discipline provides a complete answer to these formidable questions, but Churchland gleans insights from all. Neurobiology identifies the hormone oxytocin as having a large role in facilitating attachment between mothers and infants and between mates. In "strongly bonded marmosets," for example, "fluctuations in oxytocin levels are synchronized." The author notes, however, that no single hormone or genetic inheritance accounts for moral behavior. "Empathizing," she underscores, "is not a single operation, in contrast to, say, an eye-blink response to a puff of air." She was surprised to learn that some complicated personality traits are inheritable: Studies of identical and fraternal twins reveal a genetic link for traits such as extroversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability. But, Churchland cautions, these traits involve hundreds of genes and can be strongly influenced by one's environment. Individuals learn caring behavior by internalizing social norms through a reward system: "the pleasure of social approval and the pain of social disapproval." Psychopaths—narcissistic, pathological liars who show no guilt or remorse for their anti-social behavior—are puzzling outliers: Psychopaths have generated biochemical and psychological theories but no firm explanation for their lack of a moral compass. In addition to biology, Churchland looks to Judeo-Christian and Asian religions and to a range of philosophers who have grappled with ethical issues. She concludes, after all, that conscience "is a brain construct rooted in our neural circuity, not a theological entity thoughtfully parked in us by a divine being."
A thoughtful, accessible, and enlightening book.
