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FEB 18

Hall, Chapter 6 Moral Reasoning

• One question to ask while thinking about this chapter: Do wise people regulate their emotions and does that make for better moral and non-moral decision-making?
• Wisdom interpretation of Genesis. p. 99. alluded to at 44.
• Evidence of emotional and automatic cognition in moral responses. Darwin's speculation on moral emotions. (102) Haidt, emodog, disgust, Trolley Prob.
• Video for the Trolley Problem [1]
• Background: Marc Hauser and the Trolley Problem (106)
• Joshua Greene, fMRIs of people doing the Trolley Problem. Seems to capture moments of emo/cog conflict. Fits with Damasio's research with lesion patients vmPFC. Some can't factor in emotion. "Secret Joke of Kant's Soul" -- this evidence ends the debates in traditional moral philosophy over utility vs. deontology.

• Wisdom implications: parsing of moral deliberation in various parts of the brain suggests need for wholism. Meta-claim: Wisodom as knowing how to weigh different kinds of moral reasons (some relating to loyalty, development, efficiency), different types of personal goals. If this implication holds for you, try to develop the idea in your group discussion by considering examples from life.

• Wisdom implications from disgust evidence: extent of trained response. possibility of retraining: examples from personal experience: Can you recall a topic or issue on which you feel that you changed your emotional responses as a result of either personal experience or learning.

Haidt, Emo Dog

• This article takes us further into a scientific view that claims that cognition is rarely "causal" in moral decision-making. (The rational tail on the emotional dog.)

• "social intuitionist model" --

• Note the critique in "Philosophy and the worship of Reason" parallels Labouvie-Vief's. Hume ends the tradition of denying the importance of emotions.

• Kohlberg still a model for rationalist psychology. [2]

• In stead of this, Haidt and moral psychologists contrast Intuitive ("the Elephant") and Reasoning (the "Rider") systems. Reasoning happens after Intuition. Intuition is driving more of our decision making than we think. Illusion of rational cause.

1. Dual Processing - literature on automatic assessment, close to perception, automatic judgement, attitude formation (820), very scary.

2. Motivated Reasoning Problem -- reasoning more like a lawyer and scientist. biases: relatedness -- favors harmony and agreement. coherence

• "the desire to hold attitudes and beliefs that are congruent with existing self-definitional attitudes and beliefs" 821 other biases
• Various motives for ad hoc reasoning: relatedness, coherence (terror management), bias,

3. The Post Hoc Problem -- Nisbett and Wilson 77 - experiments, such as placebo study which solicits post hoc and ad hoc reasoning, split brain patients (Gazzaniga... confabulation)

4. The Action Problem -- weak link bt. moral reasoning and moral action. Mischel marshmallow research 823. vmPFC - Damasio research.

• Theoretical possibilities for theory of wisdom: 1. Can you change responses? 2. In what ways? (again, the problem of criteria)

• What implications are there for this turn in moral philosophy for our thinking about wisdom?

• Nature and culture have produced a mixed legacy of older and new systems. Need for balance.
• A Wisdom Retraining project would involve not only emotions themselves (what should I feel disgusted, disapproving, or afraid of?) but noticing when the inner lawyer creates the illusion of rational belief.

Hall, Chapter 7: Compassion

• [Puzzle to solve by the end of this review of the chapter: Is compassion worth it? Why would I want to share someone's pain? Why not just make an intellectual acknowledgement of it and send a card?]

• anecdote on the siege of Weinsberg, 1140.

• "By compassion is meant not only the willingness to share another person's pain and suffering; in a larger sense, it refers to a transcendent ability to step outside the moat of one's own self-interest to understand the point of view of another; in a still larger sense, it may take this "feeling for" to the level of mind reading, for the theory of mind — one of the most powerful implements that evolution placed in the human cognitive tool kit—requires us to understand the way another person's feelings inform his or her intentions and actions." 116 Connecting compassion to research on theory of mind.

• Weisskopf: Knowledge without compassion inhumane. Compassion without knowledge ineffective.

• Matthieu Ricard and Richard Davidson studies. (no overarching theory here, but note Davidson on p. 121) Davidson believes in poss of "training" toward increased well being.

• Ricard: gloss on wisdom at 121: mirrors: Mechanics and Pragmatics in Baltes. also makes the case, on 122, that compassion is based on an understanding of how things are connected, how happiness and suffering are connected. Knowing that there are ways to address suffering fuels compassion, which also helps us understand how things are connected. (Note this is one answer to the puzzle. A Christian could offer a similar answer.)

• general point: importance in this research of thinking of compassion as having a neural substrate and a function in our psychology. We don't have great research on exactly what we can do with it or it's actual function.

• 126: mirror neurons and empathy.

• 128: notion of "embodiedness" of our responses to the world. read. not just cognitive.

• 130: Richerson and Boyd's cultural hypothesis: imitation - learning - division of labor - other centeredness. All capacities that require a "theory of mind" which includes feeling other's emotions. Theory of mind refers to a set of capacities, but also a way of seeing the world.

• Wisdom implications: Is cultivation of compassion on your wisdom to do list? Why or why not?

Hall, Chapter 8: "Humility"

• puzzle about humility. How can Gandhi embody both humility and the kind of great ambition he achieved? Is humility consistent with action in the world? Halls narrates humility as a source of strength for Gandhi. Let's evaluate this.

• broader resonances of meaning of humility: groundedness, down to earth, not so much captured by "modest opinion of one's self"
• In religion -- piety and obedience to God. 137 Aquinas: operating "within one's bounds" and submission. Digression on "recognition of talent -- anecdote on critter game. Good empirical test for humility as self-awareness of one's talents and capacities.

• Hall suggests social / evolutionary function for humility: "If we consider obedience in a secular or, even more narrowly, behavioral sense, it may help explain why humility persists as a virtue. It is one of those traits that acts as a social lubricant, greasing the wheels of group interaction, minimizing interpersonal friction, enhancing the odds for cooperation." 138 (anecdote from Inv. Gorrilla - Go)

• narcissism among CEOs. may contribute to financial instability of firms. correlates with white collar crime. inverse of humility. best CEOs blend humility with strong will.

• Final operationalizable characteristics of humility (from June Tangney): "an ability to acknowledge limitations and mistakes, an openness to new ideas and new contradictory knowledge, a knack for avoiding self-aggrandizement, an ability to keep one's achievements in perspective, and the king of self-aware self-perception that perceives both strengths and weaknesses."

• Implications for wisdom: Tension between humility and effectiveness. Also, consider humility in the context of the individualism and careerism of US culture. Is humility a viable strategy in this culture?