ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Flanagan’s naturalized ethics and his interdisciplinary and comparative approach to moral modularity. In his modularity of morals hypothesis, Flanagan argues that our moral abilities are based on evolved and domain specific moral competences (moral modules). The chapter compares Haidt’s moral foundations theory and Mencius’s four beginnings as psychological and philosophical theories of moral modules. Even though Haidt’s five moral foundations and Mencius’s four beginnings are not fully compatible with each other and Flanagan does not completely agree with Haidt’s and Mencius’s views, they seem to inspire and enhance our understanding of moral abilities that are adaptive, affective, modular, and developmental. The chapter summarizes Flanagan’s naturalized ethics and critically evaluate his moral modularity hypothesis. Specifically, he analyzes his interdisciplinary and comparative interpretation of Mencius’s four beginnings (or sprouts) to see if it can explain Mencius’s unique Confucian approach to the moral mind and moral modularity.
