The Relevance of Moral Epistemology and Psychology for Neuroscience Elliot Turiel

Research into brain processes and moral decisions has proliferated in recent years. However, the most frequent explanations of moral decisions given by neuroscience researchers have failed to take into account epistemological considerations with regard to the moral realm and have not been built on relevant findings from developmental psychology. A developmental moral neuroscience would benefit from inclusion of philosophical considerations and from findings on moral development. With the focus on brain processes, the research on morality has emphasized unconscious and emotionally driven decisions to the exclusion of the important role of reasoning in human functioning.