UCSD Seminar: Morality and the Social Brain

January 2, 2009

EVENT: UCSD Seminar: Morality and the Social Brain

DATE/TIME: Begins January 9, 2-4 pm UCSD Campus (Room 003, Cognitive Science Building)

OVERVIEW: A longstanding tradition in moral philosophy depicts human moral behavior as unrelated to social behavior in

nonhuman animals, and as relying on a uniquely human capacity to reason and formulate rules. Recent developments, however, in the neuroscience of social bonding, the psychology of analogical reasoning and interactive choice, and the role of unconscious mimicry in human social behavior, suggest a more naturalistic conception of morality. A graduate level seminar explores this concept and its ramifications, beginning with Paul Churchland introducing "A Brief History of Moral Philosophy."

This seminar will be led by:

Patricia Churchland, Professor of Philosophy, UCSD

Paul Churchland, Professor of Philosophy, UCSD

Ralph Greenspan, Associate Director of the Kavli Institute for the Brain and Mind, UCSD and Senior Fellow at The Neurosciences Institute

This graduate-level seminar is open, however students must be enrolled to receive credit.

For additional information about the seminar, venue and other details, email: [email protected]