We are not in a simple era and perhaps there have never been.
It is certainly an era in which events and changes at a new speed follow one another, never seen before; We do not have time to manage the sense of bewilderment for something that reappears another and starts again.
The feelings of faith – in God, in science, in political ideals, in the nature of things – which once guaranteed anchor points now falter. The need for a reflection on what should be a moral attitude It becomes one of the few points of reference for many to cling to.
As men we started asking questions about the nature of morality a few millenniums ago. Branches of philosophy and theology developed very articulated and sophisticated thoughts, often in contradiction: does man come good and becomes bad or vice versa? Is there a morality as an innate category or do you acquire it? The moral of the individual or that of a state that must be the main promoter and guarantor is first? The comparison between different positions has always developed through reasoning.
Recently the debate on the theme have been joined by neurosciences, trying to do what is better: identifying the biological foundations that would allow the formation of a moral sense and understand how these fit into the evolutionary history of man.
Which mOral
The survival of mankind has required rules necessary to maintain cohesive the group and the development of emotions-moral or socio-moral-which, to protect the community, preceded the interest and well-being of the group to that of the individual. A feature set by our evolutionary history and modified by experience.
Usually moral is understood as a set of codes of values and conduct that regulate social behavior.
We can refer to characteristic moral values of every single culture, society, historical period (Descriptive morality) or identify universal moral values (Regulatory morality) which are independent of the company to which they belong or the historical period.
There regulatory morality It seems innate and rests the bases on neural networks from birth. It is likely that our hominid ancestors could learn rules – based on the prize/punishment system – and attribute to the other intentions, emotions, expectations. The chimpanzees manifest skills characterized by altruism and a kind of sense of judgment, ancestors of human morality.
Several authors believe that there is one moral intuition through which moral evaluations, judgments or responses to behaviors (in progress or hypothetical) take place very quickly and outside of any conscious reasoning.
Moral emotions
Taking “good” moral decisions requires both ability to process emotions and cognitive components.
There Social Cognition In particular, it seems to have a very important role since it allows you to predict and understand the behavior of the other, recognize the conduct and intent that could be potentially dangerous or beneficial, anticipate how others could respond to our actions.
The moral emotions They are much more complex than basic emotions (joy, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust) and are responsible for safeguarding social interest as well as the individual.
With this purpose, loyalty, shame, embarrassment, gratitude, fear of the judgment of others, pride, aversion for an unfair treatment have developed.
It is these emotions that allow us to understand the moral consequences when we interact with the other whose ultimate goal is to preserve the good name in order to guarantee the benefits deriving from better social cooperation.
Jonathan Haidt identifies 4 types of moral emotions:
- Facing to exterior: contempt, anger, disgust
- Revolted to oneself: shame, disturbance, guilt
- Connected to the suffering of the other: empathy
- Connected to the appreciation of the other: gratitude, elevation, fear
Neuroetics
With the term neuroetics We can refer atAndtica of neuroscience which aims to discuss – with the collaboration of philosophers, anthropologists, ethical and neuroscsed psychologists – ethical issues deriving from the study of the human brain and the use that it is legitimate to make this knowledge.
Ethical neuroscience can also be understood as nEuroscience of ethics A research branch of the cognitive sciences that uses neuroimaging techniques to understand the neural substrates that determine thoughts, emotions, the ability of decision making, judgment and the conduct that are the constitutive part of the moral sphere.
For a long time the term “moral” was synonymous with spirituality. In the nineteenth century it began to hypothesize that at the base of the moral conduct there was a biological basis and the occasion took place in 1848.
Phineas Cage was 25 years old and worked in New England to build a new railway line. He was a young man with many qualities and undoubted moral skills. During the works, an explosive charge meant that a metal bar pierced his skull.
At the end of the convalescence, he recovered the sensory (apart from the loss of vision with an affected eye) and motor. However, he became impatient and not very collaborating, he employed such an obscene language that women were told to move away in his presence. Lost the rules and social skills acquired.
There was no doubt that the personality and adherence to a moral conduct derives from norming-functioning brain areas.
Neurobiology of morality
The modifications of moral behavior following specific brain lesions have pushed the research to study the areas involved, thus was born the moral cognitive neuroscience.
The neuroanatomical bases of moral sense They have been studied mainly with the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging, an instrumental examination that allows you to evaluate the neuronal brain response by detecting the areas that activate during the execution of a task.
The prefrontal twenty-media cortex
Among the various areas two have more attracted attention. To date we know that the bark prefrontal twenty-media (VMPFC) participates in the attribution of moral and emotional value to social events by anticipating the consequences of the result.
It has a role in the establishment of the theory of mind, empathy and in correctly perceiving the intentions of others. It is an area that is activated by tests that require explicit moral judgments such as the resolution of a moral dilemma that presupposes the subject examined by the possibility of causing damage to someone.
It is a phylogenetically new neuronal system that begins to appear in the chimpanzees and in the most advanced mammals. Its correct functioning allows the differentiation of a self from what is other than itself and allows you to understand the consequences that one person’s mental and emotional states can have on another.
The activation of the VMPFC is also observed in the altruistic punishment Observed by researchers in an experiment that evaluated the behaviors of the participants in an experimental game. Those who exercised an altruistic punishment did not do it for a personal advantage but to give an altruism lesson to another too selfish player; It is considered the expression of moral desire for justice and equity.
The altruistic punishment is dependent on the fact that the other, even more so if it enjoys bad reputation, voluntarily does not relate to the rules operating only for personal interest.
The other brain areas
The orbit area Fronal and the Ventrolateral cortex (Ofc/VL) together with the Insula front and toamigdala They implement the altruistic punishment by making feelings of aversion and social exclusion such as anger, contempt, disgust, indignation.
This area has an action to mediate the opposing responses regarding the social sphere allowing to change the responses based on feedback. It also exerts an inhibitory control over automatic and impulsive responses coordinated by the Amigdala.
There Bark Prefrigerator Dbear-THEapotheral (PFDLC) Modulas this network that would be the basis of the reasoning applied from time to time to moral issues. Correlations have been observed between the reduction of the gray substance to this level and an increase in violent conduct.
In conclusion
The data collected so far suggest that at the basis of regulatory morality – that innate moral sense that allows the cohesion of the group – there may be neural bases.
It is likely that the moral sense derives from the integration and integrity of emotional and cognitive processes. These processes could be compromised by increasingly intense and multifaceted inputs and stimuli typical of this era.
The affective resonance capacity could be compromised by preventing the formulation of adequate moral judgments. But man is not only biology for which, alongside the development of neuroscience, it is desirable that attention to environmental factors is always kept, to the messages that are conveyed on the way of understanding interpersonal relationships and all the factors that can affect the moral sense.
Bibliography
- Damasio AR: emotion and consciousness. Adelphi 1999
- HAIDT J; The Moral Emotions. Handbook of affective sciences 2003
- Marazziti et al: is there a neurobiology of moral behavior? Italian newspaper of psychopathology, 2011
- Moll j et al neural correlasof moral sensitivity. J neurosc 2022
- Woodward J et al: Moral Intuition: Its neural substrates and regulatory meaning. J of Physiology 2007
