Conscience: The origins of moral intuition by Patricia Churchland - book overview

 I read this book a few months ago. It is written by Professor Patricia Churchland who also wrote the neurophilosophy book 'Touching the void: the self as brain" (read overview on this blog here).

This is a short book of just under 200 pages and an introductory chapter followed by eight other chapters. The book has had positive reviews - example here. Churchland provides authentic examples from her experiences to help explain the complex biological and philosophical underpinnings of human conscience.

The introduction lays out the parameters of the book. A brief historical overview of how conscience has been envisioned; then several ways to study origins and practice of moral intuition; and some caveats on definitions of moral decisions, conscience etc. as these are amorphous and dependent on context.

Chapter 2 ‘the snuggle for survival’ reviews the current understanding of why we care for others, empathy etc. from a brain physiology perspective. The chapter provides a good introduction to contemporary neuroscience knowledge on the brain’s contribution to human emotion.

The third chapter ‘getting attached’ draws on studies with prairie voles and the role of oxytoxin in bonding of mammals. The hypothesis is that attachment leads to caring and in turn, caring leads to conscience. The way oxytoxin contributes to social attachment are summarised. Importantly, the argument for how studies with voles inform human emotions is undertaken.

Chapter three discusses the importance of learning and how this contributes to the development of conscience. Neuroscience is used to unpack how the brain ‘learns’ including the mechanisms within the brain which support reinforcement learning. However, learning goes beyond simple conditioning. The studies which are foundations of neuroeconomics are used to explain some of the ways our brain makes decisions based on experiences and ‘intuition’. Therefore, we learn through experience, through some instruction but decisions may not always be made passed on these, but also include biochemical impulses we may not have conscious control of.

The contributions of the socio-cultural are brought into play in Chapter four as the previous chapter focused on individualised learning. Social norms and expectations from historical-cultural-political sources, colour our experiences, in turn affecting the decisions we make (or not make). Again some of the studies from neuroeconomics are used to try to explain why people make ‘non-logical’ decisions. Some of these may be traced to our upbringing but there is also seems to be a ‘fairness’ decision mechanism which causes us to make decisions which have implications on our ‘tribal’ standing and acceptance.

Then Chapter five delves into the complexities of what makes us who we are. Where does personality come from? Is it innate or learnt? Twin studies are summarised to try to unravel the ‘nature vs nurture’ debate. In the end, it is the contribution of both. Whether one takes precedence over the other is still contentious and again dependent on individuals’ context.

Chapter six discusses why some people seem to lack conscience through summaries of studies on psychopathy. Why do some individuals lack empathy or have predilections for violence to others? Stressed the importance of seeing psychopathy as not a mental illness but more as a personality difference. Hypothesis of brain injury contributing to how the brain is wired and allowing for psychopathic tendencies to arise.

Chapter seven presents neurophilosophical discussions on morality. Begins with the three problems presented by ‘rule purveyors’ and how these may be used to understand why humans have developed religion, pure reasoning and rules to live by. Morality is important as it is a shared set of values and beliefs contributing to the regulation of individuals’ actions. However, moral values are again open to debate, what is right in one culture or situation, is not seen to be similar in another. Therefore, conscience is always something which is set with tensions and having a conscience and making decisions based on ‘moral values’ are different things.

The last chapter draws the threads unravelled in the previous chapters towards a ‘conclusion’. Discussion is undertaken on the concepts underpinning ‘free will’. Do we have ‘free will’. At the moment, difficult to answer but in the future, new techniques in neuroscience and better acceptance, debate and understanding of the contributions of philosophy, may provide deeper understanding.

All in, a highly readable book deliberating a difficult topic.