Moral Psychology: Historical and Contemporary Readings is the first book to bring together the most significant contemporary and historical works on the topic from both philosophy and psychology.
Provides a comprehensive introduction to moral psychology, which is the study of psychological mechanisms and processes underlying ethics and morality Unique in bringing together contemporary texts by philosophers, psychologists and other cognitive scientists with foundational works from both philosophy and psychology Approaches moral psychology from an empirically informed perspective Explores a wide range of topics from passion and altruism to virtue and responsibility Editorial introductions to each section explain the background of and connections between the selections
Acknowledgements viii Introduction 1 Thomas Nadelhoffer, Eddy Nahmias, and Shaun Nichols Part I: Reason & Passion 5 Introduction 7 Shaun Nichols 1 Selections from A Discourse of Natural Religion 11 Samuel Clarke 2 Selections from An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue 21 Francis Hutcheson 3 Selections from An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections, with Illustrations on the Moral Sense 24 Francis Hutcheson 4 Selections from Enquiries Concerning the Principles of Morals 32 David Hume 5 Introduction to Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals 37 Immanuel Kant 6 The Claim to Moral Adequacy of a Highest Stage of Moral Judgment 40 Lawrence Kohlberg 7 A Cognitive Developmental Approach to Morality: Investigating the Psychopath 48 Robert James Blair 8 Selections from The Moral Problem 64 Michael Smith 9 How Psychopaths Threaten Moral Rationalism: Is it Irrational to be Amoral? 73 Shaun Nichols Part II: Altruism & Egoism 85 Introduction 87 Thomas Nadelhoffer and Shaun Nichols 10 Selections from Republic 93 Plato 11 Selections from Leviathan and The Elements of Law Natural and Politic 97 Thomas Hobbes 12 Selections from Human Nature and Other Sermons 103 Joseph Butler 13 Selections from An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue 111 Francis Hutcheson 14 How Social an Animal: the Human Capacity for Caring 117 C. Daniel Batson 15 The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism 124 Robert L. Trivers 16 Summary of Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior 135 Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson 17 Why Altruism Is Impossible … and Ubiquitous 148 Barry Schwartz Part III: Virtue & Character 161 Introduction 163 Eddy Nahmias 18 Selections from Protagoras 167 Plato 19 Selections from Nicomachean Ethics 172 Aristotle 20 Behavioral Study of Obedience 179 Stanley Milgram 21 Selections from The Person and the Situation Lee Ross and Richard 187 Nisbett 22 Persons, Situations, and Virtue Ethics 197 John M. Doris 23 Situationism and Virtue Ethics on the Content of Our Character 210 Rachana Kamtekar 24 Virtue Ethics and Situationist Personality Psychology 224 Maria Merritt Part IV: Agency & Responsibility 231 Introduction 233 Eddy Nahmias 25 Selections from Nicomachean Ethics 239 Aristotle 26 Selections from Essays on the Active Powers of Man 246 Thomas Reid 27 Selections from Beyond Good and Evil and Twilight of the Idols 251 Friedrich Nietzsche 28 Selections from Beyond Freedom and Dignity 256 B.F. Skinner 29 Apparent Mental Causation: Sources of the Experience of Will 264 Daniel M. Wegner and Thalia Wheatley 30 Agency, Authorship, and Illusion 276 Eddy Nahmias 31 Free Will in Scientific Psychology 288 Roy F. Baumeister 32 Scientific Skepticism About Free Will 295 Alfred R. Mele Part V: Moral Intuitions 307 Introduction 309 Thomas Nadelhoffer 33 Selections from The Methods of Ethics 315 Henry Sidgwick 34 Selections from The Right and the Good 321 W.D. Ross 35 The Trolley Problem 327 Judith Jarvis Thomson 36 Selections from Living High and Letting Die: Our Illusion of Innocence 335 Peter Unger 37 The Emotional Dog and Its Rational Tail: A Social Intuitionist Approach to Moral Judgment 343 Jonathan Haidt 38 The Secret Joke of Kant’s Soul 359 Joshua Greene 39 Moral Intuitionism Meets Empirical Psychology 373 Walter Sinnott-Armstrong Sources 388
Thomas Nadelhoffer is Assistant Professor of philosophy and law and policy studies at Dickinson College. He has written articles for journals such as Analysis, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, Mind & Language, Neuroethics, and Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. Eddy Nahmias is Associate Professor of philosophy and neuroscience at Georgia State University. He has published articles in journals such as Philosophical Studies, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Mind & Language, and Consciousness and Cognition. He is the author of Rediscovering Free Will (forthcoming). Shaun Nichols is Professor of philosophy and cognitive science at the University of Arizona. His publications include Mindreading: An Integrated Account of Pretense, Self-awareness and Understanding Other Minds (with Stephen Stich, 2003), Sentimental Rules: On the Natural Foundations of Moral Judgment (2004), and Experimental Philosophy (ed. with Joshua Knobe, 2008).
Reviews for Moral Psychology: Historical and Contemporary Readings
Finally, this book serves as a good compilation of key texts in its field, covering philosphers from almost all times and traditions. (Times Higher Education Supplement, 26 May 2011)
