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7 - Cognitive Science

from Part I - Intellectual Sources and Disciplinary Engagements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2023

By
Natalia Buitron  and
Harry Walker
Edited by
James Laidlaw
James Laidlaw
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

Anthropologists and cognitive scientists interested in ethics and morality have much to gain from a two-way dialogue that does not shy away from constructive criticism. This chapter seeks to initiate such a conversation through an overview of three lines of recent research in cognitive science: the evolution of human morality from the standpoint of evolutionary psychology; theories that look to social institutions rather than only evolved psychological dispositions for insight into the variability of human moral dispositions; and studies of how responsibility and intentionality are ascribed in cases of wrongdoing. The final section offers some personal reflections on the methodological challenges of inter-disciplinary engagement, drawing on some of the authors’ recent research on morality and change in western Amazonia. It concludes that anthropologists can use experimental methods creatively, as a way of generating new ethnographic insights; although if genuine conversation on an equal footing is to take place, then ethnography must not only inform experimental design but also be employed to redefine concepts and generate theory.

Keywords

Amazoniacognitionequalityethicsfairnessintentionmoralityjusticeresponsibilitywrongdoing
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook for the Anthropology of Ethics , pp. 177 - 204
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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