Invoking the brain in studying morality: A theoretical and historical perspective on the neuroscience of morality

Abstract

Contemporary neuroscientific approaches try to make morality accessible and assessable by linking it to the brain. This wedding between a material entity and an elusive, multifaceted notion has both distinctive preconditions and complex implications. The triadic framework of locating, translating, and defining morality in terms of the brain is applied to illustrate the process of utilizing the cerebral realm for studying the moral realm. A historical and theoretical perspective is introduced to investigate how the relation between brain and morality has been and is being established. It is demonstrated that the meaning of both the brain and morality is in constant flux and dependent upon theorizing and research practice. Thus, I argue that what the neuroscience of morality studies is a contingent notion.