The moral continuum: Congruence, consistency, and continuity in moral cognition

Abstract

This article provides a criticism of the model of fragmented moral cognition, which states that the processes of moral evaluation are fragmented, compartmentalized, and discontinuous at a cognitive level, in accordance with dual process theories of reasoning. Contrary to this view, I argue that the concept of “moral mind” stands for a graded and continuous mechanism of thinking, without functional breaks between intuitive processing and conscious reasoning. Therefore, I suggest that moral cognition is a general psychological process—a moral continuum—that is irreducible to any particular type or style of reasoning.