Mothers and Others. Morality: 2012. Philosophy & Ethics Part 1 - Lecture By Professor Dr. Werner Krieglstein (College of DuPage) The Cognitive Neuroscience of Moral Judgement. Should We Trust Our Moral Intuitions?, by Peter Singer. When we condemn the behavior of a politician, celebrity, or friend, we often end up appealing to our moral intuitions. “It just feels wrong!” We say. But where do these intuitive judgments come from? Are they reliable moral guides? Recently, some unusual research has raised new questions about the role of intuitive responses in ethical reasoning. The only thing you can do to prevent these five deaths is to throw a switch that will divert the trolley onto a side track, where it will kill only one person.
In another dilemma, the trolley, as before, is about to kill five people. Standing next to you, however, is a very large stranger. This judgment is not limited to particular cultures. Philosophers have puzzled about how to justify our intuitions in these situations, given that in both cases, the choice seems to be between saving five lives at the cost of taking one life. Why would our judgments, and our emotions, vary in this way?
How and Where Does Moral Judgment Work?