Moral Hard-Wiring and Moral Enhancement

Area of Science:

• Moral Psychology
• Bioethics
• Evolutionary Psychology

Background:

• Human moral psychology evolved for small-group cooperation, potentially hindering responses to global existential threats.
• Powell and Buchanan argue that humans possess an 'inclusivist anomaly,' capable of caring beyond in-groups, questioning the necessity of moral bioenhancement.
• They propose that morality is sensitive to environmental cues, suggesting socio-cultural interventions may be more effective than bioenhancement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically evaluate Powell and Buchanan's 'inclusivist anomaly' argument against the need for moral bioenhancement.
• To assert that existing accounts underestimate the 'hard-wired' features of human moral psychology.
• To argue for continued research into moral bioenhancement despite the importance of socio-cultural interventions.

Main Methods:

• Philosophical argumentation and critique of existing theories on moral psychology.
• Analysis of evolutionary functions of morality and their limitations.
• Examination of specific hard-wired moral traits beyond group-based biases.

Main Results:

• Powell and Buchanan's account of adaptively plastic moral responses only explains a fraction of human moral psychology.
• Human moral psychology exhibits hard-wired biases not adequately addressed by their theory, including kin/friend preference, bias towards concrete individuals over statistical lives, and temporal discounting.
• Features like reciprocity and tit-for-tat represent further hard-wired aspects of moral psychology.

Conclusions:

• Moral bioenhancement remains a necessary area of research, as the influence of hard-wired moral psychology is significant.
• Biomedical interventions are not the sole or necessarily primary means of moral enhancement; socio-cultural approaches are vital.
• Further research is essential to understand and potentially mitigate the limitations imposed by deeply ingrained features of human moral psychology.