Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Neuroscience and Morality
- 2 Morality and the Mind
- 3 Beyond the Mind Zone
- 4 The Moral Brain
- 5 Bad without Conscience
- 6 The Biology of Choice
- 7 Sex and the Single Moral Code
- 8 Brain Biology and Sex
- 9 Deception
- 10 The Biology of Money
- 11 The Bad and the Mad
- 12 Creating a Moral Brain
- Notes
- Glossary
- Index
6 - The Biology of Choice
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Neuroscience and Morality
- 2 Morality and the Mind
- 3 Beyond the Mind Zone
- 4 The Moral Brain
- 5 Bad without Conscience
- 6 The Biology of Choice
- 7 Sex and the Single Moral Code
- 8 Brain Biology and Sex
- 9 Deception
- 10 The Biology of Money
- 11 The Bad and the Mad
- 12 Creating a Moral Brain
- Notes
- Glossary
- Index
Summary
Throughout the ages, medical scholars and clinicians have been intrigued by rare syndromes that express one or more human qualities to an exaggerated degree and that are neither readily understood by the scientific knowledge of the time nor, seemingly, within the control of the individual afflicted. Most medical scientists today believe that these statistically highly improbable conditions, if understood, could create major “paradigm shifts” in our thinking about human biology, thereby leading to new, rich avenues for medical research into questions of brain function, individual control and “free will.”
In psychiatry some of these phenomena, like the “idiot savant,” are still very mysterious – as, for that matter, are geniuses like Mozart, who started composing music at three years of age. I remember attending a meeting several years ago when an idiot savant – he was essentially illiterate and scored very low on intelligence tests – listened to a recorded Bach composition by Glenn Gould and proceeded, with no training, to sit down and play it flawlessly on the piano. I was amazed, and remember wondering at the time whether this capacity for imitating music might be hardwired in the savant's brain.
Unusual syndromes affecting an individual's control of his or her behavior are fascinating not only because we don't fully understand the scientific reasons for their development, but also, and perhaps more important, because they make it obvious that choice entails biology as well as intention and thinking in the abstract. These neurologically described conditions manifest complex, goal-directed actions that have been shown to lie beyond the will power of the individual.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Hardwired BehaviorWhat Neuroscience Reveals about Morality, pp. 69 - 83Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005