Brain waves

Christian Century, April 20, 2004

BRAIN WAVES: Moral philosophers, at least in the Kantian camp, assume that moral judgments can be made with the power of reason alone. But Joshua Greene of Princeton University has found that moral decision-making is much more complex. In his research, people's brains are scanned with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device while they are asked a number of questions, including moral conundrums.

Greene has found that when personal moral decisions are made--such as Whether it is ever morally appropriate to take one life in order to save multiple lives--other parts of the brain are triggered besides the analytical part. Personal, moral dilemmas engage parts of the brain that trigger strong emotions, that ascertain what other people are thinking and feeling and that gather information from the way people move their lips, eyes and hands. Indeed, there is even a part of the brain that is activated when the rational and feeling parts of the brain are in conflict with each other, serving as a mediator between them (Discover, April).