People’s beliefs about what is morally right and wrong vary widely between individuals, contexts, and cultures; however it is thought that they are governed by core latent constructs. While there is evidence that these constructs are reflected in natural language, this requires further testing. We demonstrate that the structure of moral values in natural discourse can be modeled by applying fac...

A plausible philosophical characterization of moral reasoning need not be an oracle for the resolution of difficult moral questions for it to be a significant influence in how a person deliberates about such questions. Reflection upon a particular account may, for instance, have consequences for a person’s standing judgments concerning the kinds of consideration that are relevant for thinking a...

Antidepressants and bioenhancement technologies raise special concerns both for those who use them and those who don't about who we are and how we should treat ourselves. In this dissertation, I confront these concerns by asking and answering two ethical questions about different forms of self-treatment. These are: 1. Is antidepressant use morally problematic insofar as it is self-objectifying?...

Morality and language are hardly separable, given that morality-related aspects such as knowledge, emotions, or experiences connected with on different levels. One question arises is: How rapidly do neural processes set in when processing statements reflect moral value containing information? In the current study, participants read sentences about morally relevant (e.g., ‘Wars acceptable’) expr...

Research on moral psychology has frequently appealed to three, apparently consistent patterns: 1) Males are more likely to engage in transgressions involving harm than females; 2) Educated people are likely to be more thorough in their moral deliberations because they have better resources for rationally navigating and evaluating complex information; 3) Political affiliations and religious ideo...

 I argue it is inconsistent to believe that overconsumption is wrong or bad yet believe that having children is morally permissible, insofar as they produce comparable environmental impacts, are voluntary choices, and arise from similar desires. This presents a dilemma for “mainstream environmentalists”: they do not want to abandon either of those fundamental beliefs, yet must give up o...

Moral judgments and moral emotions are a ubiquitous feature of social interactions. Humans decide quickly and intuitively whether an action is morally right or wrong. Schadenfreude and sympathy, as emotional reactions to the misfortunes of others, are prototypical moral emotions. So far, however, little evidence exists concerning children's understanding of schadenfreude. Within three studies, ...

Neuroimaging studies of brain-damaged patients diagnosed as in the vegetative state suggest that the patients might be conscious. This might seem to raise no new ethical questions given that in related disputes both sides agree that evidence for consciousness gives strong reason to preserve life. We question this assumption. We clarify the widely held but obscure principle that consciousness is...

Under what circumstances is it morally responsible to procreate with the intention of having children, in view of what parents owe their children? Three conditions are necessary for procreation to be morally responsible: the worthwhile-life condition, the doing-more condition, and the basic-needs condition. The worthwhile-life condition requires that a life be expected to be worth starting in t...