Moral Cognition and the Law

The Trolley Problem

Impersonal Moral Problem:

Choices are represented as their

outcomes
89% would choose to pull

A Dissociation Between Moral Judgments and Justifications

MARC HAUSER , FIERY CUSHMAN , LIANE YOUNG , R. KANG-XING JIN AND

JOHN MIKHAIL
Mind & Language, Vol. 22 No. 1 February 2007, pp. 121

Classic Trolley (Philippa Foot 1978)

The Footbridge

Personal Moral Problem

Choices are represented as moral
actions

11% choose to push

Legal Analogy? Different Killings

A Dissociation Between Moral Judgments and Justifications

MARC HAUSER , FIERY CUSHMAN , LIANE YOUNG , R. KANG-XING JIN AND

JOHN MIKHAIL
Mind & Language, Vol. 22 No. 1 February 2007, pp. 121
The Neuroscience of Moral Tracks
Recognizing Personhood

<- Neural foundations to moral reasoning and antisocial behavior

Adrian Raine and Yaling Yang
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2006 Dec; 1(3): 203213.
Red: Social Only
Green: Morality Only
Yellow: Both

^ An fMRI investigation of emotional engagement in moral judgment.

Greene
Science.2001 Sep 14;293(5537):2105-8.
Increased activation for personal moral problems
 Implications
Moral Conflict and Incompleteness:
Rawlsian reflective equilibrium vs Ruth Marcus loss recognition

Sources of Moral Intuition:

Greene, Haidt, Young, Mikhail

Legal Deliberation:
Consequentialism as Information

Future research:
Metaethics and law