Information Processing and Moral Problem Solving

Abstract

Herbert Simon and Allen Newell made important contributions to the study of human problem solving within an information processing system (IPS) framework. Contemporary debates and discussions on moral judgment and representation makes little or no reference to their work on problem-solving. This study argues that Simon and Newell’s IPS framework provides a useful integrative framework for the study of moral problem solving. Variations in the boundaries between the task environment and the IPS suggest its potential as a framework for a comparative study of intra and inter-species moral problem-solving.