Metaethics: A neuro-geometric proposal

Abstract

Metaethics explores the relationship between types of ethics. The field of moral psychology has increasingly attempted to explain types of ethical thinking based on brain processes. This paper proposes a metaethical typology of seven distinct types of natural thinking processes rooted in how visual images are translated into abstract thinking. These seven ethical thinking types are Transcendent, Unitary, Hierarchical, Equitable, Vectoral, Analogic, and Topographical. Human beings then ladder concepts upon these processes using the construction of increasingly abstract metaphors. As proposed, these seven thinking processes appear to effectively form the foundation for current ethical theories such as Utilitarianism and Kantian Deontology, or other forms of moral reasoning. They may also be combined to explain the operations of more complex forms of moral reasoning such as religious ethics. Finally, they reveal that the possibility of natural thinking types has normative implications for ethics.