The Moral Brain

Abstract

This article probes the evolutionary origins of moral capacities and moral agency. From this it develops a theory of the guidance system of higher mind (GSHM). The GSHM is a general model of intelligence whereby moral functioning is integrated with cognitive, affective, and conative functioning, resulting in a flow of information between eight brain levels functioning as an evaluative unit between stimulus and response. The foundation of this view of morality and of caring behavior is Charles Darwin's theory, largely ignored until recently, of the grounding of morality in sexual instincts which later expand into parental love. Also, Paul MacLean made these same connections in his development of the triune brain theory, which was founded on observations of both sexual and affectionate responses from stimulation of limbic and paleocortical areas (that is, not the most primitive areas) of monkey brains. This article relates the revolutionary theories of Darwin and of MacLean together for the first time in an way intended to be accessible to a range of social and natural scientists. The GSHM builds on and expands both of their work to develop a theory of the processing within our brains of information screened by a sequence of systems, social, future, moral, developmental, and managerial "sensitivities." Darwin's and MacLean's observations and the GSHM theory developed here argue against the old strict distinction between "lower" emotional processes and "higher" rational processes. In fact, MacLean, Karl Pribram, and others have found that emotional responses are closely tied to reason through the functions of the prefrontal cortex. Prefrontal function is closely related to the development of moral sensibility and judgment. In partic- ular, it is the connections between prefrontal cortex and other brain areas that allow us to make deliberate choices to be or not to be caring. These same connections allow us to learn culturally sensitive signals for when to release or inhibit our cooperative or aggressive tendencies (both of which can be elicited by sexual displays in monkeys as well as humans). These are closely tied to the social instinct in animals, and to the socialization that children receive from their parents (whom the clinical psychologist Alan Schore has described as providing a "substitute prefrontal cortex" for their very young children). Higher levels of the GSHM model such capabilities as thinking beyond the current social situation to "what could be" and dialectical synthesis of apparent opposites, which are what allow humans the freedom to design social realities to fit our moral sensibilities.