View Of Mind Research Articles

Culture and Psychology in the 21st Century

At the end of the 20th century, a survey of the metatheoretical landscape of culture and psychology noted an emerging consensus—physicalist ontology, gene–culture co-evolutionary phylogeny, gene–culture interactionist ontogeny, and a mutual constitutionist view of culture and mind. Revisiting the terrain now, the then emerging consensus seems well established, but new challenges appear on the horizon, prompting us to expand our metatheoretical scope. Extending beyond phylogeny, we need to consider a geological timescale, and further naturalizing the culture concept, we need to consider culture and human activity within the planetary system. According to some, we have left the Holocene, and entered into the Anthropocene, a geological epoch in which human activities have such a disproportionate impact that it deserves to be prefaced by humanity. Psychology with interests in culture can play a critical role in human efforts to investigate the psychological processes involved in the cultural change and to reconceptualize humans’ place in nature.

Anticancer activity of a novel quinazolinone-chalcone derivative through cell cycle arrest in pancreatic cancer cell line

Background: Genotoxic effects of many of clinically useful anticancer drugs are due to their interaction with the amino groups of nucleic acids. Literature reveals that the chalcones however may be devoid of this important side effect. With this view in mind, we synthesized a novel quinazolinone-chalcone derivative and evaluated its anticancer potential. Methods: Anticancer potential of A novel quinazolinone-chalcone derivative 2-Methyl-3-(3-((E)-3-(3,4,5-trimethoxy phenyl)-2-propenoyl)phenyl)-3,4-dihydro-4-quinazolinone (8b) was determined through MTT assay, colony formation assay, Wound healing assay, Cell cycle and Western Blot Analysis in Mia paca-2 cells treated with 8b. Results: The cytotoxicity studies showed a concentration dependent decrease in cell viability of HCT-116, HL-60, PC-3, A-549, Mia pacca-2 and MCF-7 cell lines with IC 50 values ranging from 5.5 to 8.5 µM. The motility of Mia paca-2 cells treated with 8b was found inhibited in a dose dependent manner. Cell cycle studies revealed a concentration dependent rise in G2/M phase of cell cycle from 1% to 52%. Decreased expression of cyclins regulating G2/M transition of the cell cycle (cyclin B1 and cdk1) was recorded after treatment of Mia Paca-2 cells with 8b. Mitochondrial membrane potential was also significantly lost in cultures exposed to 8b. However, nuclear morphology of 8b treated Mia paca-2 cells revealed no significant changes. 8b significantly inhibited the growth of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma, Sarcoma-180 (ascites), Ehrlich tumor (solid) and Sarcoma-180 (solid). Conclusion: The findings are indicative of 8b exerting anticancer activity through cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and not through apoptosis. Reduction in the motility of Mia paca-2 cells indicates anti-metastatic potential of 8b.

Der Kristallograph in Gottfried Kellers Sinngedicht. Christian Heusser als ein Modell fur den Naturforscher Reinhart

Recently published letters by the Swiss crystallographer and explorer Christian Heusser (1826–1909) reveal that his friend Gottfried Keller used him as a model for Reinhart, the main male character in Das Sinngedicht . The beginning of Keller’s work on the novella cycle, 1851 in Berlin, coincided with the beginning of Heusser’s post-doctoral research. A close reading of the first chapter of Das Sinngedicht provides evidence for Keller’s familiarity with Heusser’s laboratory, the general objective of his study, and the eye problems he temporarily suffered. It is argued that Keller’s portrayal of Reinhart is not, as commonly held, a scathing view of the scientific mind mitigated by humor, but rather an appreciative portrait enlivened by friendly irony. The article traces the progressive deterioration of Reinhart’s image in literary criticism since the 1960s and attributes it to the widening cultural gap between sciences and humanities. It is suggested that the merry war between Reinhart and Lucie is inspired by a concetto : Reinhart, eager to elucidate the secrets of crystal structures, tries his skill on Lucie, nicknamed Lux, who turns the tables and elucidates his character by inciting him to narrations. In the end he is found flawless, rein and hart .

Does the brain produce the mind? A survey of psychiatrists’ opinions

Background Psychiatrists’ views on the mind-brain relationship (MBR) have marked clinical and research implications, but there is a lack of studies on this topic. Objectives To evaluate psychiatrists’ opinions on the MBR, and whether they are amenable to change or not. Methods We conducted a survey of psychiatrists’ views on the MBR just before and after a debate on the MBR at the Brazilian Congress of Psychiatry in 2014. Results Initially, from more than 600 participants, 53% endorsed the view that “the mind (your “I”) is a product of brain activity”, while 47% disagreed. Moreover, 72% contested the view that “the universe is composed only of matter”. After the debate, 30% changed from a materialist to a non-materialist view of mind, while 17% changed in the opposite way. Discussion Psychiatrists are interested in debates on the MBR, do not hold a monolithic view on the subject and their positions are open to reflection and change, suggesting the need for more in-depth studies and rigorous but open-minded debates on the subject.

On the Place of Behavior in the Analysis of Psychological Categories

The traditional, and still quite accepted, view of psychological phenomena (e.g., emotions, moods, “propositional attitudes”) holds that they are inner entities of some non-behavioral sort (reducible or not to brain phenomena) that bring about behaviors. Behavioral and related externalist perspectives, on the other hand, oppose (in different ways) this view. There is controversy, however, over how to understand psychological phenomena giving prominence to behaviors. Most versions of the so-called extended mind view, for instance, are very different from behavioral perspectives. This paper aims at contributing to this discussion by outlining a behavioral approach that draws upon Ryle and Skinner, among others. According to this approach, psychological phenomena of different categories are by and large made up of overt and/or covert behaviors and their relations to the environment. This paper starts off by briefly surveying the range of psychological categories and identifying a desideratum for an account thereof, according to which the account should, in general, be consistent with the basic nuances of these categories. It is suggested that the outlined approach fares well in this respect and is virtuously (as opposed to viciously) parsimonious. Also, Rachlin's teleological behaviorism and Clark and Chalmers' extended mind view are very briefly discussed.

A novel optimization technique for explicit finite‐difference schemes with application to AeroAcoustics

SummaryThe present paper addresses the optimization of finite‐difference schemes when these are to be used for numerically approximating spatial derivatives in aeroacoustics evolution problems. With that view in mind, finite‐difference operators are firstly detailed from a theoretical point of view. Secondly, time, the way such operators can be optimized in a spectral‐like sense is recalled, before the main limitations of such an optimization are highlighted. This leads us to propose an alternative optimization approach of innovative character. Such a novel optimization technique consists of enhancing the scheme's formal accuracy through a minimization of its leading‐order truncation error. This so‐called intrinsic optimization procedure is first detailed, before it is thoroughly analyzed, from both a theoretical and a practical point of view. The second part of the paper focuses on two particular intrinsically optimized schemes, which are carefully assessed via a direct comparison against their standard and/or spectral‐like optimized counterparts, such a comparative exercise being conducted utilizing several academic test cases of increasing complexity. There, it is shown how intrinsically optimized schemes indeed constitute an advantageous alternative to either the standard or the spectral‐like optimized ones, being allotted with both (i) the better scalability of the former scheme with respect to grid convergence effects when the grid density increases and (ii) the higher accuracy of the latter scheme when the discretization level becomes marginal. Thanks to that, such intrinsically optimized schemes offer very good trade‐offs in terms of (i) accuracy; (ii) robustness; and (iii) numerical efficiency (CPU cost). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Effects of bacterial inoculant biofertilizers on growth, yield and nutrition of rice in Australia

ABSTRACTInoculant biofertilizer application increased fertilizer nitrogen (N) use efficiency in Vietnam in some previous field experiments. Similar results may be obtained in Australia. With this view in mind, a greenhouse experiment and two field experiments were conducted using a Vietnamese inoculant biofertilizer (BioGro) and several other plant growth promoting (PGP) bacteria. In the greenhouse trial, bacterial inoculations increased shoot and root weights of rice plants significantly. In the field experiments, particularly with Rhizobium leguminosarum, similar effects including significant differences in nitrogen uptake in vegetative matter were observed at the panicle initiation (PI) stage. However, these effects were not significant on grain yield at harvest and it is concluded that the much longer period of growth for Australian rice may allow compensation between treatments. Re-inoculation of plants at the PI stage, and lower application rates of N fertilizer in at least two splits are suggested for future field experiments.

Effects of Climate Change on the Yield and Cropping Area of Major Food Crops: A Case of Bangladesh

The crops that we grow for food need specific climatic conditions to show better performance in view of economic yield. A changing climate could have both beneficial and harmful effects on crops. Keeping the above view in mind, this study is undertaken to investigate the impacts of climate change (viz. changes in maximum temperature, minimum temperature, rainfall, humidity and sunshine) on the yield and cropping area of four major food crops (viz. Aus rice, Aman rice, Boro rice and wheat) in Bangladesh. Heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation consistent standard error (HAC) and feasible generalized least square (FGLS) methods were used to determine the climate-crop interrelations using national level time series data for the period of 1972–2010. Findings revealed that the effects of all the climate variables have had significant contributions to the yield and cropping area of major food crops with distinct variation among them. Maximum temperature statistically significantly affected all the food crops’ yield except Aus rice. Maximum temperature also insignificantly affected cropping area of all the crops. Minimum temperature insignificantly affected Aman rice but benefited other three crops’ yield and cropping area. Rainfall significantly benefitted cropping area of Aus rice, but significantly affected both yield and cropping area of Aman rice. Humidity statistically positively contributed to the yield of Aus and Aman rice but, statistically, negatively influenced the cropping area of Aus rice. Sunshine statistically significantly benefitted only Boro rice yield. Overall, maximum temperature adversely affected yield and cropping area of all the major food crops and rainfall severely affected Aman rice only. Concerning the issue of climate change and ensuring food security, the respective authorities thus should give considerable attention to the generation, development and extension of drought (all major food crops) and flood (particularly Aman rice) tolerant varieties.

Protein Folding, Misfolding, Aggregation And Amyloid Formation: Mechanisms of Aβ Oligomer Mediated Toxicities

Protein folding is one of the most perplexing problems in molecular biology. Protein folding is a complex process through which protein molecule acquires unique native structure which carry out specific biological function. However, recently it has been recognized that some proteins have no single well-defined tertiary structure.These proteins are termed intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) which are involved in regulation and signaling. In 1969, Cyrus Levinthal noted that, because of the very large number of degrees of freedom in an unfolded polypeptide chain, the protein molecule has an astronomical number of possible conformations. Hence, from one calculation, for 100 amino acids polypeptide chain, 1011 years will be required for protein to fold, which is an unrealistic time because in vivo protein folding occurs in seconds or minutes. This is known as Levinthal paradox. To overcome Levinthal paradox, several folding models have been proposed. This includes from classical nucleation-propagation model to folding funnel model. The in vitro and in vivo conditions of protein folding are not the same.This was particularly challenged by the discovery of molecular chaperones that assist in correct folding of protein and if protein still misfolds it is subjected to proteasomal degradation for the maintenance of cell homeostasis. Despite of cellular protein quality control proteins often misfold. This happens due to mutations, changes in environmental conditions and includes many more factors. These misfolded proteins give rise to increase population of partially misfolded intermediates which have exposed hydrophobic residues that interact with complementary intermediates and consequently results in the formation of oligomers thereby proto-fibrils and fibrils. These fibrils are deposited in the brain and CNS leading to the manifestation of neurodegenerative diseases. Keeping above views in mind, in this review I have focused on, various folding models, folding in the cell, misfolding, aggregation and mechanism of Aβ fibril formation. Since Aβ oligomers are now considered as more toxic entities than fibrils. Hence, their mechanisms of toxicities also form the theme of the review.

Importance of Transport Corridors in Regional Development: The Case of TRACECA

After the Second World War regional development has been an important subject of economic analysis. T ransport activities and developing transport corridors have been observed among the most important factors in ensuring regional development. One of the most comprehensive transport corridors is the TRACECA (Europa-Caucasus-Asia Transport Corridor) corridor which is referred to as the New Silk Road. The TRACECA corridor has been thought to play an important role in Turkey's all kinds of passenger and freight transport, use of the potential in terms of tourism and trade, and regional development. With this point of view in mind, in the study, it has been aimed to reveal the effects of TRACECA corridor on the economic potential and regional development. Within this context, firstly the regional development has been handled. Then, referring to the transport corridors, TRACECA corridor has been explained, and the effects of TRACECA towards regional development have been discussed .

The SMART model: Soft Membranes Adapt and Respond, also Transiently, in the presence of antimicrobial peptides.

Biophysical and structural studies of peptide-lipid interactions, peptide topology and dynamics have changed our view on how antimicrobial peptides insert and interact with membranes. Clearly, both the peptides and the lipids are highly dynamic, change and mutually adapt their conformation, membrane penetration and detailed morphology on a local and a global level. As a consequence, the peptides and lipids can form a wide variety of supramolecular assemblies in which the more hydrophobic sequences preferentially, but not exclusively, adopt transmembrane alignments and have the potential to form oligomeric structures similar to those suggested by the transmembrane helical bundle model. In contrast, charged amphipathic sequences tend to stay intercalated at the membrane interface where they cause pronounced disruptions of the phospholipid fatty acyl packing. At increasing local or global concentrations, the peptides result in transient membrane openings, rupture and ultimately lysis. Depending on peptide-to-lipid ratio, lipid composition and environmental factors (temperature, buffer composition, ionic strength, etc.), the same peptide sequence can result in a variety of those responses. Therefore, the SMART model has been introduced to cover the full range of possibilities. With such a view in mind, novel antimicrobial compounds have been designed from amphipathic polymers, peptide mimetics, combinations of ultra-short polypeptides with hydrophobic anchors or small designer molecules.

Capital Allocation: Evidence, Analytical Methods, and Assessment Guidance

Capital allocation is one of top management's primary responsibilities. Although always important, it is critical today because corporate operating returns on invested capital are at an all‐time high, while recent growth and investment have been modest, and corporate balance sheets in the U.S. have substantial cash.Yet few senior executives are sufficiently well‐versed in finance theory and methods to allocate capital as effectively as possible. Further, incentive programs that focus on meeting earnings per share often encourage behavior that is not in the best interests of long‐term shareholders.In this report, the authors begin with the premise that the goal of corporate capital allocation is to build long‐term value per share; and with that view in mind, they examine the main sources and uses of capital by the largest 1,500 U.S. companies during the last 30 years. More specifically, the authors identify the amounts of capital allocated to each of seven important alternatives, including major uses of capital such as M&Amp;A, capital expenditures, R&D, and distributions of capital to investors such as dividends and stock repurchases. And after reviewing the past allocations of capital to each of these alternatives, the authors summarize the academic research on the effects on corporate values of each of these uses of capital.The authors report that U.S. corporations fund most of their investments internally, and that M&Amp;A and capital expenditures have long been, and continue to be, the largest operating uses of capital, though both capital expenditures and growth in assets have fallen in recent years. At the same time, both corporate cash holdings and distributions to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks are at record levels. But even with such high payouts, R&D spending as a percentage of revenue by U.S. companies has remained high, and actually increased during the past decade.Finally, the authors provide a framework that can be used either internally or by outsiders to evaluate the capital allocation practices and effectiveness of a management team. This framework asks management to assess its past performance, provide realistic projections of future returns on invested capital, and evaluate their own incentive programs—all while renewing their commitment to the five principles of thoughtful capital allocation: (1) zero‐based capital allocation; (2) funding of strategies, not projects; (3) no capital rationing; (4) zero tolerance for bad growth; and (5) continuous monitoring of the value of all assets and business, and willingness to take action if and when such values are larger outside than inside the firm.

Whither the Blank Slate? A Report on the Reception of Evolutionary Biological Ideas among Sociological Theorists

Sociologists have drawn considerable criticism over the years for their failure to integrate evolutionary biological principles in their work. Critics such as Stephen Pinker (2002) have popularized the notion that sociologists adhere dogmatically to a “blank slate” or cultural determinist view of the human mind and social behavior. This report assesses whether sociologists indeed ascribe to such a blank slate view. Drawing from a survey of 155 sociological theorists, we find the field about evenly divided over the applicability of evolutionary reasoning to a range of human tendencies. Although there are signs of a shift toward greater openness to evolutionary biological ideas, sociologists are least receptive to evolutionary accounts of human sex differences. Echoing earlier research, we find political identity to be a significant predictor of sociologists' receptiveness. We close by cautioning our colleagues against sociological reductionism and we speculate about the blank slate's political-psychological appeal to liberal-minded social scientists.

The cognitive and neural bases of human tool use.

The cognitive and neural bases of human tool use.

Emotionality differences between a native and foreign language: theoretical implications.

The topic editors, Cornelia Herbert and colleagues, have noted that language has historically been assumed to be independent from emotions. The historical backdrop to this is the long reign of faculty psychology, which viewed the human mind as composed of discrete abilities (see discussion in Barrett, 2013). The mental modularity popularized by Chomsky (1965) and Fodor (1983) continued this view following the cognitive revolution of mid-century. Emotion had no role in information processing psychology, leading to its neglect in the cognitive sciences (Cromwell and Panksepp, 2011). Indeed, the classic emotion-cognition divide has been criticized in the past decades by theorists who are otherwise not natural allies (e.g., Damasio, 1994; Cromwell and Panksepp, 2011; Lindquist, 2013). An alternative to faculty psychology is psychological construction (Lindquist, 2013). On this view, mental abilities and mental states like emotions are constructed from the dynamic interaction of physiological states, situation-specific information, and conceptual knowledge. In the modular view of mind, emotion and language should have little overlap in their processes and representations. However, according to psychological constructivism, an emotional reaction can be influenced by any aspect of the on-going situation, such as the language being spoken, which is the topic of this commentary. I describe here findings on the emotionality differences between a native and a foreign language. Bilingual speakers 1 frequently report that swearing, praying, lying, and saying I love you feel differently when using a native rather than a foreign language (see, e.g., Pavlenko, 2005; Dewaele, 2010). My goal is to highlight the relevance of this body of work for the theoretical assumptions regarding language-emotion independence.

Introduction: What Is the "Second Generation?"

1. Preliminary MovesWhat does it mean to take a approach to the cognitive study of literature? Since this label can easily lend itself to misunderstandings, we want to make clear that refers to a specific strand in contemporary cognitive science, one foregrounding the embodiment of mental processes and their extension into the world through material artifacts and socio-cultural practices.First-generation theories in the cognitive sciences conceive of the mind as based on abstract, propositional representations. Like a computer, the first-generation mind would process information as largely independent from specific brains, bodies, and sensory modalities. By contrast, approaches-a term coined by Lakoff and Johnson (Philosophy 77-78)-reject previous models of the mind as unduly limited to information processing, placing mental processes instead on a continuum with bioevolutionary and cultural practices. We treat cognitive as interchangeable with another, more technical-sounding label used by cognitive scientists-that of to cognition (Menary; Hutto). Here the e's stand for theories bringing to the fore the enactive, embedded, embodied, and extended qualities of the mind. To this list we may add experiential and emotional, since this new paradigm gives experience and emotional responses a much more important role in cognition than first-wave, computational cognitivism. Bringing these e-approaches together under a common tag is at some level problematic, as Menary points out (459-461 ), because the theories and methodologies that it encompasses often prove distinct on closer examination. We will have to keep in mind this caveat as we explore the potential of these cognitive models for literary interpretation and theorization. The diversity of the secondgeneration framework is, in itself, a reminder that-again in Menary's words-our cognitive lives are rich and varied and that simple homogenous explanations do not do justice to the complexity of cognitive phenomena (461). At the same time, second-generation approaches also show some remarkable continuities: they converge on a view of the human mind as shaped by our evolutionary history, bodily make-up, and sensorimotor possibilities, and as arising out of close dialogue with other minds, in intersubjective interactions and cultural practices.These are the shared tenets of a second-generation account of cognition, and the complexity of the resulting framework is, as we will show, perfectly suited to match the complexity of literary (and, more generally, artistic) practices. Hence, this special issue attempts to map out the continuities among e-approaches and bring them to bear on longstanding narrative, literary, and aesthetic questions. In this process of interdisciplinary bridge-building, the essays touch on all the e's of e-approaches, exploring how perception and mental imagery are enacted through sensorimotor patterns (Kuzmicova; Muller), how creativity is extended through material artifacts (Bernini), how the reading process is shaped by embodied schemata and lived experiences (Caracciolo; Kukkonen; Troscianko), and how characters' fictional minds are in themselves embodied and embedded in socio-cultural contexts (Bernaerts). Though our main focus will be on literature, by including Muller's essay on the embodiment of film viewing we would like to underscore the connections between literary scholarship and the neighboring field of film studies, where cognitive approaches have gained explicit recognition, often by drawing on what we are calling cognitivism here.Contrasting first-generation and second-generation cognitive science does, of course, raise the question of whether a similar split exists, or can be identified, within cognitive approaches to literary narrative. Lakoff and Johnson themselves point out that their distinction has nothing to do with the age of any individual or when one happened to enter the field The distinction is one of philosophical and methodological assumptions (Philosophy 78). …

Phytodiversity on fly ash deposits: evaluation of naturally colonized species for sustainable phytorestoration

Proliferation of fly ash (FA) deposits and its toxicity have become a global concern, which contaminate the ecosystems of our Earth. In this regard, identification of potential plant species for FA deposits' restoration is the main concern. Keeping this view in mind, the present study was conducted to identify potential plant species naturally growing on FA deposits for the restoration purposes. Six intensive surveys were made during 2010-2014 to collect naturally growing plant species during different seasons from two FA deposits in Unchahar of Raebareli district, Uttar Pradesh, India. The plant species having potential for FA deposits' restoration were identified on the basis of their ecological importance, dominance at the study sites and socio-economic importance for rural livelihoods. Typha latifolia L., Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers., Saccharum spontaneum L., Saccharum bengalense Retz. (syn. Saccharum munja), Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC., Ipomoea carnea Jacq. and Acacia nelotica L. are identified as potential plant species for FA deposits' restoration. Furthermore, the characteristics of naturally colonized species can be used for the phytorestoration during a revegetation plan of new FA deposits for multiple benefits.

Pain-O-Meters and Objective Pain Measurement: A Philosophical, Doctrinal, and Daubert-Centric Defense

Pain-o-meters rest on a reductionist view of mind that is contrary to the law’s traditional dualist view. Neurolaw skeptics accuse reductionism of fallaciously (1) identifying the mind and brain, (2) ignoring how behavioral abilities constitute the mind, (3) attributing to brains what is only attributable to persons, (4) conflating necessary and sufficient conditions, and (5) neglecting variability across persons and times in experiential responses to pain stimuli.I articulate the reductionist foundations of pain-o-meters and defend them against these criticisms. I show how reductionism and the law make the same empirical and causal demands for recognizing pain. Both see pain as causally entangled with the physical world and reject pain that stands aloof from such entanglements. Given this shared premise, the law need only accept one other: that there is in principle a single neural parameter whose causal entanglements with the world cannot be experimentally distinguished from those of all our pains. This premise is rock solid: it reflects the simplest empirically adequate scientific theory, and there are no empirical or pragmatic dividends to the law from rejecting it. These two premises jointly render comparisons of pain across persons and times materially equivalent to comparisons of that neural parameter.

Voice, (inter-)subjectivity, and real time recurrent interaction.

Received approaches to a unified phenomenon called “language” are firmly committed to a Cartesian view of distinct unobservable minds. Questioning this commitment leads us to recognize that the boundaries conventionally separating the linguistic from the non-linguistic can appear arbitrary, omitting much that is regularly present during vocal communication. The thesis is put forward that uttering, or voicing, is a much older phenomenon than the formal structures studied by the linguist, and that the voice has found elaborations and codifications in other domains too, such as in systems of ritual and rite. Voice, it is suggested, necessarily gives rise to a temporally bound subjectivity, whether it is in inner speech (Descartes' “cogito”), in conversation, or in the synchronized utterances of collective speech found in prayer, protest, and sports arenas world wide. The notion of a fleeting subjective pole tied to dynamically entwined participants who exert reciprocal influence upon each other in real time provides an insightful way to understand notions of common ground, or socially shared cognition. It suggests that the remarkable capacity to construct a shared world that is so characteristic of Homo sapiens may be grounded in this ability to become dynamically entangled as seen, e.g., in the centrality of joint attention in human interaction. Empirical evidence of dynamic entanglement in joint speaking is found in behavioral and neuroimaging studies. A convergent theoretical vocabulary is now available in the concept of participatory sense-making, leading to the development of a rich scientific agenda liberated from a stifling metaphysics that obscures, rather than illuminates, the means by which we come to inhabit a shared world.

The Affective Dog and Its Rational Tale: Intuition and Attunement

Intuition—spontaneous, nondeliberative assessment—has long been indispensable in theoretical and practical philosophy alike. Recent research by psychologists and experimental philosophers has challenged our understanding of the nature and authority of moral intuitions by tracing them to “fast,” “automatic,” “button-pushing” responses of the affective system. This view of the affective system contrasts with a growing body of research in affective neuroscience which suggests that it is instead a flexible learning system that generates and updates a multidimensional evaluative landscape to guide decision and action. With this latter view in mind, I revisit some of the classic hypothetical scenarios used in experimental moral psychology.