Abstract

Neuroscientific perspectives on conscience and conscience-related research: Recent years have witnessed a growth in empirical research into the biological correlates of conscience and moral decision-making. The central questions posed and addressed in such neuroscientific investigations concern the role of the emotions in decisions of conscience, and the determining of the particular brain regions that correlate with these decisions. Responding to these, I shall first outline the basic terminology involved and present the neuroethical analyses of Churchland, together with the findings of the empirical studies carried out by Greene, Damasio and others. I then offer a critical assessment of Greene’s thesis claiming that deontology should be denied the status of a moral theory, before addressing the issue of whether it is at all possible to arrive at conclusions about the correctness of any sort of moral theory – be it deontological or consequentialist – on the basis of empirical research.