Must Ethics for Moral Neuroeducation Be Naturalistic?

Abstract

The naturalization of ethics is being promulgated in a range of domains, one of which is neuroscience, hence the question stated in this chapter’s title. In order to answer this question, we must clarify what is meant by “naturalistic”; is it used in a reductionist sense? Or solely to refer to a concern for incorporating a neuroscientific perspective into the study of ethics, thereby without any intention that it should predominate within philosophical discussion?

Having addressed this first issue, attention is then turned to what is meant by “education”; many studies in the field of neuroeducation tend to equate education with learning, and this tendency will be questioned. Furthermore, the great majority of publications on neuroeducation address the neuronal foundation for understanding language and arithmetic, dyscalculia, dyslexia and learning and language development disorders. However, they do not tackle the issue of moral learning or moral education. While there are studies are devoted to issues of the educational value of rewarding or punishing learners, no work has been undertaken on the role of moral values within the education process, those which shape the development of a child’s moral character. Indeed, there are very few neuroscientific studies concerned with moral education. The concern of this chapter is to consider why this should be.