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Triune Ethics Meta-Theory and Embodied Moral Development

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Embodied Morality

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Abstract

Triune ethics meta-theory (TEM) identifies three distinctive ethical orientations, rooted in basic emotional systems and global brain states, that propel human moral action on an individual and group level. The first state, self-preservation, typically occurs when the stress response is activated, mobilizing the individual for “fight,” “flight,” “freeze,” or “faint” and drawing focus to self-regarding action. The second state, affiliation, relies on the upper limbic system and its connections to the frontal lobe and extends capacities from self-regarding to other-regarding as long as bidirectional links to the frontal lobe, critical for self-regulation, are well-functioning. The third state, reflection, requires frontal lobe capacities, especially the prefrontal cortex, extending capabilities of imagination and abstraction. Ethical orientations can shift by situation and also be dispositional.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Narvaez (2014).

  2. 2.

    MacLean (1990).

  3. 3.

    Though adjustments had to be made to a few of MacLean’s (1990) physiological descriptions after advances in brain research (for reviews see Cory, 2002; Cory & Gardner, 2002), the global brain states are still useful and are the focus here.

  4. 4.

    Panksepp (1998).

  5. 5.

    Schmitz, De Rosa, and Anderson (2009).

  6. 6.

    Arnsten (2009).

  7. 7.

    Batson (2011).

  8. 8.

    Mikulincer and Shaver (2005).

  9. 9.

    Eidelson and Eidelson (2003).

  10. 10.

    Tomkins (1965).

  11. 11.

    Panksepp (1998).

  12. 12.

    Eisenberg (1995).

  13. 13.

    Gross (2007).

  14. 14.

    Schore (2001, p. 202).

  15. 15.

    Lewis, Amini, and Lannon (2000, p. 63).

  16. 16.

    Schore (2001, p. 202).

  17. 17.

    Calkins and Hill (2007) and Feldman, Weller, Sirota, and Eidelman (2002).

  18. 18.

    Calkins and Hill (2007) and Porges (2011).

  19. 19.

    Porter (2003), Haley and Stansbury (2003), Calkins, Smith, Gill, and Johnson (1998), and Kennedy, Rubin, Hastings, and Maisel (2004).

  20. 20.

    Fredrickson and Losada (2005), Panksepp (1998), and Rowe, Hirsh, and Anderson (2007).

  21. 21.

    Narvaez (2010).

  22. 22.

    Darwin (1871/1981).

  23. 23.

    Oliner and Oliner (1988).

  24. 24.

    Tomkins (1965).

  25. 25.

    Carlson and Levy (1970).

  26. 26.

    Tomkins (1965).

  27. 27.

    Tomkins (1965).

  28. 28.

    Ashton and Dwyer (1975).

  29. 29.

    MacLean (1990).

  30. 30.

    Panksepp (1998).

  31. 31.

    Koutstaal (2013).

  32. 32.

    Kohlberg (1984).

  33. 33.

    Narvaez (2012, 2014).

  34. 34.

    This is similar to Aristotle’s distinctions among virtue, continence, incontinence, and vice. In his case virtue involves the matchup of inclination with spontaneously doing the right thing with pleasure; continence involves inclinations and desires going the other way but still doing the right thing; incontinence is when there is some knowledge of the good but contrary inclinations are followed; vice is when inclinations and action are both contrary to doing the right thing. Many more layers are involved than the coordination of passion and reason—neurobiological systems of various kinds that are related to self-control, stress response, social engagement, and higher-order thinking. These too are part of the coordination that occurs in optimal functioning.

  35. 35.

    Damasio (1994).

  36. 36.

    Varela (1992/1999, p. 16).

  37. 37.

    Ingold (2011).

  38. 38.

    Ingold (2011, p. 4).

  39. 39.

    Ingold (2011, p. 9).

  40. 40.

    Narvaez (2014).

  41. 41.

    Sheldrake (2012).

  42. 42.

    Field (1998).

  43. 43.

    Eisler and Levine (2002).

  44. 44.

    Caldji, Diorio, and Meaney (2003).

  45. 45.

    Quirk (2007).

  46. 46.

    Feldman (2007).

  47. 47.

    Malloch and Trevarthen (2009).

  48. 48.

    What is critical for readers who are not keyboard musicians to know is that when one learns a piece of music one must practice it in the right way—first at a slow pace to ensure the notes are hit correctly and in the right manner and so that the steady speed required is maintained. If one rushes through new music, one will inevitably hit wrong notes and slow down when one is not supposed to. The body quickly learns the bad pattern and it is hard to eradicate once rehearsed more than a couple of times. Similarly, the baby’s new systems are set on their trajectories from the first encounter. If this is too traumatic or discouraging, the whole “learning of the piece” may be misdirected. This is one reason that experiences at birth and in the early months should be carefully choreographed (Narvaez, 2014).

  49. 49.

    Trevarthen (2009).

  50. 50.

    Bruner (1983).

  51. 51.

    Searle (1997).

  52. 52.

    Haggar, Anderson, Kyriakaki, and Darkings (2007).

  53. 53.

    Blasi (1993), Cervone (1999), Lapsley and Narvaez (2004a, b).

  54. 54.

    Goldberg (1999, p. 30).

  55. 55.

    J. Gilligan (1997).

  56. 56.

    Crick and Dodge (1994).

  57. 57.

    Lyons-Ruth (1996).

  58. 58.

    Dodge, Bates, and Pettit (1997).

  59. 59.

    Dillon (1990).

  60. 60.

    Neisser (1976).

  61. 61.

    Wilson, Lisle, Kraft, and Wetzel (1989).

  62. 62.

    Mischel (1973, p. 270).

  63. 63.

    Hart, Shaver, and Goldenberg (2005) and Mikulincer and Shaver (2001).

  64. 64.

    Mikulincer and Shaver (2005).

  65. 65.

    Oliner (2002).

  66. 66.

    For example, Cervone (1999), Mischel and Shoda (1995).

  67. 67.

    Kochanska (2002).

  68. 68.

    Matsuba and Walker (2004).

  69. 69.

    Meier, Robinson, and Wilkowski (2006).

  70. 70.

    Fredrickson (2001).

  71. 71.

    Hart, Shaver, and Goldenberg (2005).

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  1. Psychology Department, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA

    Darcia Narvaez

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Narvaez, D. (2016). Triune Ethics Meta-Theory and Embodied Moral Development. In: Embodied Morality. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55399-7_2

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