Interdisciplinary Symposium on Intuition and Morality
Is morality intuitive or intellectual? While many moral philosophers and psychologists have long held that moral decisions and moral character are developed primarily through explicit deliberation, research from psychology and cognitive science now suggests that subconscious intuition plays a central role in our moral lives and experiences. Working at the intersection of empirical and theoretical analysis, Dr. Darcia Narvaez and Dr. Nancy Snow investigate the boundaries, influences, and implications of intuition in moral judgment and decision-making. Dr. Narvaez will present “Moral Complexity and Shifting Moral Mindsets” first, at 3:30 p.m., followed by Dr. Snow at 4:45 p.m. Refreshments will be served.
In “Moral Complexity and Shifting Moral Mindsets” Dr. Narvaez identifies a connection between distinct emotion systems and different moral mindsets, such as self-protection and relational-attunement. In “How Habits Make Us Virtuous” Dr. Snow evaluates different philosophical paradigms according to which conscious and nonconscious processing guide virtuous character. Both presentations aim to give a deeper understanding of how intuitive processes guide moral agency and development.
Dr. Darcia Narvaez is Professor of Psychology at University of Notre Dame. As director of the Moral Psychology Lab, Narvaez researches morality from an interdisciplinary perspective across the lifespan, including early life, childhood, and adulthood. She studies multiple contexts including family life, schooling and media. She brings evolutionary theory, neurobiology and positive psychology to considerations of development, morality and wisdom. She is the author or editor of numerous books and articles. Her latest books are Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom (2014); Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution: Culture, Childrearing and Social Wellbeing (co-edited with Valentino, Fuentes, McKenna, & Gray, 2014); Handbook of Moral and Character Education (2nd Ed.; edited with Nucci, & Krettenauer, 2014); Evolution, Early Experience and Human Development: From Research to Practice and Policy (edited with Panksepp, Schore, & Gleason, 2013). She also writes a popular blog for Psychology Today (“Moral Landscapes”).
Dr. Nancy E. Snow is Professor of Philosophy at Marquette University. Her work is in virtue ethics and moral psychology. She is the author of a book, Virtue as Socially Intelligence: An Empirically Grounded Theory (Routledge 2010), the editor of Cultivating Virtue: Perspectives from Philosophy, Theology, and Psychology (Oxford 2015), and the co-editor (with Franco V. Trivigno) of The Philosophy and Psychology of Character and Happiness (Routledge 2014). She is currently under contract with Oxford University Press to edit the Oxford Handbook of Virtue (forthcoming) and to co-edit, with Julia Annas and Darcia Narvaez, Developing the Virtues: Integrating Perspectives. She has published numerous articles on aspects of virtue ethics.
Drs. Narvaez and Snow are currently project co-directors of “The Self, Motivation, and Virtue Project,” a three-year, $2.6 million initiative funded by the Templeton Religion Trust.