The discussions in The Science of Morality move from the brain and its extraordinary product of consciousness to psychological and sociological insights, and they examine from the breadth of these perspectives the possibilities for increased understanding of the social and moral capacities of human beings.

There can scarcely be a more important set of enquires.

From the Foreword to the book by AC Grayling MA DPhil(Oxon) FRSA

Can science illuminate morality? The sciences study what is, while morality deals with what ought to be, fact has often been regarded as irrelevant to value. But increasingly, work in the human sciences - among them genetics, evolutionary biology, anthropology, neuroscience, neurology, psychology and psychiatry - is invading the heartland of morality, blurring the traditional distinction between the study of what is and the study of what ought to be.

This enlightening collection of essays provides a wide-ranging exploration of the sciences of morality. The papers published here were selected from those delivered at a conference of the same name; contributors are drawn from all the relevant key disciplines. Topics addressed include:

• the interrelationships between consciousness and conscience
• the evolution and genetic control of moral thought and behaviour
• the neural basis of deception
• the biology, psychology and social origins of psychopathy
• the role of upbringing in shaping moral attitudes and conduct
• the inescapable relevance of value to the practice of medicine and psychiatry
• the universality of moral concern

While our value systems may be the local products of cultures and religions, the capacity for ethical thought and behaviour is deeply rooted in human nature. These absorbing essays articulate and reflect on the insights furnished by science into the origins and mechanisms of morality.

Professor Adam Zeman FRCP BM(Oxon) MRCP(UK) DM

Foreword by AC Graying

Introduction by the Editor, Graham Walker

Part 1: The science

• The neuroscience of morality Baroness Susan Greenfield 
• The neurology of consciousness - and conscience Adam Zeman
• The evolutionary genetics of morality Ian Craig & Caroline Loat
• The deceiving brain Sean Spence
• Values-based medicine: delusion and religious experience as a case study in the limits of medical-scientific reduction Bill Fulford
• Morality and the social brain Robin Dunbar

Part 2: The social science

• Demons and angels: who cares? Poor care structures and moral breakdown
  Camilia Batmanghelidjh
• Biological, psychological and social factors in the pathogenesis of psychopathy Michael Penn, Amer Pharaon & Atilla Cidam
• Universal values Bill Hatcher
• The meaning of the 21st century Jim Martin