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Podcasts Take Two
Are you moral because of your brain?
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Nov 14, 2013
Listen • 8:45
Are you moral because of your brain?
In Joshua Greene's new book, "Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason and the Gap Between Us and Them," he elaborates on our genetic hardwiring that creates "morality," and the cultural aspects that shape it further.
The cover of Joshua Greene's new book, "Moral Tribes."
The cover of Joshua Greene's new book, "Moral Tribes."
(
Courtesy of The Penguin Press
)

In Joshua Greene's new book, "Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason and the Gap Between Us and Them," he elaborates on our genetic hardwiring that creates "morality," and the cultural aspects that shape it further.

How do you know when some thing is not just a bad idea - it's morally wrong?

Do you consult a philosopher - talk to a priest or rabbi? Maybe just check in with the old magic 8 ball?

Most of us don't go to those lengths: we just KNOW on a gut level what's right and wrong.

Joshua Greene from Harvard's Moral Cognition Lab has spent years trying to pin point where in the brain those gut level moral decisions happen. 

In his new book, "Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason and the Gap Between Us and Them," he elaborates on our genetic hardwiring that creates "morality," and the cultural aspects that shape it further.

EVENT: Joshua Green speaks with KPCC's Sanden Totten Thursday night at 7pm at the Crawford Family Forum. For more info and to RSVP for free, visit here.