The Two-Front Forever War: Moral Nativism and Its Critics

Dahl, Audun; Baxley, Charles P.; Waltzer, Talia

doi:10.1159/000517406

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(68 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The assumption that biological factors play a role in morality must be further spelled out ( Dahl et al, 2021 ) and this can be done either from a gene-centered perspective or a developmental systems approach. From the perspective we propose, morality and the idea of justice emerges and does not pre-exist in either societal beliefs nor in the biology of the individual.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Experience (cultural learning) revises the draft during childhood, and even (to a lesser extent) during adulthood”( Graham et al, 2013 , p. 61). In stating their claim that morality is innate, Graham et al ( 2013 , p. 100) assert that, “the discussion should focus on how exactly moral knowledge is innate, not whether it is.” However, despite this strong claim, they and others do not discuss “how exactly moral knowledge is innate” ( Dahl et al, 2021 ). In phrasing the problem in terms of how moral knowledge is innate, it seems that what is being proposed is an account of how knowledge could be innate, referring to the biological processes involved in getting from genes to justice and from neurons to norms.…”

Section: Biology and Environment In Conceptualizations Of Interaction And Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Conceptualizations of Knowledge in Structuring Approaches to Moral Development: A Process-Relational Approach

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Like other aspects of child development, views of the nature and development of morality depend on philosophical assumptions or worldviews presupposed by researchers. We analyze assumptions regarding knowledge linked to two contrasting worldviews: Cartesian-split-mechanistic and process-relational. We examine the implications of these worldviews for approaches to moral development, including relations between morality and social outcomes, and the concepts of information, meaning, interaction and computation. It is crucial to understand how researchers view these interrelated concepts in order to understand approaches to moral development. Within the Cartesian-split-mechanistic worldview, knowledge is viewed as representation and meaning is mechanistic and fixed. Both nativism and empiricism are based in this worldview, differing in whether the source of representations is assumed to be primarily internal or external. Morality is assumed to pre-exist, either in the genome or the culture. We discuss problems with these conceptions and endorse the process-relational paradigm, according to which knowledge is constructed through interaction, and morality begins in activity as a process of coordinating perspectives, rather than the application of fixed rules. The contrast is between beginning with the mind or beginning with social activity in explaining the mind.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Biology and Environment In Conceptualizations Of Interaction And Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%