In this class we have more

HARD QUESTIONS

We have been developing a realist approach to ethics

• rooted in cultural traditions and in the natural sciences

• We read the contemporary boom in ethics, for example creating shared value,

• as a revival of traditional ideals of community• and a following of physically hard-wired

emotional gut instincts• not limited by the rules of Kantian or utilitarian or

other modern ethical theories

Post-modern ethics is unbounded. It moves freely in an out of the four-walled

box of modern ethics.

So here is the hard question

• HOW DOES A REALIST APPROACH TO ETHICS HELP US SOLVE THE PROBLEMS OF MACROECONOMICS?

• Actually this is an umbrella question that includes:

• How does realist ethics help business leaders succeed in the realities of today´s highly competitive global environment?

• And contribute to solving social problems like like inflation, unemployment, growth with equity?

To answer these questions we might get some help

• From our old friend Nancy Tanner: “The human body evolved as the body of a cultural animal.”

• and from our old friend Tom Berry: “Human beings are biologically coded to be culturally coded.”

And from our new friend

• Chris Malone

• Co-author with Susan Fiske of The Human Brand

Let´s get a little more specific about the physical bottom line

• Considering certain aspects of the physiology of the brain

• And the famous left brain/right brain division

Many people see learning to use our right brains as “re-enchantment” bringing back

the old Gemeinschaft

Today our specific point is about ethics

• In connection with the right prefrontal cortex

• That is to say the front part of the right hemisphere of the brain

• As it has evolved over millions of years

Studying patients with brain damage is one way to learn about the functions of different

parts of the brain

• “Is there any cause in nature that makes these hard hearts?” –Shakespeare, King Lear

• Answer: Yes, damage to the prefrontal cortex of the right hemisphere makes hard hearts.

• Patients without a functioning right prefrontal cortex are emotionally disengaged from others.

Patients with lesions in the right hemisphere ventromedial prefrontal cortex

• Are impulsive• Do not foresee consequences • Are selfish• Lack self control• Are prone to addictions• Lack the inhibitions that give

normal people power to resist temptation• ---Iain McGilchrist, The Master and the

Emissary, page 86

Psycopaths have deficits in the right frontal lobe

• Particularly in the right ventromedial and orbitofrontal cortex

• They have no sense of guilt, shame, or responsibility

--McGilchrist, p. 85

A normal human being with both hemispheres undamaged

• Has empathy• She or he is pained by the suffering of others and

motivated to relieve suffering• Thus the capacity for sadness is basic for ethical

behaviour.

• Research on the brain leads us to doubt philosophical and economic theories that made happiness the basis for ethics.

Normal human beings cooperate even with people with whom they are not genetically related

• It is fellow-feeling, not calculation, which is both the motive and reward for successful cooperation. It is the relationship that matters.

• In psychological experiments subjects who achieve successful cooperation show activity in parts of the brain associated with

PLEASURE• (the mesolimbic dopamine system dopamine system

dopamine system)

--McGilchrist p. 147

Evidence from brain damage and electronic tracking of cerebral activity

• Is just the tip of the iceberg

• of overwhelming evidence that humans are social animals capable of empathy and cooperation.

Evidence from brain damage and electronic tracking of cerebral activity

• Is just the tip of the iceberg.

• Of overwhelming evidence that humans are social animals capable of empathy and cooperation.