“Illuminating, entertaining and wise.” —Nicholas A. Christakis, Nature
Conscience, a finalist for the PEN / E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, explores why all social groups have moral systems and how these systems are formed. Distinguished professor Patricia S. Churchland brings together an understanding of the influences of neuroscience, genetics, and physical environment to elucidate how our brains are configured to form bonds and care for children, while also investigating why amoral psychopaths can arise. Churchland then turns to philosophy to understand how morality is transmitted through generations, and why it has become a foundation of all societies. Conscience joins ideas rarely put into dialogue and brings light to a subject that speaks to the meaning of being human.
About the author
Patricia Churchland is the author of Touching a Nerve: Our Brains, Our Selves. She is professor emerita of philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, and the recipient of a Mac Arthur Fellowship.
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