What Makes Us Moral? On the capacities and conditions for being moral

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

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2. What Makes Us Moral? An Introduction

   • Bert Musschenga

   Pages 1-13

3. Morality, Evolution and Rationality

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

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   2. Rationality and Deceit: Why Rational Egoism Cannot Make Us Moral

      • Alejandro Rosas

      Pages 17-30

   3. Two Problems of Cooperation

      • Katharine Browne

      Pages 31-50

   4. The Importance of Commitment for Morality: How Harry Frankfurt’s Concept of Care Contributes to Rational Choice Theory

      • Catherine Herfeld, Katrien Schaubroeck

      Pages 51-72

   5. Quantified Coherence of Moral Beliefs as Predictive Factor for Moral Agency

      • Markus Christen, Thomas Ott

      Pages 73-96

4. Morality and the Continuity Between Human and Nonhuman Primates

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 97-97

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   2. Animal Morality and Human Morality

      • Bert Musschenga

      Pages 99-116

   3. Two Kinds of Moral Competence: Moral Agent, Moral Judge

      • Florian Cova

      Pages 117-130

   4. Humean Moral Motivation

      • Andrés Luco

      Pages 131-150

   5. Whispering Empathy: Transdisciplinary Reflections on Research Methodology

      • Harry Wels

      Pages 151-165

5. Nativism and Non-Nativism

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 167-167

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   2. The Origin of Moral Norms and the Role of Innate Dispositions

      • Jessy Giroux

      Pages 169-186

   3. It’s Complicated – Moral Nativism, Moral Input and Moral Development

      • Carsten Fogh Nielsen

      Pages 187-206

   4. Learning to Be Moral

      • Julia Hermann

      Pages 207-223

   5. Why Mental Disorders Can Diminish Responsibility: Proposing a Theoretical Framework

      • Gerben Meynen

      Pages 225-238

   6. Natural Morality, Moral Natures and Human Flourishing

      • Darcia Narvaez

      Pages 239-254

6. Religion and (Im)Morality

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 255-255

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   2. Atheism and the Basis of Morality

      • Stephen Maitzen

      Pages 257-269

This book addresses the question of what it means to be moral and which capacities one needs to be moral. It questions whether empathy is a cognitive or an affective capacity, or perhaps both. As most moral beings behave immorally from time to time, the authors ask which factors cause or motivate people to translate their moral beliefs into action? Specially addressed is the question of what is the role of internal factors such as willpower, commitment, character, and what is the role of external, situational and structural factors? The questions are considered from various (disciplinary) perspectives.​

• animal morals
• evolution of morality
• history of morality
• human morality
• moral psychology
• social factors morality

• Faculty of Philosophy, Amsterdam, Netherlands

  Bert Musschenga

• of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy and Department,, Amsterdam, Netherlands

  Anton van Harskamp

Policies and ethics