Marc Hauser has new book out ( Moral Minds, HarperCollins, 2006) where he argues that we should analyze moral cognition as a “universal grammar” along the lines of Chomsky’s programme for linguistics. I haven’t had the opportunity to read Hauser’s book yet, so I will refrain from commenting on it until I have (hint, hint, HaperCollins!). However, Richard Rorty has read it and reviews it in today’s New York TimesSunday Book Review. He raises a number of obvious questions - what qualifies as moral cognition?, what can we learn about moral behaviour from studying the brain?, etc. - which it would interesting to see Hauser answer.
-Martin
-Martin