Science & the Big Questions

Playing Favorites: When Kindness Toward Some Means Callousness Toward Others

If we do a favor for someone we know, we think we’ve done a good deed. What we don’t tend to ask is: Who have we harmed by treating this person with more kindness than we show toward others?

Hidden Brain, NPR

Topics: Altruism Bias Cooperation Decision-Making Group Identity Joshua Greene Morality

Does the Trolley Problem Have a Problem?

What if your answer to an absurd hypothetical question had no bearing on how you behaved in real life?

Slate

Topics: Ethics Joshua Greene Morality

If Buddhist Monks Trained AI

Monks take on the trolley problem, a classic moral dilemma that has big implications for driverless cars.

The Atlantic

Topics: Ethics Joshua Greene Morality Technology

Giving ‘Good’ a Rigorous Inspection

Joshua Greene, Steven Pinker, and Peter Singer trade ideas on how to be moral — and happy.

The Harvard Gazette

Topics: Cooperation Ethics Happiness Joshua Greene Morality Progress Values

Philosophers Are Using Science and Data Points to Test Theories of Morality

The statistical and scientific methods seen in philosophy today are a new development.

Quartz

Topics: Joshua Greene Morality

Do Emotions and Morality Mix

A philosopher explains how feelings influence right and wrong.

The Atlantic

Topics: Cognition Decision-Making Emotion Ethics Joshua Greene Morality