López Moratalla Natalia
Catedrática Emérita de Bioquímica Universidad de Navarra. Irunlarrea, 1; 31008 Pamplona
Cuad Bioet. 2015 Sep-Dec;26(88):415-25.
The neurobiological processes underlying moral judgement have been the focus of Neuroethics. Neurosciences demonstrate which cerebral areas are active and inactive whilst people decide how to act when facing a moral dilemma; in this way we know the correlation between determined cerebral areas and our human acts. We can explain how the ″ethical endowments″ of each person, common to all human beings, is ″embedded″ in the dynamic of cerebral flows. Of central interest is whether emotions play a causal role in moral judgement, and, in parallel, how emotion related areas of the brain contribute to moral judgement. The outcome of man's natural inclinations is on one hand linked to instinctive systems of animal survival and to basic emotions, and on the other, to the life of each individual human uninhibited by automatism of the biological laws, because he is governed by the laws of freedom. The capacity to formulate an ethical judgement is an innate asset of the human mind.
道德判断背后的神经生物学过程一直是神经伦理学的焦点。神经科学揭示了人们在面对道德困境决定如何行动时,哪些脑区处于活跃或不活跃状态;通过这种方式,我们了解特定脑区与人类行为之间的关联。我们能够解释每个人共有的“道德天赋”是如何“嵌入”脑血流动态之中的。核心问题在于情绪在道德判断中是否发挥因果作用,以及与此同时,大脑中与情绪相关的区域如何对道德判断产生影响。人类自然倾向的结果一方面与动物生存的本能系统和基本情绪相关,另一方面与不受生物法则自动作用束缚的每个人的生活相关,因为人类受自由法则支配。形成道德判断的能力是人类心智的一种固有特质。