The Ethical Brain by Michael S. Gazzaniga

Author:Michael S. Gazzaniga [Gazzaniga, Michael S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dana Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

part iv

The Nature of Moral Beliefs and

the Concept of Universal Ethics

chapter 9

The Believing Brain The President’s Council on Bioethics had been formed to look at the ethical implications of modern biomedical discoveries, and we were fast out of the blocks in considering the hotbutton issue of our time: cloning and stem cell research. This meant that, in no uncertain terms, we would be confronting the embryo question, a question that elicits secular, religious, and utilitarian discussion of beliefs—strong beliefs—from almost anyone you talk to. The council was not, as one might imagine, a group of scientists. While a number of members had biomedical training, many did not. And many of those with biomedical training held personal beliefs that trumped a straight utilitarian or secular view of the matters at hand. In short, the council reflected a real cross section of society: a group of people that ranged from those possessing complex secular beliefs about the value of the natural world, to those who held utilitarian beliefs, to those with deep religious beliefs.

Nowhere does the human capacity to form and hold beliefs 145

become more stark than when clear scientific data challenge the assumptions of someone’s personal beliefs. It would be easy to spin a story line about how a particular person with a set of religious values resisted the biological analysis of this or that finding in an effort to reaffirm his or her belief. There are many such stories, but they miss the point. Scientists themselves are just as resistant to change a view when confronted with new data that suggest their view is incorrect. All of us hold on to our beliefs, and it now appears that men are even more tenacious about not letting go than are women.1

Let me be as clear as I can about what I mean by “holding beliefs” or having belief systems. Many roads lead to holding beliefs. For many religiously oriented people, rules and codes to live by are spelled out and delivered by the religion in question, when one signs on to it. For the scientist, scientific rules and codes become part of the beliefs one must uphold upon joining the ranks of the particular science. For utilitarians, the decisions society makes about life’s challenges become their own beliefs. Overall, and this is my view about the nature of beliefs, our species instinctively reacts to events, and in a specialized system of the human brain that reaction is interpreted. Out of that interpretation, beliefs emerge about rules to live by. Sometimes they have a moral character; sometimes they are of an utterly practical nature.

We can form beliefs slowly or quickly. Studies have shown startling aspects of how we can generate and hold onto a belief. People who buy a computer-generated lotto ticket for a dollar are reluctant to part with it if offered more money for it seconds after its purchase. Offering two bucks—a 100 percent increase in their investment—doesn’t do it. In many instances the offer has to be extended to twenty bucks.

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