Expanding the moral circle: farmed fish as objects of moral concern

Expanding the moral circle: Inclusion and exclusion mindsets and the circle of moral regard

0022-1031/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier Inc. A doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2008.08.012 E-mail address: [email protected] The human tendency to draw boundaries is pervasive. The ‘moral circle’ is the boundary drawn around those entities in the world deemed worthy of moral consideration. Three studies demonstrate that the size of the moral circle is influenced by a decision framing effect: the incl...

From moral concern to moral constraint

Current research into the neural basis of moral decision-making endorses a common theme: The mechanisms we use to make value-guided decisions concerning each other are remarkably similar to those we use to make value-guided decisions for ourselves. In other words, moral decisions are just another kind of ordinary decision. Yet, there is something unsettling about this conclusion: We often feel ...

Centripetal and centrifugal forces in the moral circle: Competing constraints on moral learning.

The idea of the moral circle pictures the self in the center, surrounded by concentric circles encompassing increasingly distant possible targets of moral concern, including family, local community, nation, all humans, all mammals, all living things including plants, and all things including inanimate objects. The authors develop the idea of two opposing forces in people's moral circles, with c...

The Moral of Moral Luck

Moral Repair and the Moral Saints Problem

This article explores the forms of moral repair that the wrongdoer has to perform in an attempt to make amends for her past wrongdoing, with a focus on the issues of interpersonal moral repair; that is, what a wrongdoer can do to merit her victim‘s forgiveness and achieve reconciliation with her community. The article argues against the very general demands of atonement that amount to an obliga...