Embodied Morality - by Darcia Narvaez (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

In this book the broad, interdisciplinary theory of Triune Ethics Meta-theory is explored to demonstrate how it explains the different patterns of morality seen in the world today. It describes how human morality develops dynamically from experience in early life and it proposes that the methods in which humans are raised bring about tendencies towards self-protective or open-hearted social relations. When the life course follows evolutionary systems, then prosocial, open-hearted capacities develop but when the life course goes against evolutionary systems it should not be a surprise that self-focused values and behaviors develop such as violent tribalism, self aggrandizement and a binary orientation to others (dominance or submission). Many humans alive today exhibit impaired capacities in comparison to humans from small-band hunter-gatherer societies, the type of society that represents 99% of humanity's history. TEM is rooted in ethical naturalism and points out how to optimizehuman moral development through the lifespan--toward the ethics of engagement and communal imagination.

Review Quotes

"The book ... provides copious citations of related research findings from scientists in other fields. Notes and references are provided at the end of each chapter, with an index provided at the back of the book. ... The theory and research reported in this monograph raise the standard in the field on what is to count as a science of moral functioning." (Don Collins Reed, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 62 (13), March, 2017)

About the Author

Darcia Narvaez is Professor of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame, USA and publishes on moral development and education. Her most recent book is Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and executive editor of the Journal of Moral Education and writes a blog, Moral Landscapes, for Psychology Today.