CSP 68 Being Good and Doing Good: Moral Philosophy Meets Empirical Psychology

Did you know that if you find a dime in a phone booth you are much more likely to help someone in need? That it might be better to make important decisions in your life based, not on your careful reflection on the matter, but on your gut feelings? In this course we will investigate cutting-edge research in psychology that upends deeply held convictions about our moral behavior. We will examine the implications that this research has in our moral landscape by examining the contributions that different contemporary philosophers have made to this body of research. In the last part of the course we will reflect on how this research can help us understand and address some pressing social justice issues in the Eagle Rock community in particular and the LA area in general.