Patricia Churchland - Morality and the Mammalian Brain

Prof Patricia Churchland's Gifford Lecture - Recorded 11 May, 2010 at St Cecelia's Hall, The University of Edinburgh. Self-caring neural circuitry embodies self-preservation values, and these are values in the most elemental sense. Whence caring for others? Social problem-solving, including policy-making, is probably an instance of problem-solving more generally, and draws upon the capacity, prodigious in humans, to envision consequences of a planned action. In humans, it also draws upon the capacity for improving upon current practices and technologies. Audio version.