Neuroscience and Metaethics: A Kantian Hypothesis

The interpretation of experimental data in neuroscientific research concerning moral decisions
is controversial. One of the leading experimenters in the field, Joshua Greene, holds
that the data show that deontological theories of morality are the expression of a confabulation
which tries to give a rational justification for emotional responses. His arguments are
criticized on the basis of a different interpretation of deontology. On the other hand, Marc
Hauser, John Mikhail and others have proposed a research project in moral psychology
called Universal Moral Grammar. This perspective is more promising as far as the normative
dimension of moral judgment is concerned. Yet, it is suggested that rather than looking
for the universal moral principles we should look for the (univerdsal) formal principles
of morality, in a more thoroughly Kantian perspective.