Experimental Evidence for Morality As Accountability

In July 2012 the VW Foundation Project 'Intuition and Emotion in Moral Decision-Making: Empirical Research and Normative Implications' held a conference entitled 'Normative Significance of Cognitive Science'. What is the relationship between normative ethics and scientific research on moral judgment and decision-making? What potential is there for drawing ethical implications from such empirical investigations? While questions in this area have received considerable attention lately, the discussion so far has been largely dominated by two opposing scepticisms: scepticism about the relevance of empirical research to ethics, and scepticism about the value of 'traditional' moral theory. This workshop aimed to go beyond such outright scepticism by investigating different ways in which empirical research might impact on normative ethics, focussing on philosophical reflection, whether critical or constructive, rather than on simply showcasing the latest scientific research.