Here is a breath of fresh air: a morally sensitive and recognizable form of moral realism flowing naturally from contemporary cognitive neuroscience and modern evolutionary theory. Casebeer offers a striking intellectual synthesis that will surely move moral theory—though not without controversy—toward a more vigorous and scientifically informed future. It will also reconnect us to some of the proudest themes in our philosophical past: to the virtue ethics of Aristotle, and to the ever-practical ethics of John Dewey. For a new and revealing take on an old but vital problem, we commend to your attention Casebeer's lucid and ground-breaking book. This way lies the future of moral theory.
Paul Churchland, University of California, San Diego
Integrating evolutionary biology and connectionism with Neo-Aristotelian and Deweyan ethical theory, Bill Casebeer makes a powerful case for the scientific naturalization of ethics.
William Rottschaefer, Professor of Philosophy, Lewis and Clark College
The view that moral norms are best understood in terms of proper evolutionary function has languished as a wisp of a theory in the backwaters of moral psychology. Natural Ethical Facts provides a long overdue infusion of new life into the proper function account of morality. Thanks to William Casebeer we finally have a detailed and well-informed work that develops the view systematically in light of research on proper function and on connectionism. Casebeer shows an obvious command of the recent technical literature that underpins all this, but he has managed to produce a volume that is also thoroughly readable.
Shaun Nichols, Associate Professor, College of Charleston
Natural Ethical Facts is well-documented and makes a valuable contribution to the ongoing dialogue between biology and morality.
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