Skip to main content
Log in

A Two-Tiered Cognitive Architecture For Moral Reasoning

  • Published:
Biology and Philosophy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The view that moral cognition is subserved by a two-tieredarchitecture is defended: Moral reasoning is the result both ofspecialized, informationally encapsulated modules which automaticallyand effortlessly generate intuitions; and of general-purpose,cognitively penetrable mechanisms which enable moral judgment in thelight of the agent's general fund of knowledge. This view is contrastedwith rival architectures of social/moral cognition, such as Cosmidesand Tooby's view that the mind is wholly modular, and it is argued thata two-tiered architecture is more plausible.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Cosmides, L. andTooby, J.: 1992, ‘Cognitive Adaptations for Social Exchange', in J. H. Barkow,L. Cosmides andJ. Tooby (eds.), The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture, Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cosmides, L. andTooby, J.: 1994, ‘Beyond Intuition and Instinct Blindness: Toward an Evolutionarily Rigorous Cognitive Science', Cognition 50, 41-77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dovidio, J.F.,Kawakami, K.,Johnson, C. andJohnson, B.: 1997, ‘On the Nature of Prejudice: Automatic and Controlled Processes', Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 33, 510-540.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eagly, A.H. andChaiken, S.: 1993, The Psychology of Attitudes, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Fort Worth, TX.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiske, A.P.: 1991, Structures of Social Life: The Four Elementary Forms of Human Relations, The Free Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, J.A.: 1983, The Modularity of Mind, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, J.A.: 1990, A Theory of Content, and Other Essays, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, J.A.: 1998, In Critical Condition: Polemical Essays on Cognitive Science and the Philosophy of Mind, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA & London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Houston, D.A. andFazio, R.: 1989, ‘Biased Processing as a Function of Attitude Accessibility: Making Objective Judgments Subjectively', Social Cognition 7, 51-66.

    Google Scholar 

  • La Cerra, P. andBingham, R.: 1998, ‘The Adaptive Nature of the Human Neurocognitive Architecture: An AlternativeModel', Proceedings and Addresses of the National Academy of Sciences 95, 11290-11294.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell, M.C. andFazio, R.H.: 1984, ‘Attitude Accessibility as a Function of Repeated Attitudinal Expression', Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 10, 139-148.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pylyshyn, Z.: 1980, ‘Computation and Cognition: Issues in the Foundations of Cognitive Science', Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3, 111-132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tesser, A.: 1993, ‘The Importance of Heritability in Psychological Research: The Case of Attitudes', Psychological Review 100(1), 129-142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tooley, M.: 1986, ‘Abortion and Infanticide', in P. Singer (ed.), Applied Ethics, Oxford University Press, Oxford. First published in 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, T.D.,Lindsey, S. andSchooler, T.Y.: 2000, ‘A Model of Dual Attitudes’, Psychological Review 107(1), 101-126.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bolender, J. A Two-Tiered Cognitive Architecture For Moral Reasoning. Biology & Philosophy 16, 339–356 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010663018267

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010663018267

Navigation