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Ego function of morality and developing tensions that are “within”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2013

Philippe Rochat
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322. psypr@emory.eduhttp://www.psychology.emory.edu/cognition/rochat/lab/eerobbi@emory.edu
Erin Robbins
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322. psypr@emory.eduhttp://www.psychology.emory.edu/cognition/rochat/lab/eerobbi@emory.edu

Abstract

We applaud Baumard et al.'s mutualistic account of morality but detect circularity in their articulation of how morality emerged. Contra the authors, we propose that mutualism might account for a sensitivity to convention (the ways things are done within a group) rather than for a sense of fairness. An ontogenetic perspective better captures the complexity of what it means to be moral.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

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