Does Moral Psychology Need Moral Theory?

Abstract

Much has been written lately about the issue of fence mending versus fence crossing between moral philosophy and experimental social science. I focus on a specific manifestation of this issue, as instantiated in the recent debate between moral psychologists and philosophers on how the former should react to the fall of Kohlbergianism. Is it perhaps advisable to react by focusing on “psychologized morality” rather than, as Kohlberg did, on “moralized psychology”? I use recent self-research as a test case: Does moral psychology need moral theory to account for the self, or can it assume the kind of academic sovereignty that advocates of “psychologized morality” suggest? Although the eventual answer runs counter to the idea of “psychologized morality,” I suggest that adherence to “moralized psychology” must be modified by some important caveats.

Exploring the Relationship Between Virtue Ethics and Moral Identity

“…Arguing for a middle ground between these two opposing views, Kristjánsson (2009) proposed a more balanced perspective, suggesting the possibility of a division of labor between those doing the theoretical groundwork and those doing the empirical spadework. Although he acknowledged that his viewpoint is closer to the "moralized psychology" than to "psychologized morality," he argued that if we want to understand "self," it cannot be "philosophically neutral" or "valuefree," and it cannot be studied without grounding it on psychology, the empirical knowledge of how people actually think.…”

Examining Phronesis Models with Evidence from the Neuroscience of Morality Focusing on Brain Networks

“…Despite the abovementioned similarities between the philosophical model by Vaccarezza et al (2023) and the psychological model by Narvaez and Lapsley (2005), we should consider several noticeable differences between them as well. First, those two models were originated from different assumptions, perhaps moralized psychology versus psychologized morality (Jeong & Han 2013;Kristjánsson 2009). The Aretai model was initially proposed by a group of philosophers, so its structure and constituents were proposed based on the moralized psychology; on the other hand, the ethical expertise model was founded on the idea of the psychologized morality.…”