Moral Intuitions and the Religious System

The study of moral intuition has come to incorporate several disciplines, including philosophy, cognitive science, neuroscience, anthropology, and moral psychology. Despite its interdisciplinarity, the study of moral intuitions nevertheless remains centered on investigations of emotional cognition and evolved cognitive modules. Yet, there are difficulties in focusing so strongly on the cognitive mechanisms that underlie moral intuitions and so minimally on the social conventions that engender them. Furthermore, it is not clear that all moral intuitions reduce to evolved cognitive modules, as many leading theories purport. To address these concerns, we advance the discussion of moral intuitions by building on research concerning moral foundations theory. However, in contrast to most moral foundation theorists, who emphasize modularity, we emphasize the role of social conventions in the development of moral intuitions. We specifically argue that within religious communities some moral intuitions emerge from the dynamics of the religious system itself, rather than from a set of evolved cognitive modules. By advancing this argument, we discuss the advantages and implications of the religious system for the study of moral intuitions.