Good and Evil: A Scientific View

Humans appear to have a universal need to understand good and evil.  Throughout human history, religions and philosophies have been invented to try to understand what it means to be good or evil and why should we even try to be good.  Science doesn’t typically use the vocabulary of “good and evil”, but instead, related words such as “pro-social and anti-social” are commonly found in the scientific literature.   Scientific studies of these concepts can give us insights into the age-old questions about good and evil.  Jim Barnett will discuss the human propensity to favor in-groups over “the other”, psychological concepts such as secure and insecure attachment styles, biochemical roles of neuropeptides such as oxytocin and vasopressin, and the role of early life experiences on epigenetic modification of genes that influence pro- and anti-social behaviors.   

Fireside Room