Table Of ContentEMBODIED
MORALITY
Protectionism, Engagement
and Imagination
Darcia Narvaez
E
NDORSEMENTS
In a masterful integration of traditions within developmental science,
cognitive science, biology, and cultural anthropology, Narvaez and col-
leagues build a case for triune ethics meta- theory — a provocative new
theory of moral development. The volume provides readers with a thor-
ough overview of the theory highlighting foundational work in neurosci-
ence, research on early care, and existing models in moral psychology.
Complementing this description is a summary of the extensive empirical
work generated by the model. This book will undoubtedly infl uence how
we view and study moral functioning.
Steve Thoma, PhD, University Research Professor and
Director, Center for the Study of Ethical Development,
University of Alabama, USA
Darcia Narvaez offers a brilliant and valuable new look at the nature
of optimal moral development. Her triune ethics meta-theory is a much-
needed shift away from moral theory grounded in self-interested protec-
tionism. Focusing on ideals, Narvaez shows ways that scholars can return
to studying and emphasizing optimal human moral developmental—by
attending to early development according to an evolutionary systems
framing, by measuring a variety of moral mindsets, and by studying the
supportive environments that encourage relational presence and com-
munal imagination. The book is a must-read for scholars and all others
interested in the essential fi eld of moral psychology.
William Damon is a Professor of Education
at the Stanford Graduate School of Education,
Director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence, and
co-author of The Power of Ideals
i
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Professor Narvaez’s book starts as a modestly condensed review of tradi-
tional moral theories and scholarship but quickly spirals into an intel-
lectually ambitious essay on the fundamental pillars of a comprehensive
theory of morality. The book is a provocative journey across evolutionary
and epigenetic time and space, across proximal and ultimate levels of
determinism, and across species and cultures to push the envelope on our
understanding of morality. The theory is integrative, the data are per-
suasive, and the writing is clear and convincing. This compendium of
scholarship has powerful implications for the survival of our species,
breaks the borders of complicity, and sounds the call for urgent and foun-
dational actions to redress the diseased direction of recent human activi-
ties. A captivating book that is sure to stimulate more interest, more
debate, and more research, it will be invaluable for persons of scholarship,
practice, and policy.
Gustavo Carlo, Millsap Professor of Diversity and
Multicultural Studies and Director, Center for
Family Policy and Research, University of Missouri and
co-editor of Prosocial Development
In this groundbreaking work, Darcia Narvaez presents an overview of
triune ethics meta-t heory, a theory of moral development that draws on
a variety of disciplines, including neurobiology, evolutionary theory, and
anthropology. Her comprehensive approach to early moral development
moves well beyond the cognitivist frameworks of Piaget and Kohlberg, as
well as the emotion-based account of Haidt. Neither cognition nor emo-
tion alone is central to the development of moral persons, nor can their
combination exhaust the explanatory landscape. Narvaez enriches our
understanding by showing how neurobiology, evolution, parenting prac-
tices, and acculturation profoundly affect our capacities for becoming
secure, expansive moral individuals or insecure, narrow, threatened
ones. Embodiment, imagination, and social relations are key parts of this
picture, which is amply supported not only by theory, but by extensive
empirical studies done by Narvaez and others. Narvaez situates her
theory within the philosophical tradition of ethical naturalism, and the
psychological approach of social cognitivism. Narvaez takes theories of
moral development to new levels with her exciting work.
Nancy E. Snow, Professor and Director of the Institute for the
Study of Human Flourishing, the University of Oklahoma and
author of Virtue as Social Intelligence:
An Empirically Grounded Theory
ENDORSEMENTS iii
Darcia Narvaez has brought together neurobiological, personological,
and cultural anthropological approaches to provide a highly creative
and remarkably broad view of sociomoral development.
John C. Gibbs, Professor of Developmental Psychology,
The Ohio State University, USA, author of
Moral Development and Reality
Narvaez is a visionary thinker that sees connections across fi elds and
synthesizes them into new directions. Well-grounded in the literature as
well as extensively researched, she situates her new meta-theory of embod-
ied morality within an evolutionary and naturalistic approach to moral
development. This is a thought-provoking book for philosophers interested
in care ethics, sentimentalism, virtue ethics, Confucianism, or all those
interested in classic questions of human nature, morality, and the ethical
impact of parenting and our social environments.
Deborah S. Mower, Professor, Philosophy &
Religious Studies, Youngstown State University, USA
In her inimitable style, Darcia Narvaez draws on a range of the most
cutting-edge insights into psychology, ethics, and neuroscience to deliver yet
again the kind of work that disrupts all of one’s earlier assumptions. This
work stands among her other innovative contributions as one of her most
useful in that the characteristic disciplinary rigor, conveyed lucidly, is
combined with intensive empirical data. It is an important, timely work
that will leave its mark on scholarship in the fi eld of moral psychology.
Terence Lovat, Emeritus Professor, University of Newcastle,
Australia and Honorary Research Fellow,
University of Oxford, UK
Embodied Morality: Self-Protection, Engagement, and Imagination
brings Darcia Narvaez and colleagues’ exploration of a bold new moral
developmental theory, triune ethics meta- theory (TEM), to a new level.
In this brief yet cogent and provocative book, Narvaez presents the data
she has collected to test her theory. The book’s wide-ranging synthesis of
insights from fi elds including evolutionary biology, virtue ethics, affec-
tive neuroscience, anthropology, and moral psychology provides a compel-
ling argument for the centrality of proper early care for infants and
children. Yet it is one thing to argue convincingly for a theory but quite
another to provide the careful and thorough research to support it.
Narvaez’s promising new research using measures of children’s and
iv ENDORSEMENTS
adults’ triune ethics orientation now offers the fi eld the solid research
base from which to develop policy applications to ensure that we provide
children with the kind of life course necessary for them to develop “proso-
cial and open-hearted capacities” rather than the “violent tribalism,
self- aggrandizement and dominance” that have become such a threat to
the modern world.
Elizabeth C. Vozzola, Professor, Department of Psychology,
University of Saint Joseph, USA, and author of
Moral Development: Theory and Applications
Once again, Darcia Narvaez has demonstrated her gift for break-
through thinking supported by imaginative, meticulous research in
developing an ethical naturalist approach to human ethology. For some
time, Narvaez and her team have been exploring triune ethics meta-
theory (TEM) and, more recently, the Evolved Developmental Niche
(EDN) for insights into the role of early childhood experiences and care-
giving on moral development. Embodied Morality unpacks and blends
these theories with scholarship from multiple domains to build a strong
case for TEM as a robust ethical theory based in evolutionary human
neurobiology. Included in the book are fi ndings from Narvaez’ research
team studies to substantiate her thesis that the quality of tactile, emo-
tional, and relational early childhood experience shapes the moral world-
view, orientation, and capabilities of adults. Evidence from these studies
also suggests that modern cultural patterns of caregiving may fail to
provide children with experiences that foster their development as mor-
ally capable adults. Moral development scholars, educators, and practi-
tioners will fi nd Embodied Morality well worth a thoughtful read as they
look forward to Narvaez’ next book.
Lindsay J. Thompson, Associate Professor of Business,
Leadership, and Human Values,
Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, USA
Embodied Morality
Darcia Narvaez
Embodied Morality
Protectionism, Engagement and Imagination
Darcia Narvaez
Psychology Department
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana , USA
ISBN 978-1-137-55398-0 ISBN 978-1-137-55399-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-55399-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016939602
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Dedicated to my husband, Daniel Lapsley.
