News & Events Harvard Neuroscientist to Discuss “What Psychology Can and Cannot Do for Ethics” at Amherst College Oct. 28

September 27, 2010

AMHERST, Mass. — On Thursday, Oct. 28, at 4:30 p.m. in Pruyne Lecture Hall of Amherst College’s Fayerweather Hall, Harvard University psychology professor Joshua Greene will discuss “What Psychology Can and Cannot Do for Ethics.” The lecture is free and open to the public and is part of a series of talks titled Ethics and Evolution, which is organized by the Amherst College Department of Philosophy and funded by the Forry and Micken Fund in Philosophy and Science.

Greene is a cognitive neuroscientist and a philosopher. He received his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Harvard and his Ph.D. from Princeton. In 2006 he joined the faculty of Harvard University’s Department of Psychology as an assistant professor. His primary research interest is the psychological and neuroscientific study of morality, focusing on the interplay between emotional and “cognitive” processes in moral decision-making. His broader interests cluster around the intersection of philosophy, psychology and neuroscience. He is currently writing a book about the philosophical implications of our emerging scientific understanding of morality.

The Forry and Micken Fund in Philosophy and Science was established in 1983 by John I. Forry ’66 and Carol Micken to promote the study of philosophical issues arising out of new developments in the sciences, including mathematics, and issues in the philosophy and history of science. For more information, call (413) 542-5805.

###