593
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_62
Chapter 62
The Synecological Conscience
62.1 On the Hominin Conscience
One recent noteworthy attempt to explain some of the fundamental pillars of what
it means to be the last, as yet non-extinct hominin, is the book Conscience – The
Origins of Moral Intuition, by Patricia S. Churchland.
1
Churchland’s summary of
existing brain research that might help shed light on the human conscience represents an accessible overview of recent neurological and genetic studies that attempt
to favor mammalian, and specifically, human brain development as it pertains to
our social behavior as a species, and one particular outcome of that sociality, our
sense of morality.
Her work is a fascinating tour-de-force. Early on, Churchland points out that
“there are essentially no animal models of human warfare” (referencing observations regarding chimpanzees and rodents).
2
And that, contradistinguished from all
others, our brains, with their “86 billion neurons” require roughly “6 calories per
billion neurons” to maintain our brain size and the scope of its activities (or
approximately “516 calories” per day). Additionally in need of that sustenance is
our very endothermy and immaturity at birth.
3
All the other warm-blooded innocents with big brains, distinguished from those with smaller brains, the smaller
mammals, like the prairie and montane voles, show a significant difference by way
of the “variation in the density of receptors for oxytocin and vasopressin receptors”
in such species.
4
These hormonal proteins within a neuron’s membranes “dock,”
within a neural circuitry and, specifically, both in voles and in humans, are given
toward the acceleration of a neurochemical affinity toward social behavior. Or, as
1 See W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2019.
2 ibid., Churchland, p. 15.
3 ibid., Churchland, p. 37.
4 ibid., Churchland, p. 47.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_62
Chapter 62
The Synecological Conscience
62.1 On the Hominin Conscience
One recent noteworthy attempt to explain some of the fundamental pillars of what
it means to be the last, as yet non-extinct hominin, is the book Conscience – The
Origins of Moral Intuition, by Patricia S. Churchland.
1
Churchland’s summary of
existing brain research that might help shed light on the human conscience represents an accessible overview of recent neurological and genetic studies that attempt
to favor mammalian, and specifically, human brain development as it pertains to
our social behavior as a species, and one particular outcome of that sociality, our
sense of morality.
Her work is a fascinating tour-de-force. Early on, Churchland points out that
“there are essentially no animal models of human warfare” (referencing observations regarding chimpanzees and rodents).
2
And that, contradistinguished from all
others, our brains, with their “86 billion neurons” require roughly “6 calories per
billion neurons” to maintain our brain size and the scope of its activities (or
approximately “516 calories” per day). Additionally in need of that sustenance is
our very endothermy and immaturity at birth.
3
All the other warm-blooded innocents with big brains, distinguished from those with smaller brains, the smaller
mammals, like the prairie and montane voles, show a significant difference by way
of the “variation in the density of receptors for oxytocin and vasopressin receptors”
in such species.
4
These hormonal proteins within a neuron’s membranes “dock,”
within a neural circuitry and, specifically, both in voles and in humans, are given
toward the acceleration of a neurochemical affinity toward social behavior. Or, as
1 See W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2019.
2 ibid., Churchland, p. 15.
3 ibid., Churchland, p. 37.
4 ibid., Churchland, p. 47.