Are we at the mercy of emotional centers in the brain when we make moral decisions, or can we override them? Is there a "hard-wired," physiological component to emotions, or are they cultural products, gradually emerging as a result of our upbringing and experience?
The latest research, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, suggests that brain regions associated with emotion are more active when making personal moral decisions, than when making other types of decisions. In other words, emotions influence how our brains work (a convenient excuse if men want to cry at the end of "Titanic").
Moral philosophers are fond of using thought games to look at ethics and the role of emotions in making moral judgments. A typical dilemma goes like this: A runaway train is heading for five people, who will be killed if the train proceeds on its present course. You can save them, but it means diverting the train to an alternate track, where a single person will be killed. Most people agree that it is morally acceptable to sacrifice the one to save the five.