UCI Interdisciplinary Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality

What causes moral behavior? Exploring this quintessential question at the heart of ethics is the goal of the UCI Interdisciplinary Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality. The Ethics Center was established in 2003 by a group of scholars interested in utilizing scientific research to yield insight on the origins and causes of morality. Center faculty come from social sciences, social ecology, humanities, biological sciences, and medicine. In creating the Ethics Center, faculty members address topics that reflect critically on moral implications of new frontiers in science, including relations between science and ethics, drives behind altruism and compassion, beliefs that underpin social solidarity, bioethics, the moral psychology, and how moral cognition impacts political action.