This book gives a nuanced answer to the question of good and evil. It delegates our moral and immoral behaviour into five different moral systems, four of which are based on intuitions or emotions (the ethics of attachment, the ethics of violence, the ethics of cleanliness, the ethics of cooperation), whereas only one is rationally based (the ethics of principles). These forms of morals drive people to do things (or not do things) for very different reasons and in very different ways. But what is common to all moral systems is the fact that they limit our personal and individual freedom in favour of a higher goal, namely, that of the community. The author reveals what we know about the origin and development of morals, based on many examples that reveal morals often to be unreflected, spontaneous, emotion-driven processes. Neuroscientific insights provide convincing proof for how deeply morals are embedded in our physical nature.This book deals not only with the soul of ethics, it also shows the flesh of ethics. It shows the skills mankind has everywhere on the planet and in all cultures to solve conflicts between self-interest and superordinate interests. It shifts its focus from cultural diversity to biological facts.In summary, Verplaetse makes the case for ethics that are equally emotional and rational in nature.

Dr. Jan Verplaetse ist Professor für Moralphilosophie an der Universität Gent.

Aus dem Niederländischen von Christiane Kuby und Herbert Post