Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature (PHIL 181)

The discussion of the disordered soul continues with a reflection on the Stanley Milgram's famous studies, in which participants were directed to perform harmful actions that ran counter to their reflective moral commitments. Interestingly, such demands were more likely followed when the commander was closer to the subject and the victim further away. What is it about proximity to others that has this effect on us? Professor Gendler goes on to discuss the relationship between social attachment and human flourishing, reviewing Harlow's wire mother/cloth mother experiments on non-human primates, studies of attachment styles in infants, and cross-cultural research demonstrating the importance of social relationships for flourishing and health.

00:00 - Chapter 1. The Milgram Studies
10:54 - Chapter 2. Personal Interaction and Moral Behavior
18:26 - Chapter 3. Attachment in Infants and Non-Human Primates
28:53 - Chapter 4. Importance of Social Interaction in Human Flourishing
34:33 - Chapter 5. Questions

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu

This course was recorded in Spring 2011.