Moral Neuroeducation: Proactive Epigenesis and Poverty

Abstract

The considerable progress made by neuroeducation over the last two decades has focused primarily on the acquisition processes of language and mathematics. The point of departure for this article is an analysis of the possibility of expanding the scope of neuroeducation in order to encompass the moral domain. Given the scarcity of recent proposals for moral neuroeducation, consideration is devoted to forging a link between a neuroethical approach, on the one hand, and the practices identified with existing moral neuroeducation proposals, on the other. Proactive epigenesis, one of the current proposals of neuroethics, is already being adopted as a theoretical basis for practical proposals that try to respond to demands for a universal ethical justice. Specifically, these proposals have been articulated through a series of programmes on cognitive and developmental neuroscience that study how child poverty determines cognitive and emotional development. The main aim of this chapter is to develop a critical perspective on neuroeducational proposals that are based on proactive epigenesis theory and devoted to core issues of poverty. The main hypothesis that is demonstrated is that a neuroscientific approach is unequivocally linked to ethical discussion, in this case the discussion of the economical and emotional dimensions of poverty.