227 M. Christen et al. (eds.), Empirically Informed Ethics: Morality between Facts and Norms, Library of Ethics and Applied Philosophy 32, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-01369-5_13, © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014 It is commonly assumed that humans do not begin life with moral character or virtue. Most documented societies through history considered infants to be unformed persons, not yet moral members of society, “humanity-in-becoming” who have “watery souls” (Fijian) (Sahlins 2008: 101–102). This person-becoming view fits well with human sciences today, as a child’s development is viewed as the unfolding and co-construction of a complex dynamic system. At first, the infant is co-constructed by other complex, dynamic systems—caregivers. The personality that is formed is very much dependent on this early formation, which is largely beyond the control of the individual. However, over time, the individual takes on more choices about her or his own character development within the framework of subsequent social experience and enculturation. 13.1 Early Experience 1 As a dynamic system, initial conditions of human development matter greatly (Churchland 1998). In fact, how one begins life may be of utmost importance to the emergence of virtue (Herdt 2008). Early experience plays a key role in the develop- ment of all body and brain systems and so it necessarily has an influence on subse- quent moral functioning (Narvaez and Gleason 2013). From conception, if not before, the quality of brain and body systems are influenced by caregiver behavior, affecting such things as immune system receptors and ratios, brain transmitter quality and stress response, all of which relate to physical and mental health outcomes 1 The focus here is on the first few years of life. Of course, there are other sensitive periods and other experiences that play roles in moral development. But the first years of life establish thresh- olds for physiological and psychological functioning that are difficult to change later. Chapter 13 Becoming a Moral Person – Moral Development and Moral Character Education as a Result of Social Interactions Darcia Narvaez and Daniel Lapsley D. Narvaez (*) • D. Lapsley Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA [AU1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25