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Morality Between Nativism and Behaviorism
(Innate) Intersubjectivity as a Response to John Mikhail’s ‘Universal Moral Grammar’
Lando Kirchmair
©American Psychological Association, [2017]. This paper is not the copy of record and may
not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. Please do not
copy or cite without author's permission. The final article is available, as online first
publication at http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-36458-001 and will be finally published in
print in The Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 2017, Vol. 37, No. 4, pp.
230–260: [http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/teo0000067].
Abstract
The thesis of an innate Universal Moral Grammar (‘UMG’) relies upon an analogy to the thesis
of a universal grammar of the human faculty of language in linguistics. Drawing upon this
faculty, John Mikhail, among others, argues that we humans have an inborn moral grammar. In
this article this fascinating thesis is juxtaposed with counter-perspectives from the various fields
on which it is based, with substantial criticism from such fields as neurobiology, evolutionary
and developmental psychology, and philosophy leaving ample space for doubting UMG and
especially its claimed innateness. In methodological terms, Mikhail suggested using collective
evidence from the various disciplines to prove the hypothesis of an innate UMG as there is not
sufficient substantial support for UMG within each discipline alone. This multi- and
interdisciplinary approach is also contested in this article. In lieu of UMG this article proposes
thinking of intersubjectivity in order to deal with the origins and development of the biological
set-up of human morality. In so doing it refers to Colwyn Trevarthen’s concept of primary,
secondary, and tertiary intersubjectivity, which is gaining more and more in popularity. This
enables us, so runs the argument, to align morality and its development with core concepts of
(developmental) psychology. Such an understanding of morality furthermore lays bare the
origins of moral normativity, which is essential in order to evaluate moral behavior.
Lando Kirchmair, Dr. iur. (University of Salzburg, Austria, 2012); Mag. iur. and Mag. iur.rer.oec. (University of
Innsbruck, Austria, 2009 & 2010), Postdoc at the Institute for Public Law, Public International and European
Union Law, Paris Lodron University Salzburg as well as Postdoc at the Institute for Public Law and Public
International Law, Bundeswehr University Munich. Contact: lando.kirchmair [at] gmail.com.
An earlier version has been presented at a working group at the “XXVII World Congress of the International
Association for the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy” in Washington D.C., USA, from 27th of July until
1st of August 2015 as well as at the research seminar taking place in March 2015 at the Institute for Legal Studies
at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. I am grateful to Frances Buttelmann, Sophie Milward, John Mikhail,
Norbert Paulo, Csaba Pléh, Thomas Rauter, Szilárd Tattay, Michael Tomasello, the anonymous reviewer as well
as to the participants of both events for discussions, comments and stimulating criticism. It remains clear, however,
that errors remain mine alone.