This event has been cancelled at the request of the presenter. The Library hopes to reschedule the program at a future date. What is morality? Where does it come from? And, why do most of us heed its call most of the time? Patricia Churchland, professor emerita of philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, argues that morality originates in the biology of the brain. In her new book, Braintrust, she describes the “neurobiological platform of bonding” that, modified by evolutionary pressures and cultural values, has led to human styles of moral behavior. The result is a provocative thesis that asks us to reevaluate the priority given to religion, absolute rules, and pure reason in accounting for the basis of morality.