Pictures of the Mind: What the New Neuroscience Tells Us About Who We Are

5. Where does morality live, and when is it home?

Enemy soldiers have captured and terrorized your town. Now they are killing any survivors they encounter with orders to shoot on sight. You and your family, along with several neighbors, are hiding in the basement of an abandoned house. You hear a group of soldiers outside discussing whether to raid the house for valuables.

Your baby starts to cry. You cover his mouth to hush the sound, knowing that if you remove your hand and allow him to breathe, the soldiers will hear his screams and will come inside and kill everyone, including the baby. The only way to save yourself and the others is to smother your own child.

Would you kill your infant to save everyone else?

Now consider a different hypothetical ...