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  • The American Scholar

    What Makes Us Better

    Jun 03, 2019 3 minutes
    Review by Sissela Bok

    CONSCIENCE: The Origins of Moral Intuition

    BY PATRICIA S. CHURCHLAND

    Norton, 226 pp., $27.95

    THE WAR FOR KINDNESS: Building Empathy in a Fractured World

    BY JAMIL ZAKI

    Crown, 261 pp., $27

    THESE TWO NEW books give lucid, stimulating accounts of recent discoveries in neuroscience and psychology. Both authors aim to challenge antiquated views of the brain and human behavior. In so doing, they help us think through perennial debates about the sources of morality and the degree to which we inherit or can enhance traits like empathy. Both are careful to evaluate the cogency of the research

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