Behold Our Moral Body: Psychiatry, Duns Scotus, and Neuroscience - Exploring the Intersection of Mind, Philosophy, and Science for Mental Health Professionals and Scholars

Behold Our Moral Body: Psychiatry, Duns Scotus, and Neuroscience by Sally Severino is a 5 star book that strongly engages readers of religious, mental health, social science and developmental disciplines as they search for ways to support healthy moral development. For many of us deeply concerned about human abilities to desist from violent, socially and self destructive behaviors, this book offers us intriguing new possibilities for understanding and supporting children and adults in using moral decision making to interact with other individuals, groups and our environment in healthier non-violent and non-exploitive, sensitive intersubjective ways.In Behold Our Moral Body, Dr. Severino astounds us by considering moral development in contexts ranging from the 1200’s when John Duns Scotus proposed that morality is embedded in our bodies to current sophisticated brain and relational research from a number of perspectives verifying that conception. Founding her discussion in the Bible’s Creation Story, she adeptly explores humans’ early relationships with each other, the world, and God through review of aspects of attachment, cognitive, trauma, and brain theory and research. When she discusses embodied morality in light of more usual theories of moral development, one is struck with a new more comprehensive sense of just how we become (or do not become) moral decision makers. Moral education alone is insufficient for developing a moral sense that is based on relationship. One must experience caring love to imitate the unconditional love of God. This is the nature of the gift of free will, in which God hopes that we will become sensitive, compassionate beings with a sense of ‘right’ actions that are for the benefit of humankind and all creation without determining that relationship. Such morality only blossoms in loving relationships. Dr. Severino shows us that it is in the contingent imitative response of secure attachment with benevolent others, and thus God, that we lay the theory of mind that undergirds mindful moral decision making. She equally helps us to see that effects of neglectful or violent trauma truncate that loving process, explaining it physiologically and intersubjectively. She ends this book with descriptions of programs that provide experiences which teach morality through practice with caring relationships, rather than through verbally presented concepts to be learned.Thankfully elementary schools are beginning to use programs like this to address the enormous gap in social skill and moral development that we observe too frequently from children lacking attentive parenting and face to face interactive play opportunities in our technological world of today.Betsy Diaz Ph.D/Counseling Psychology, retired teacher, specialist with children and counselor