# Beyond good and evil: The pursuit of philosophical and scientific truth in a time of moral ambiguity

**Authors:** G Paolo Dotto

PMC · DOI: 10.1038/s44319-025-00465-x · EMBO Reports · 2025-05-01

## TL;DR

This paper explores how philosophy and neuroscience help explain human capacity for both good and evil actions.

## Contribution

It bridges historical philosophical insights with modern neuroscience to address moral ambiguity.

## Key findings

- Philosophy provides frameworks for understanding moral ambiguity across history.
- Neuroscience reveals biological underpinnings of human moral behavior.
- Combining both fields offers deeper insight into human ethical complexity.

## Abstract

The contributions of philosophy from antiquity to the 20th century and modern neuroscience to understanding human’s capability to commit deeds of great good and great evil.

## Full-text entities

- **Genes:** Trp2 (tRNA proline 2) [NCBI Gene 104042] {aka Trp-2}, TRP-AGG2-6 (tRNA-Pro (anticodon AGG) 2-6) [NCBI Gene 7218] {aka TRNAP2, TRNP1, TRP-AGG2-4, TRP2}
- **Diseases:** stabat lupus (MESH:D008180), neurological (MESH:D009461), Destruction (MESH:D008105), starvation (MESH:D013217), death (MESH:D003643), brain-specific diseases (MESH:D001927), small pox (MESH:D013587), grey-matter deficits (MESH:D055652), measles (MESH:D008457), mental disorders (MESH:D001523), NPD (MESH:D010554)
- **Chemicals:** dopamine (MESH:D004298), testosterone (MESH:D013739), cortisol (MESH:D006854), alcohol (MESH:D000438), serotonin (MESH:D012701)
- **Species:** Mus musculus (house mouse, species) [taxon 10090], Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly, species) [taxon 7227], Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606], C. elegans [taxon 328850]

## Full text

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## Figures

4 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12116944/full.md

## References

3 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12116944/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12116944