There is increasing evidence that childhood experiences can have a substantial effect on adult well-being, which involves an adult’s social skills and relational capacities. It does not seem far-fetched to hypothesize subsequently that there might also be a connection between childhood experiences and an individual’s moral capacities and ethical orientation. The more specific hypothesis that I want to examine is that responsive parenting leads not only to secure attachment (as has been established by attachment theory) but also to the development of moral capacities. There are some studies showing, indeed, a correlation between style of attachment and moral, prosocial, or even virtuous behaviour. Yet there are several ways of explaining these findings. I conjecture that the concept of a second-personal relationship is a crucial element of the connections between virtue, morality and attachment. Early love relations between children and caregivers thus appear as a training ground, or a school, for human beings to develop into mature moral agents.
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Speaker
Katrien Schaubroeck is full professor at the Philosophy Department of the University of Antwerp. She has published on topics in moral psychology, such as the ethics of autism, the tension between morality and love, and responsibility for implicit bias. Currently she is running the interdisciplinary research project Death Care on ethical and other challenges facing the funeral industry.