DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x25101520 ISSN: 0140-525X
Moral cognition is contractualist, but does not work by simulating a bargaining process
Jean-Baptiste André, Léo Fitouchi, Nicolas BaumardAbstract
We agree with Levine et al. that moral judgments track outcomes that would emerge from a balanced bargaining process. But we challenge the claim that moral cognition must therefore simulate bargaining itself. Like any evolved system that exploits deep regularities without representing them, moral cognition can produce ideal contractualist judgments without mentally representing bargaining scenarios.