Psychological research on morality. Notes on a project

Abstract

The article discusses a research project that is presently being carried out on the establishment of morality. Two separate phases are briefly described: a) in the first place an examination of the notion that children have of responsibility was carried out. The evolution of a subjective to an objective point of view was observed, while finding that the early manifestations of infantile thoughts show a comprehension of responsibility in undesirable consequences, even when caused involuntarily; b) in a second phase, in progress at the present, the question of the subject’s freedom in relation to the norm is approached by means of empirical psychological research. The relation of the ego with itself, as described by Foucault, and the alienation/separation operation, as considered in Lacan’s terms, are the models used to understand these processes.