Excellent thread, Charles. If I may, I’ll list 5, simply because I couldn’t decide which to leave out. Although if I really had to pick one, it would be the last.
Moral Tribes by Joshua Greene. From the Amazon review:
The human brain processes morality automatically, influenced by evolution, culture, and experience but with a capacity for deliberate reasoning that allows for nuance, much needed in our increasingly complex world. Greene, a philosopher and scientist, draws on research in psychology and neuroscience to explore the roots of morality, particularly the tragedy of commonsense morality, when people of different races, religions, ethnic groups, and nationalities share the same sense of morality but apply it from different perspectives in whose differences lie the roots of conflict.
amazon.com/Moral-Tribes-Emotion-Reason-Between/dp/1594202605
The Righteous Mind by Jonathon Haidt. From the Amazon review:
Jonathan Haidt, one of the world’s most influential psychologists, reveals that the reason we find it so hard to get along is because our minds are designed to be moral. Not only that, we are hardwired to be moralistic, judgemental and self-righteous too. Our intrinsic morality enabled us to form communities and create civilization, and it is the key to understanding everybody. It explains why some of us are liberal, others conservative. It is often the difference between war and peace. It is also why we are the only species that will kill for an ideal. Drawing on moral psychology, ancient philosophy, modern politics, poetry, advertising and the semantics of bumper stickers, Haidt’s incredibly wise and enjoyable book examines how morality evolves; why we are predisposed to believe certain things; how our surroundings can affect our morality; and how moral values are not just about justice and fairness - for some people authority, sanctity or loyalty are more important.
amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion-ebook/dp/B0076O2VMI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1455845366&sr=1-1&keywords=the+righteous+mind
The View from Nowhere by Thomas Nagel. From the Amazon review:
Human beings have the unique ability to view the world in a detached way: We can think about the world in terms that transcend our own experience or interest, and consider the world from a vantage point that is, in Nagel’s words, “nowhere in particular.” At the same time, each of us is a particular person in a particular place, each with his own “personal” view of the world, a view that we can recognize as just one aspect of the whole. How do we reconcile these two standpoints–intellectually, morally, and practically? To what extent are they irreconcilable and to what extent can they be integrated? Thomas Nagel’s ambitious and lively book tackles this fundamental issue, arguing that our divided nature is the root of a whole range of philosophical problems, touching, as it does, every aspect of human life. He deals with its manifestations in such fields of philosophy as: the mind-body problem, personal identity, knowledge and skepticism, thought and reality, free will, ethics, the relation between moral and other values, the meaning of life, and death.
amazon.com/View-Nowhere-Thomas-Nagel/dp/0195056442/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Natural Moralities by David Wong. From the Amazon review:
In this book, David B. Wong defends an ambitious and important new version of moral relativism. He does not espouse the type of relativism that says anything goes, but he does start with a relativist stance against alternative theories such that there need not be only one universal truth. Wong proposes that there can be a plurality of true moralities existing across different traditions and cultures, all with one core human question as to how we can all live together.
amazon.com/Natural-Moralities-Defense-Pluralistic-Relativism/dp/019538329X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1455845837&sr=1-1&keywords=natural+moralities
The Ancestors Tale by Richard Dawkins. From the Amazon review:
With unparalleled wit, clarity, and intelligence, Richard Dawkins, one of the world’s most renowned evolutionary biologists, has introduced countless readers to the wonders of science in works such as The Selfish Gene. Now, in The Ancestor’s Tale, Dawkins offers a masterwork: an exhilarating reverse tour through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life four billion years ago. Throughout the journey Dawkins spins entertaining, insightful stories and sheds light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection, and extinction. The Ancestor’s Tale is at once an essential education in evolutionary theory and a riveting read.
amazon.com/Ancestors-Tale-Pilgrimage-Dawn-Evolution/dp/061861916X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1455845933&sr=1-1&keywords=the+ancestors+tale
Thanks for your concern, by the way, but it’s a deeply and profoundly Roman Catholic work.