Moritz Benedikt's (1835-1920) localization of morality in the occipital lobes: origin and background of a controversial hypothesis.

During the 1870s the Austro-Hungarian neuropsychiatrist Moritz Benedikt (1835-1920) proposed a remarkable neurological localization of morality in the human brain. More precisely, he thought of the ultimate parts of the occipital lobes as the seat of the moral sense. The so-called non-coverage of the cerebellum that was discovered in apes and criminals underpinned his localization. This paper studies the origin, background and reception of Benedikt's unique but opiniated localization of human morality. It is argued that his self-labelling as a freethinker offers the most understandable reason why Benedikt looked so eagerly for the seat of the moral sense in the human brain and why he was ultimately bold enough to suggest a cerebral localization.