Is there a role for EMOTION in ETHICS?

1
Is there a role for EMOTION in ETHICS?

• The Traditional Rejection of a Role for Emotion
  in Ethics
• There is a long history of dividing reason from
  emotion and arguing that emotion has no place
  in those tasks that require reasoning.

2
Two examples

• In Platos Crito Socrates argues that our
  decisions should be based on reason rather than
  emotion.
• Kant argues that emotions detract or at least
  dont add to the moral worth of an action.

3
Problems Seen with Including Emotions in Ethical
Analysis

• Emotions only connect accidentally with ethical
  interests. They may provide a reason for acting,
  but not for what makes an action right.
• We are not impartial when we act on the basis of
  emotion.
• Emotion is unreliable as motive for action
  because it is often excessive and capricious.
• Our emotions are attached to objects and events
  beyond our control. This makes us vulnerable.

4
Aristotles view of emotion in ethics I

• He believed that virtue is expressed in fine
  emotions as well as fine actions.
• Both are morally praiseworthy aspects of
  character.
• Emotions arent just feelings, but cognitively
  rich mental states. They are about something that
  we represent in thought. For example
• Anger requires an evaluation that you have been
  unjustly slighted.

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Aristotles view of emotion in ethics II

• Emotions are evaluations of things that are
  important to us, that alert us to possibilities
  for moral choice
• Thus Aristotle believed that moral judgment is
  aided by the engagement of the proper emotions.
• He argues that part of our recognition of a moral
  dilemma depends on emotion.

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How emotions CAN figure in morality I

• As modes of attention helping us notice salient
  features.
• Preparing us for moral deliberation and choice.
• As a means of signaling value to oneself and
  others.
• Has a role in communicating information to
  others.
• Emotion is a mode of responding to conveying and
  expressing values

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How emotions CAN figure in morality II

• Emotions help establish what we value and also
  reveal our values
• For example The feeling of regret is found in
  moral conflicts. We feel regret as a moral
  remainder after the choice has been mad
• Emotions provide an affective memory connecting
  us to stories and creating some of what is
  valued.
• Emotions motivate action.