The role and value of emotions in ethics Flashcards
Strength of Kantian ethics on emotions
emotions are unreliable and cannot constitute moral motivation
What does Kant argue about emotions
He argues that emotions are unreliable because they are transient and unreliable. Reason’s ability to produce respect for the moral law is more stable.
For Kant, acting on emotion isn’t morally wrong, it just can’t be morally good. His argument is that when we act on emotion, our action depends on the way we feel. If we help others because we feel like it, then we aren’t helping others because it is good. So, we aren’t really acting morally unless we act out of duty.
Barbara Herman’s interpretation of Kant
Barbara Herman’s interpretation of Kant is that emotions can only lead to a right action by luck. When acting out of duty, we will the moral rightness of our action. The rightness of the action is a “nonaccidental effect” of one’s concern. Emotions can’t be moral motives because they do not provide the agent with a moral interest in the rightness of their action.
Weakness of Kantian ethics on emotion
emotion can have value as motivation for moral action
Bernard Williams’ argue about Kantian morality
Bernard Williams’ argues that Kantian ‘morality’ is too narrow. He distinguishes it from ‘ethics’, a broader account of how a person comes to be virtuous due to their emotional habits and personal relationships.
Why does Virtue ethicist Michael Stocker agree with Bernard WIlliams criticism
Virtue ethicist Michael Stocker agrees. He asks us to imagine being ill in hospital and a friend visiting us, saying that they only came because it was their duty.
What does WIlliams argue off the basis of Stockers ill-friend example
Williams argues such cases show how Kantian morality is unnatural and requires “one thought too many”. When doing good, a virtuous person need not be thinking about moral laws. They simply do good out of habit. Acting out of duty is incompatible with acting out of cultivated virtuous habit.
What mistake did Kant make when approaching duty
Kant’s mistake was accepting a false dichotomy. He thought we could either act out of duty or out of self-interested personal desires.
Virtue ethicists say there is another option. A rational cultivation of virtue allows a person to control their habitual emotional reactions.
Evaluation defending Kant
Virtue ethicists miss the point with this criticism. Kant arguably isn’t really concerned with why we visit friends in hospitals. He is concerned with more explicitly moral action. So long as we treat others as ends, we can be motivated by as much or little emotion as we like. That is not a moral issue, for Kant.
Evaluation critiquing Kant
Stocker’s critique is successful because it shows how emotions leading to right action can be more than just luck. For example, we can intentionally cultivate the virtue of friendliness. We can then act out of feelings of love when visiting a friend in hospital. Emotion can be the reliable result of the rational cultivation of virtue. That’s how emotions can have moral value in an objective ethics.
