The role and value of emotions in ethics Flashcards
What is Kant’s view on emotions in relation to ethics?
Strength: Kant: emotions are unreliable
Kant argues that emotions are unreliable because they are transient and fickle, while reason’s respect for the moral law is more stable.
According to Kant, is acting on emotion morally wrong?
Strength: Kant: emotions are unreliable
Kant does not consider acting on emotion to be morally wrong, but it cannot be morally good because it does not stem from a sense of duty.
How does Barbara Herman interpret Kant’s stance on emotions?
Strength: Kant: emotions are unreliable
Herman suggests that emotions can only lead to a morally right action by luck, as they do not provide the agent with a moral interest in the rightness of their action.
What does Kant argue is necessary for an action to be morally good?
Strength: Kant: emotions are unreliable
Kant argues that only actions done out of duty can be morally good, as they are motivated by a sense of obligation to follow the moral law.
What critique of Kantian morality do Bernard Williams and Michael Stocker present?
Weakness: emotion can have value as motivation for moral action
They argue that Kantian morality is too narrow and neglects the broader account of ethics, which encompasses emotional habits and personal relationships.
How does Williams distinguish between morality and ethics?
Weakness: emotion can have value as motivation for moral action
Williams distinguishes morality as the narrower concept focused on duty, while ethics is a broader account of how a person becomes virtuous through emotional habits and personal relationships.
What example does Stocker use to critique Kantian morality?
Weakness: emotion can have value as motivation for moral action
Stocker presents the scenario of a friend visiting someone in the hospital out of duty, arguing that acting solely on duty seems implausible and incompatible with genuine emotional connections like love and friendship.
How does Williams argue against Kantian morality?
Weakness: emotion can have value as motivation for moral action
Williams argues that Kantian morality requires “one thought too many” and suggests that a virtuous person can reliably do what’s right through cultivated emotional habits without constantly thinking about moral laws.
What mistake does Kant make according to virtue ethicists like Williams and Stocker?
Weakness: emotion can have value as motivation for moral action
Kant accepts a false dichotomy between acting out of duty and self-interested desires, neglecting the possibility of cultivating virtue to reliably control emotional reactions in a morally relevant way.
How does Kant’s perspective address the criticism from virtue ethicists regarding emotional motivation in moral action?
Evaluation defending Kant
Kant focuses on the principle of treating others as ends, asserting that emotional motivation in actions like visiting friends in hospitals is not a moral issue as long as this principle is upheld.
What is the critique against virtue ethics presented in the statement?
Evaluation defending Kant
The statement argues that virtue ethics lacks clear guidance and is ill-suited for modern society, which requires a legalistic and impersonal moral framework like Kant’s.
According to the statement, what is the advantage of Kant’s ethic over virtue ethics?
Evaluation defending Kant
Kant’s ethic provides clear laws to govern society, which are necessary for the complexities of modern society and are free from the influence of emotions.
What aspect of moral action is Kant primarily concerned with, according to the statement?
Evaluation defending Kant
Kant is primarily concerned with explicitly moral action, focusing on the principle of treating others as ends rather than the emotional motivations behind actions like visiting friends in hospitals.
Why is Stocker’s critique considered successful?
Evaluation critiquing Kant
Stocker’s critique shows that emotions can lead to morally right actions through intentionally cultivated feelings of friendliness and love, demonstrating that emotions have moral value in objective ethics.
What does Stocker’s critique emphasize about the role of emotions in moral action?
Evaluation critiquing Kant
Stocker’s critique highlights that emotions can be intentionally cultivated to lead to morally right actions, challenging the notion that emotions leading to right action are merely a matter of luck.
