Are Emotion and Reason Equally Necessary in Justifying Moral Decisions Essay

In analyzing homophile behavior and charitable thought processes it prat be said that effort and feelings be always constitute in each major finis. at that place is no hu gentlemans gentleman being, even the most chastely upright or the most unbiased observer domiciliate make crucial righteous decisions without having to have felt the land of causa and the equally powerful emotions in his capitulum and body. If Emotion and Reason are taken together and if the counselor of this constitution will not be given the freedom to require 1 from the other then the answer to the query is no. at that place is no select to have the combined benefit of emotion and priming to rationalize a moral decision. But if delivered a free present one should insist that Reason is require in apologizeing moral decisions. This paper will look into the implications of victimisation Emotion and Reason in matters regarding moral decisions. This will be done by finding out what is the heart of emotions and reason in the world of epistemology. But even before that in that location is a need to have a review of epistemology the theories on how human beings acquire experience.Background Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that deals with how man attains knowledge. For some(prenominal) the get of knowledge from reading, observing the external environment and by doing experiments deal be taken for granted. But for philosophers it is not simply almost getting data and then having the ability to describe what was observed and inferred afterwards. Philosophers are indomitable that man knows the exact process and if in that respect is none then one should suspect if there is actual learning that occurred after all.With this in mind it is time to introduce two diverging schools of thought when it comes to epistemology and how man provided acquires knowledge. The prototypical group of philosophers believes that human beings can get knowledge using pure reason . It is the use of the rationale mind, to think using logic to deduce and infer from what can be observed. It is easy to say reason notwithstanding it is difficult to explain the actual processes of how man looks at the different pieces of the shake up and then be able to see the whole picture and finds a pattern or connection.Reason is the mans secret weapon corpse and allows him to reign supreme in this planet. There is no other wildcat that can use the harness the awesome power of reason in the same way as a human being. A thoroughly pillow slip is on how man can deduce that certain plants are edible while others are lethal. It is common knowledge that man learns to chance upon between a tasty snack and a vine of poison by observing animals around him. This is probably the same technique use to erupt that the seeds hidden behind the coffee pod are not but edible but also a source of one supernal drink.Without the ability to reason it would have been im realistic for ma n to realize that there is something in that coffee pod after observing the goat or maybe birds taking a liking for the sweet fruit. Another example of reason is in finding a pattern and consistency in natural occurrences such as typhoons, fruiting seasons, gestation period etc. Using reason man was able to build a system where he can begin to tame nature and enjoy her benefits. He can plant and expect harvest. He can build cherish and expect to be protected by an upcoming storm.Man can also reproduce his kind and even multiply his flocks knowing charming well that there are certain laws in nature that he can rely upon and all these are possible by unleashing the power of reason. Diverging Stream Another school of thought when it comes to the acquirement of knowledge is called empiricism. The empiricists believe that it gaining knowledge through reason alone is suspect. They argue that reason can be influenced by umpteen factors and they conclude that biases and prejudices can intermeddle in the process.This is understandable because for thousands of years man has postulated about something and make predictions about the future only to be made a fool at the end. This is because reason has its limits. It is at this point that that man is advised not to skip to conclusions. Empiricists will importune that accurate knowledge is only possible if man avails of his senses. The eyes to use to see and measure the hands used to batch and determine shape the ears to hear and determine sound the nose for determine smells and the tongue for taste.Emotions are feelings and better yet it is a reaction that a person can observe after the body and the mind or the heart is exposed to certain external factors. For example, a mother sees her bollix crying because she had not eaten the whole day. The mother has no money to deal milk and she too begins to cry. Her emotion can be labeled as sadness tells her that her mind and body does not agree to the image that she axiom which is her poor baby experiencing acute hunger. There is another view of emotions which can be very helpful in this study.There are those who assert that emotions are not only act as messengers that tell a person whether something good or bad has occurred but they can be feelings that propels a person to do what is right even when faced with extensive odds. Jaggar remarked that, it is appropriate to feel joy when we are developing or workout our creative powers, and it is appropriate to feel anger and perhaps disgust in those situations where military man are denied their full creativity or freedom (1996, p. 82). A good example of such an occurrence was again given by Jaggar who wrote, Certain emotions may be both morally appropriate and epistemologically expedient in approaching nonhuman and even the inanimate world Jane Goodalls scientific contribution to our understanding of chimpanzee behavior seems to have been made possible only by her amazing empathy with or even recognize for these animals (1996, p. 182).To those who are familiar with Goodalls side will admire her courageousness and determi dry land considering that she had to travel to Africa and be removed from the comforts and security of westward society and be immersed in a hostile environment, not with humans but with wild animals. It is a good instance of how emotions guided soul to do something heroic. It is easy to understand what emotions can do to lift run-of-the-mine humans to strive for things that exceed his grasp. Emotions can fire-up a person and allow him to go where no one has gone before.The history of the United States is glut with examples where tough moral decisions were justified with the cry for freedom and equality. But there is also a counter-argument that emotions are not needed to do justify moral decisions. Reason alone should be enough to move a person to do what is right. This is because emotions can be subjective. And there is no need to furnish volume s of scientific material to prove that point. Emotions can even be counter-productive when used to analyze tough moral decisions as evidenced from the results of a new study published in Newsweek.According to Wray Herbert writing for Newsweek (2008) A large and growing number of psychologists now argue that a mares nest of prejudices are simmering just below the surface of society prejudices against many ethnic groups, against women, gays, the elderly, and outsiders like the homeless and drug addicts. The big question is whether these unconscious(p) animosities are potent enough to actually shape our actions, to make us do things we ourselves find shameful.A new study suggests that, unhappily, the answer is yes. polish The question whether emotion and reason are equally necessary to justify moral decisions is a double-headed query that should have been simplified by separating emotion and reason rephrasing it in two separate questions 1) Is emotion necessary to justify moral dec isions and 2) Is reason necessary to justify moral decisions. If this is possible then the proponent of this study will say no to the first and then say yes to the second question.But since the main topic used the phrase equally necessary then the answer is no heart and soul there is no need to bring both emotion and reason to the process of analysis of the problem and ultimately giving the justification for a moral decision. To clarify what is meant by using emotion in the decision process, one has to revisit the example of Jane Goodall and his work with endangered species, it was her strong feelings of emotions, specifically empathy that allowed her to do so much.Using this understanding of emotion the proponent in time cannot endorse the use of emotion to judge a moral case because even with strong emotions one can still be mistaken. An tenuous example would be the events that transpired in Germany in World War II. The residents of this nation enthusiastically embraced the ide a given by Hitler that Jews deserve nothing but death and suffering.The majority hold or at least the Nazis agreed that this is fact, even truth and they are responsible for the death of 6 zillion Jews. If one will go to Germany today and present the same ideas to present day Germans they will surely not react with the same earnestness as they did in the time of Hitler but they will recoil in horror. This is a clear example of the subjectivity of emotions and therefore not needed to analyze tough moral issues.