Understanding the impact of feelings on ethical conduct

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
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You may have wondered: How do emotions and feelings impact ethical conduct?

ChatGPT relates that many philosophers have written about the role of feelings in moral philosophy and ethics. One notable philosopher who has extensively written about this topic is David Hume. In his work “A Treatise of Human Nature” and “An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals,” Hume argued that reason alone cannot motivate us to act morally, and that our emotions and sentiments play a crucial role in guiding our moral behavior.

Another philosopher who has written about the role of feelings in ethics is Martha Nussbaum. In her book “Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions,” Nussbaum argues that emotions are not just subjective experiences, but also contain important cognitive content that can inform ethical reasoning and decision-making.

The role of feelings in ethics is a topic of much debate and discussion among philosophers. Some argue that emotions and feelings are an important aspect of ethical decision-making, as they can provide motivation and guidance for moral behavior. Others argue that emotions can cloud judgment and lead to irrational or unethical actions.

GPT also informs us that Max Scheler was a German philosopher known for his work in phenomenology and ethics. He believed that emotions play a crucial role in ethical judgment and action.

According to Scheler, emotions are not just passive reactions to external stimuli but are active responses that reveal the value or importance of something. Emotions are, therefore, an essential part of our moral experience and can provide us with insights into the moral significance of certain actions or situations.
Scheler argued that there are different types of emotions, and some are more relevant to ethics than others. For example, he believed that feelings of love, compassion, and empathy are crucial to ethical decision-making because they involve an appreciation for the inherent value and dignity of other individuals.
Scheler also believed that emotions can help us to recognize moral norms and values that are independent of our personal desires or interests. In other words, emotions can help us to see that certain actions are objectively right or wrong, regardless of our subjective preferences.

Scheler’s view on the role of feelings in ethics emphasizes the importance of emotional awareness and sensitivity in ethical decision-making. Emotions can provide us with insights into moral values and help us to recognize and act on ethical principles.

What do you, Members and Readers, think with regard to this topic? Do you have something to add that may help us gain a better understanding? Please tell us your views on the subject !

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Further insight on emotion and conduct:

My good buddy, the late Al Ellis, had some important views on this topic.
ChatGPT and AI helped sum up what my friend, one of the founders of Cognitive Psychology, concluded in this area. He told me once that he was strongly influenced by the Stoics’ philosophy.

AI further informs us that “.Dr. Albert Ellis, the influential psychologist and founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), emphasized the relationship between emotion and cognition. According to Ellis, our emotions are not directly caused by external events but rather by our interpretations and beliefs about those events. He believed that it is our thoughts, or cognitions, about situations that ultimately lead to emotional responses.

Ellis used a metaphorical concept called the “barometer” to illustrate this relationship. He described emotions as being similar to a barometer, which measures atmospheric pressure. In this metaphor, our thoughts and beliefs about a situation act as the “pressure” that influences our emotional reactions. Just as changes in atmospheric pressure cause the barometer to rise or fall, changes in our thoughts and beliefs can lead to different emotional responses.

However, it’s important to note that Ellis did not claim that this cognitive-emotional relationship applies to all cases of emotional display. While he believed that thoughts and beliefs play a significant role in shaping emotions, he also recognized that there are other factors involved, such as physiological responses and certain innate emotional reactions. Ellis’s perspective primarily focused on the idea that our interpretations and evaluations of events strongly influence our emotional experience."
…Continued in next post,q.v.

Surely you have a comment by now ! And would you be so kind as to add to our understanding of emotions and good or bad behavior, moral or immoral conduct?

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There is, of course, more that needs to be known about feelings and emotions. AI helped me learn the following about epilepsy, for instance.
When an individual has a seizure, it often it may look like just another emotional outburst, but it is not an instance of rude, nor crude, behavior. On the contrary, it is a biological disability, albeit also an emotional display. There is nothing immoral about it. The same applies to another biological disorder, the Tourette Syndrome.

Here are some facts about epilepsy:
Epileptic seizures are caused by abnormal electrical activity in the brain. During a seizure, there is a sudden, excessive discharge of neurons that can disrupt normal brain function and cause a wide range of symptoms, depending on the area of the brain affected.
Medical science has identified several possible causes of epileptic seizures. One common cause is structural abnormalities in the brain, such as tumors, strokes, or malformations of blood vessels. These abnormalities can cause changes in the way that neurons function and can increase the likelihood of seizures.
Another potential cause of seizures is genetics. Some forms of epilepsy are inherited and may be caused by mutations in specific genes that affect the normal function of ion channels or neurotransmitters in the brain.

In addition, certain environmental factors, such as head injuries, infections, or drug and alcohol abuse, can also increase the risk of seizures.
Regarding what goes on just before or as seizures occur, researchers have used various techniques to study brain activity during seizures, such as electroencephalography (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET) scans.
EEG studies have shown that just before a seizure, there can be a sudden increase in electrical activity in a particular area of the brain, which then spreads to other areas and leads to the seizure itself. MRI and PET scans can help identify areas of the brain that are most active during a seizure and provide information about the underlying cause of the seizure.

Your comments?
Can you please add to our understanding of emotions and good or bad behavior, moral or immoral conduct?

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" Tourette Syndrome - AI teaches us - "is a biological disorder characterized by repetitive, involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics. It typically begins in childhood and may improve or worsen in adulthood. The exact cause of Tourette Syndrome is unknown, but it is believed to involve genetic and environmental factors.

There is no cure for Tourette Syndrome, but treatment options include medication, behavioral therapy, and support groups."

Be sure NOT to confuse the Syndrome for the immoral behavior of a former defeated ex-president. The latter has a severe personality disorder, extreme neuroses, but is not mentally ill. He is dangerous, however. He seeks - and craves - power over others, even when rejected as ‘a leader.’ He is an authoritarian, a fascist, and a would-be dictator. Watch out for such a predator.

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As you know from an earlier post above, David Hume believed that our emotions and sentiments are essential for guiding our moral behavior, as they provide us with the motivation and moral sense we need to make ethical decisions. Maybe he was on to something.

David Hume was an 18th-century Scottish philosopher who argued that our emotions and sentiments are not only important for motivating us to act morally, but they also provide us with the moral guidance we need to make ethical decisions. I’ve learned from the web a little more about Hume justified his claims; and now II’ll pass this knowledge along to you.

Hume believed that our emotions and sentiments are based on our experiences and reflect our moral judgments. For example, if we feel sympathy for someone who is suffering, it is because we have experienced similar feelings of suffering and understand the pain that person is going through. Our emotions and sentiments, therefore, allow us to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and understand their perspective, which is essential for moral decision-making.

In addition, Hume argued that our emotions and sentiments provide us with a moral sense, which is a kind of intuitive understanding of what is right and wrong. This moral sense allows us to make ethical judgments without relying solely on reason or abstract principles.

Where do you stand on this concept :question: Do you also hold that reason alone is not adequate to account for ethical or non-ethical conduct :question: :question: If that’s so, how does one get a firm grip on the topic? After all, feelings are rather intangible and difficult to measure. Can we sharpen up the thinking here?

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Emotions are like instincts.
I argue that an emotion is an instinct.
It is a form of cognition similar to knowledge.
Genetic knowledge.

When it comes to instincts,
i think the more the better.
More guidance.

Remember that all the aspects of the mind and brain,
though parts can be seen as unique,
they are all part of a single greater process.
Words deparate what was whole.

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Yes, Dan, you are correct. I agree.

I also concur that words can and do separate what was whole.

Abraham Maslow argued that we don’t have instincts as such, but we do have ‘instinctoids’ - as he described them. …may have more to say about this later.

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To return to the content of an earlier post I wrote, I might say here more about the position that a renowned teacher at The University of Chicago has been saying.

Chat GPT reminds us that Marthat Dr. Nussbaum is a prominent philosopher who has written extensively on the relationship between emotions and moral conduct. In her writings, she argues that emotions are an important aspect on moral reasoning and play a central role in our ability to make moral judgments and act morally.

Nusssbaum argues that emotions are not inherently good or bad, but that they can be either helpful or harmful depending on how they are directed and expressed. She contends that emotions can be cultivated and trained in ways that promote ethical behavior and virtuous character traits, such as compassion, empathy, and courage.

According to Dr. Nussbaum, emotions can inform our moral judgments by providing us with important information about the situations we encounter and the people we interact with. For example, feelings of sympathy or anger may prompt us to take action to help those who are suffering or to protest against injustice. However, emotions can also cloud our judgment and lead us to act impulsively or irrationally.

To avoid these pitfalls, Nussbaum argues that we need to develop emotional intelligence, which involves recognizing and regulating our emotions in a way that promotes ethical behavior. This includes cultivating a sense of empathy, which enables us to understand and relate to the experiences of others, as well as developing self-awareness and self-control, which help us to manage our own emotions and respond to situations in a way that is consistent with our values and principles.
In sum, Nussbaum’s writings suggest that emotions are a crucial component of moral conduct and that cultivating emotional intelligence is essential for ethical behavior.

What say you about all this?? Is she right? I believe so.
Andisan’t reason alone able to account for the most important things to know about the ethical life, and for morality? Re-read some of the References below before you respond.
After all, Dr. Nusbaum does ‘philosophy’ which is mostly, in my humble view: ‘the clarification and analysis of vague and ambiguous concepts, thereby sharpening them up.’

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…what references should we re-read before responding?

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Perhaps… in their place, this will suffice?

Quoting from ethics text:

p. 10: “A new breed of thinkers, including the American philosopher Martha Nussbaum, hold the theory that our moral values do indeed have a strong connection to our emotions, but that doesn’t mean the values or our moral decisions reflecting them can’t be rational. According to this theory, there is a rational element within our emotional life that makes some emotional reactions reasonable and morally relevant, while others may not be…”

p. 13: “If we have no feeling of moral approval or outrage, then do we really care about whether something is morally right or wrong? If we don’t feel that it’s wrong to harm a child, then how is logic going to persuade us?”

p. 15: “Feelings such as disappointment, elation, grief, and even love are all responses to certain situations. They develop according to some inner logic; they don’t strike at random.”

The Moral of the Story: An Introduction to Ethics by Nina Rosenstad (publ. McGraw Hill); 2003.

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Thank you, Ichthus, my friend, for a fine contribution. …very well said! And thank you also for calling our attention Nina Rosenstad. I agree with everything you quoted that she said

You really answered well the question I asked and I appreciate that/ I think ne nearly every reader has a better understanding now with regard to the topic of this thread, the relation of emotions and reason to ethics and morality.
So thanks once again, Ichthus.

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de nada

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It may prove helpful to review what we learned from Martha Nussbaum. Therefore a reminder would be in order here:

“Feelings,” she claims, “of sympathy or anger may prompt us to take action to help those who are suffering or to protest against injustice. However, emotions can also cloud our judgment and lead us to act impulsively or irrationally.”

Can we all agree with that? It makes sense to me.

To avoid these pitfalls, Nussbaum argues that “we need to develop emotional intelligence, which involves recognizing and regulating our emotions in a way that promotes ethical behavior. This includes cultivating a sense of empathy, which enables us to understand and relate to the experiences of others, as well as developing self-awareness and self-control, which help us to manage our own emotions and respond to situations in a way that is consistent with our values and principles.”

…Sounds like good counsel to this writer, yours truly. These concepts she sets forth impress me as entirely compatible with those derived in the papers and booklets referenced in the list you find below:

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You’ll find it.

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What is that supposed to mean? What is the “it” to which you refer?? What am I supposed to be looking for?

And why don’t readers get a cay or two to study and absorb what Dr. Nussbaum taught, before she is chased off ???
[size=50]Does someone here have a ‘thing’ against what she is teaching? {You know who I mean !}[/size]