Reason And Disgust : Moral Foundations And Utilitarian Judgments

What is morality? Where does our sense of morality come from and why is it important for us to know? The cognitive scientist, psychologist, linguist, and scholar, Steven Pinker discusses this in his essay, “The Moral Instinct”. In this essay, Pinker claims that our morality sense is innate, it constantly changes, and it is universal among each culture. Pinker also explains that moral sense shapes our judgement as it is something that we value and seek in other people. The science of the moral sense is important since it shows how morality impacts our actions and it explains why we act in certain ways.

According to Dr. Karen Wynn, humans are in fact born with an ingrained sense of morality. In the classic experiment where a baby sees two scenarios, one with a helpful puppet and one with a mean-spirited one, over 80% choose the kind character when presented with both of them. From primates that roam jungles to dolphins that traverse oceans, even animals have this instinct in their brains. We are all created with this inner sense, so the question is, how does it change in certain people? If all creatures start off with a clean slate, a sympathetic spirit, there must be something that causes them to

Throughout the semester, I have read total three philosophical books which helped me to understand little more about what moral judgment is. Some people say it is an instinctual response to a situation, telling us what is right or wrong. Or some people say it is the expression of learned and acquired cultural values. However, this writer personal believes a moral judgment is a subjective, personal or even preferable opinions of a person concerning whether something is right or wrong. And also I was able to learn that each person makes their own moral judgments, and those decisions are valid for that person and therefore nobody’s judgments are better or worse.

This paper will compare the usefulness of character-based and consequence-based approaches in making moral decisions. In a character-based approach, the consideration of the moral agent is central in making decisions, and actions are made in order to reflect and strengthen good character. In a consequence-based approach, the consideration of the outcome is central in making moral decisions, and actions are judged based on the outcome. Usefulness will be defined in terms of three aspects: consistency, convenience and assurance, with assurance being defined as the confidence that the decision made is correct. Through the comparison of the two approaches, it becomes clear that a character-based approach is more useful in making a decision.

The main goal of this chapter is to elucidate the explanatory target of this thesis. Empirical research on morality is abundant, but discussions about the nature of its explanatory target are often vague or completely absent. Building upon Sinnott-Armstrong and Wheatley’s (2012, 2013) ideas, I would like to argue that neither moral judgments nor moral norms are unified explanatory targets. In particular, I will argue that there is no property or set of properties that unifies all the members of the class of moral judgments or the class of moral norms—a negative thesis that I call the ‘disunity thesis’. I will explain why this issue matters (or should matter) for people working on the empirical research of morality, and I will put forward some

When an individual is proposed with a moral dilemma they will often seek the advice of others rather than acting solely upon their immediate cultural, familial, and cognitive predispositions; suggesting that judgments are also made about the moral judgments of others (Rest, Cooper, Coder, Masanz & Anderson, 1974).

Today, individuals are faced with decisions both big and small daily. Throughout history, many psychologists have studied how people arrive at the decisions they are faced with daily. Recent studies have looked at many of the factors that influence an organism (non- human and human) to evaluate the decisions of right and wrong in the terms of morality. The idea of morality is built on the innate and learned abilities that guide an individual’s decision-making. For decades, philosophers and psychologists have wrestled with the distinction between moral relativism and moral absolutism. Moral relativism is known when something could be morally right in one society, but morally wrong in another. Unlike moral relativism, moral absolutism is the

In partial support of our hypothesis, bad was the number one predictor of sinner for HS. Although PH was judged as being more bad than HS, bad did not emerge as a predictor of sinner for PH. The supposed opposite of bad, good, was a predictor for PH. Like McGahan et al., we found that immorality may is not perfectly correlated with judgments of sin (1991; 1993). Data suggests that judgments about sin are not the same as judgments about morality. Immoral did not emerge as a significant predictor, although it was significantly correlated with sinner for PH but not HS. HS was generally considered a sinner if judged as being bad and unacceptable while PH was generally considered a sinner if judged as being unethical, not good, and undesirable. If HS was considered a sinner, HS was likely to be considered bad, unacceptable, foolish, not good, and not wise. If PH was considered a sinner, PH was likely to be considered unethical, not good, foolish, unacceptable, and bad. HS was judged to be bad if seen as inappropriate and foolish. HS was judged to be unacceptable if seen as inappropriate, not good, wrong, and responsible. HS was judged to be immoral if considered wrong, undesirable, and unethical. PH was judged to be unethical if considered unacceptable, immoral, not ethical, and undesirable.

What is one vital concept that drives the existence of humans in society? Every moment of every day humans experience a phenomenon that has grasped the interest of psychologists and philosophers alike. This perplexing notion is the manifestation of emotions. There are hundreds of emotions that one can experience, but one in particular has caused a debate. The emotion of disgust has induced a plethora of theories attempting to explain the following normative question: Should disgust influence one’s considered moral judgments? On one side, the advocates state that disgust influences a person’s moral judgments. On the other hand, the skeptics doubt the power that disgust has on a one’s considered moral judgments. A philosopher named Daniel Kelly reflects on this particular discourse in his novel “Yuck: The Nature and Moral Significance of Disgust” and defends the idea that disgust does not impact a person’s considered moral judgments. In order to support this position, Kelly expresses his opposition to multiple theories, such as the Deep Wisdom Theory and Terror Management Theory, and utilizes the Entanglement Thesis and the Co-Opt Thesis to substantiate his claim.

Based on the book Everybody Does It by Thomas Gabor (1994), the universality of moral disengagement is seen in all kinds of people from all kinds of statuses and ways of life. Many psychological theories regarding morality have concentrated on the formal character of moral reasoning to the neglect of moral conduct. In the social cognitive theory of moral self, reasoning based on morals is linked to moral actions via

This is a study consisting of three experiments designed to test whether an enhanced moral self-perception induced by cleanliness, will in turn create harsher moral judgements. The idea of cleanliness effecting moral judgements is one that has been proven by many studies. One specifically showed that even physical cleanliness, such as washing of hands, can directly cause someone to judge a moral dilemma as less severe than those

At eighteenth century, the cost of increasing development of capitalism is anomie: people chasing material life insanely even sacrifice others’ benefits. Because of this, Adam Smith, a successful philosopher and economist, released that the original morality principle was not suitable for that society anymore, and it needed to build another new theory system to suit the developing society. He wrote two masterpieces that proposed his ideas: The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which discusses the human development by analysing the human emotion, and The Wealth of Nations, which summarises the development of capitalism and it is also a foundation for today’s economy. This essay will analyse the self-interest, plays as a motivator role in morality and economy field, and benefits the development in that society. Moreover, will suggest some limitations of Smith’s idea.

This paper will examine the normative question “should disgust influence our considered moral judgments?” Daniel Kelly addresses in chapter five of his book, Yuck!, in two profoundly opposite views. These two views are between the moral disgust advocate who say, “yes” to the question and the moral disgust skeptics who say “no”. We will discuss these two very different views in depth, what Kelly’s views are, his account of the nature of disgust, and lastly, how he uses the Entanglement thesis and Co-opt thesis view to debunk the moral disgust advocates view on disgust.

From the reading, I understand that people think and act differently when faced with ethical issues. For one to make a rational decision, an extensive process of judgment is required (Bandura, Caprara, & Zsolnai, 2000). For an individual to be responsible, he or she should put into consideration the magnitude of the consequences of the actions, social

Morality is an important component of a human being because it helps shape the ethical foundation that every human being has. Whether to be good, evil, honest, or deceitful are just some of the traits morality helps us develop. Thus, it is evident that morality is a crucial component of a human being. However, what ultimately drives moral action? This question is debated and investigated against many philosophers, a few of them being Thomas Hobbes, Frans de Waal, and David Hume.