Are Reason and Emotion Equally Necessary in Justifying Moral Decisions

Emotion and factor are two various methods of understanding however can both be used in the very same scenario. Nevertheless, does one have a higher weighting than the other when it pertains to making moral choices? Utilizing reason to make an understanding claim or moral choice requires rationality and is understandable, meaning that everybody would be able to understand the argument for it. Emotion on the other hand is normally merely a 'suspicion' or an opinion of an individual and for that reason has no evidence or points to support a decision.

An example could be when it concerns whether it's best or incorrect to murder somebody.

It's generally accepted that it isn't because, using reason to validate this, everybody needs to have equivalent rights and it's unfair for one individual to take the life of another. Someone may have the viewpoint that they do can murder somebody else but their argument would not be as strong because it would merely be their viewpoint of the case.

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Another example might be homosexuality. Lots of people who are versus it claim that it's wrong because 'it's not natural' but when thinking of the argument rationally, this would imply automobiles, planes and TVs would also be considered incorrect given that those things aren't natural either.

Arguments made using ethics and emotions are not usually constant and this is why reason is a better method of knowing due to the fact that it can be used to numerous cases. Nevertheless, in some cases both emotion and reason can be utilized equally in validating an ethical decision such as when it comes to abortions.

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According to principles and emotions, abortion is murder (because the infant is a human) and murder is wrong (as all lives are valuable and it's unjustified to take another one's life).

Reason can come in to justify these arguments as well as add the point of the medical complications and effects abortions bring. On the side for the legalisation of abortions, justifiable points includes if the baby has a life-threatening disease or if the mother does that would be pass down and therefore the baby would lead an unhappy and sick life, if the parents are unfit for the responsibility of parenthood (for example, alcoholics, drug-addicts, teenagers), if the mother was unmarried and lived in a strict eligious society, if it was caused by rape and therefore would be unfair to the women as well as cause psychological harm and the fact that the government is intervening and reducing the freedom of choice for women simply goes against basic civil rights. Emotions are involved in the decision to abort a baby because mothers want what’s best for their baby and in most abortion cases, the reason behind it is because they feel their baby would not live the life they deserve.

Whether it’s because they’d spend most of the life in a hospital with an incurable illness or because the mother knows that she wouldn’t be good enough for the parenting job. When it comes to making any decisions, whether it’s a moral one or not, reason should be considered more as it uses rationality and therefore is easier to explain and justify a decision to others. Emotions aren’t necessarily permanent or consistent and so it would be more difficult to try to get others to understand why you’ve made a certain decision.

Updated: Jul 07, 2022
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Are Reason and Emotion Equally Necessary in Justifying Moral Decisions. (2016, Sep 20). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/are-reason-and-emotion-equally-necessary-in-justifying-moral-decisions-essay

Are Reason and Emotion Equally Necessary in Justifying Moral Decisions essay
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