Metaethics & Moral Psychology: Reason vs Emotion

Normative Ethics

The ethical principles of how things should be, not how it is as guidelines for moral decision making

• “What should I do in this moral situation?” 

Applied Ethics

The middle ground of ethics, which takes normative ethics, and applies them to real world cases

Meta Ethics

The most abstract end of ethics, where one examines the nature and foundations of the moral concepts themselves

• “Is there a fact of the matter about what is morally right?”

Key Metal Ethical Positions:

• Moral Realism - Moral Statements describe objective facts

  • “Murder is wrong, independent of opinions.”

• Moral Anti-Realism - No objective moral facts; morality is subjective or constructed

  • “Right and wrong are cultural conventions”

• Moral Relativism - c

• Error Theory - All moral claims are false because they presuppose non-existent facts

  • “There are no moral properties at all.”

Moral Realism

Moral Statements describe objective facts

• “Murder is wrong, independent of opinions”

Moral Antirealism

No objective moral facts; morality is subjective or constructed

• “Right and wrong are cultural conventions”

Moral Relativism

No objective moral facts; morality is subjective or constructed

• “Right and wrong are cultural conventions”

Key Idea: All relativists are antirealists (since they deny universal moral facts), but not all antirealists are relativists

Error Theory

All moral claims are false because they presuppose non-existent facts

• “There are no moral properties at all.”

Error Theory is a specific type of moral antirealism

Moral Psychology

Explores how mental states (reason, intuition, emotion) influence moral judgement and behavior

• Dual process model:

  1. Reason driven decisions → logical analysis, often aligned with normative principles

  2. Emotion/intuition driven decisions → gut feelings, moral intuitions, sometimes at odds with reason

• Illustrative Scenario:

  • Math exam: choosing the correct answer by logical reasoning vs relying on a feeling on which option looks correct

  • Ethical Dilemma: Deciding whether to act on compassionate impulse or on a principled rule

Understanding the psychological mechanisms helps explain why people disagree about normative judgements and why meta-ethical debates (eg: objectivity vs relativism) persist

Reason vs Emotion in Moral Action

Reason (analytic, logical thinking):

• Generates pure practical reason (Kant)

• Can guide us to act ethically even when desires oppose the right action

Emotions (passions, desires):

• Drives us towards immediate gratification (Hume)

• Often the source of temptation that must be overcome

Typical Scenario: 

• You find a wallet with $500

  1. Moral Belief: Return the wallet to its owner

  2. Desire: Keep the cash

  3. Outcome depends on which motivator dominates

Kant’s Pure Practical Reason

Kant claims that humans possess a pure practical reason that can motivate ethical actions independent of desire.

• Mechanism:

  1. Recognize a moral principle

  2. Reason deduces the correct action

  3. Conscience overrides temptation

Key Idea: Ethical behavior can stem from belief or rational conviction rather than from emotional impulse

Hume’s Passionate Motivation

Hume claims that reason is the slave of passions. Any intentional action requires an underlying desire. Moral judgements arise from sentiment and emotional responses, not from abstract reasoning alone

Key Idea: Even seemingly rational choices are ultimately driven by what we want. Moral motivation is rooting in feelings such as empathy, guilt, or self interest

Cognitivism

Belief that moral judgements are capable of being true or false because they report facts about moral reality

Noncognitivism

Belief that moral judgements are expressions of attitute rather than objective claims

Beliefs vs Desire: Truth-Value Differences

Beliefs are evaluated against facts: true or false

• Cats are mammals - True

• Bees are birds - False

Desires lack truth-conditions, they just exist

• Wanting a glass of water or a cake is neither true nor false

Moral Truth & Moral Laws

Questions: Do moral truths exist akin to natural laws?

• Natural laws are discovered and verified scientifically

• Moral laws appear to be eternal or metaphysical for some philosophers

Levels of Moral Truth

1. Personal/ individual truth: I believe X is right

2. Cultural Truth - Shared within a community

3. Meta-ethical Truth - Universal, possibly metaphysical