Evalo, Kym L.

BSCpE 2A
Ethics (MTH 9:00-10:30)

A. In what way are feelings important in moral decision-making according to Hume

and Scheler?
- Hume claimed that in any given situation a person would act based on
emotions rather than reason. Hume is best known in ethics for asserting the
four of these: Reasons alone cannot be a motive to will but rather is “slave of
the passions”, Moral Distinctions are not derived from reason, Moral
distinctions are derived from the moral sentiments: Feeling of Approval
(esteem; praise) and disapproval (blame) felt by spectators who contemplate a
character or action and while some virtues and vices are natural, others
(including justice) artificial.
- Scheler asserted that emotion/feelings are inherent, objective and it exists
even if you have not experienced it before and Scheler also claimed Human
feelings are not chaotic, it is actually strict, exact and objective. He also firmly
rejected the idea that feelings are in the subconscious and asserted that it is
actually the “purest sphere” of human conscious.
B. In what way is a feeling detrimental in moral-decision making?
- The emotion or feelings is always involved in decision making because
according to Hume that in any given situation a person would act based on
his/her emotions rather than reason for example, there was a girl who is in the
relationship and suddenly she get angry because he saw his boyfriend that
chatting with his ex-girlfriend and she decided quickly that she wants to break
up with his boyfriend and his boyfriend didn’t get a chance to explain.
It’s clearly that the girl decides quickly because she was hurt and angry of
what happened but she didn’t think of what may happen after then. The
Emotion can also help us to be a better person not only in decision making,
like If you feel a Negative feeling the negative feeling will help you to adjust
your behavior, help you to learn from your mistake or reflect from your
mistakes and lastly, Negative Feeling will help you to the emotional responses
can be reshaped as time pass by.
C. As human beings, we cannot help but be influenced by feelings. Based on what you
have learned about the role of feelings in decision-making. What is the best
approach in making moral-decision?
- The best approach in making moral decision is to analyze the situation that
you are into, not all the time emotions will not give you better decisions in life
but our emotions will help us in making moral-decision. We should also
consider the reasons not the emotions. We cannot control our own feelings but
what you believe about emotions should shape how you approach and manage
your emotions. Personally, I regret some of my moral-decisions in my life
because I quickly decide based on my feelings. They always said that “Don’t
make decisions when you’re mad, angry, and sad because you might regret
later” sad to say but it’s true whenever I feel sad, I decide and later on I regret
so the best approach in making moral-decision is to balance the reasons and
emotions so you will make a decision that you will not regret later.