Feelings and Reason

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• Reason and feelingsBroadly stated, ethics is “concerned with making sense of intuitions”[1] about what is right and good. We do this by
reasoning about our feelings. Biologists verify that: “Emotion is never truly divorced from decision making, even when it is channeled
aside by an effort of will.”[2]Physicists now confirm that seeing the world with complete objectivity is not possible, as our observations
affect what we perceive.[3] Moral philosopher Mary Midgley writes: “Sensitivity requires rationality to complete it, and vice versa.
There is no siding onto which emotions can be shunted so as not to impinge on thought.”[4] We rely on our reason to guard against
feelings that may reflect a bias, or a sense of inadequacy, or a desire simply to win an argument, and also to refine and explain a felt
conviction that passes the test of critical reflection and discussion. We rely on feelings to move us to act morally, and to ensure that our
reasoning is not only logical but also humane.[5] Scientific evidence supports this approach to ethics. As children, we manifest empathy
before developing our rational abilities, and there is evidence for the same order of development in the evolution of the human
brain.[6]“Empathy is a unique form of intentionality in which we are directed toward the other’s experience.”[7] This involves feeling,
at least to some extent, what another person is feeling. “[I]n empathy we experience another human being directly as a person―that
is, as an intentional being whose bodily gestures and actions are expressive of his or her experiences or states of mind.”[8]Empathy
enables us to identify with others, and may generate a “perception of the other as a being who deserves concern and respect.”[9] This
does not guarantee ethical conduct, but it makes morality possible. “Aid to others in need would never be internalized as a duty
without the fellow-feeling that drives people to take an interest in one another. Moral sentiments came first; moral principles
second.”[10]Conscience, at its best, reflects our integration of moral sentiments and principles. We should test our conscience,
however, by explaining to others the reasons for our moral presumptions, and we should listen carefully to concerns they may have.
This is especially important when dealing with ethical issues among family members or friends, but applies as well to concerns about
the environment.Moreover, both our feelings and our reason reflect our participation in a moral community, or more likely several
moral communities. As children, our moral community is our family, which soon broadens to include our friends and then is defined by
the rules of our school. As adults, our moral community extends from our family to our friends (at work, in our neighborhood or a
support group, and perhaps in our religious community), to our city, our country, the people of the world whose moral and legal rights
are defined by international law, and perhaps also to a moral community that includes non-human organisms and ecosystems.
• Upsurge of feeling is natural and what we do with them is what
makes us ethical or unethical
What is Feelings ?
• A gut feeling or a gut reaction is a visceral emotional reaction to
something . It maybe negative such as a feeling of uneasiness or
positive such as a feeling of trust. Gut feeling are generally regarded
as not modulated by concious thought, but sometimes as a feature of
intuition rather than rationality
Importance of feelings
• They can motivate you.
• They enable to feel what others feel.

• They point your interest to Certain difficulties Of your body or mind.

• They can sometimes warn you Of coming Troubles- either Of your
body, your mind or certain circumtances.
Origin
Reason and Impartiality
• Impartiality (also called evenhandedness or fair-mindedness) is a
principle of justice holding that decisions should be based
on objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or
preferring the benefit to one person over another for improper
reasons.
• Reason allows you to think rationally about the choices you have and
keeps your emotion in check.
Role-play
• Highlighting in one case an emotional response,and in the other a
rational response.
Cases: Responses to the following situations;
• Upon knowing a failing grade
• Upon witnessing that your mother is beaten by your father.

• The class critiques the behavior and responses of agents in each case.
Assignment

• Stories from news clips highlighting

emotional and rationalresponses