Moral

how strong is a feeling of disgust? Is it strong enough to influence our considered moral judgments or is it just an untrustworthy emotion? In Chapter 5 of the book, Yuck!, the author, Daniel Kelly, addresses this question and defends the skeptical view of moral disgust against a moral disgust advocate’s view. Moral disgust advocates believe that disgust should influence our considered moral judgments, but moral disgust skeptics say it should not. By discussing the standard dispute between…

Is moral development nature or nurture? One of the most broadly debated topics among psychologists and academics is the continuing battle on moral development being nature or nurture. Is moral development, such a fundamental part of society, shaped by our genes or by the environment that surrounds us? To start things of we first must define the two closely related words, morality and ethics. Morality is ones’ judgement on what’s right and wrong, it might vary from culture to culture but is…

Shark Cull and Moral Panic The occurrence of three shark attacks had been concentrated in three weeks so much so that it generated the public concern about the safety of the swimmers and the considerable pressure on the government to implement risk-control policy. A state government policy of capturing and killing large sharks near swimming beaches using baited drum lines, also known as ‘shark cull’, was implemented in 2014. But people’s questions about government’s response led to the…

1: How does reason influence moral judgments? Kohlberg in his studies on judgment and morality describes a dichotomy in the methods used to reach moral judgments, i.e. that there are two approaches: the influence of reason and the influence of emotion, and reiterates the long-held question of which influence generally determines moral judgments. Kohlberg lands on the side of Immanuel Kant and Jean Piaget in agreement that moral judgment comes predominately from reason rather than emotion which…

There is a moral panic gripping the nation. Like most moral panics, it does involve material that could imaginably offend some sensibilities. However, the moral panic is not really about the material directly. Instead, the moral panic is about moral panic, specifically, on college campuses. Trigger warnings in college classrooms, do not restrict speech, they create it. Thusly, college is a place where one is expected to confront all manner of unfamiliar, yet difficult, and in many cases,…

think of themselves as moral human beings. They often directly link their moral judgments to reason alone. However, in the 18th century, Hume made the suggestion that moral judgments could be based on emotions rather than unadulterated reason. In his Moral Philosophy, Hume argues that moral distinctions are not derived from reason, but rather determined by moral emotions: feelings of approval, or disgust felt by spectators who contemplate a moral trait or action (Owen, 1992). Moral judgments…

I never really thought to deeply into my own moral perspective before taking this class. I have always tried to do things that are in the best interest of my family and I. So when we first talked about the different types of moral perspectives I identified myself as a moral subjectivist. Something that is always said where I’m from is “get it how you live”. This simply means do whatever you have to do to survive. Forget consequences, don’t worry about how your actions impact others, and only…

Jan Narveson, a contract theorist who teaches philosophy at the university of Waterloo in Canada, writes in his book Moral Matters (1993) (side note: that was the year I was born! :)) Morals, if they are to be rational, must amount to agreements among people—people of all kinds, each pursuing his or her own interests, which are various and do not necessarily include much concern for others and their interests. But people have minds, and apply information gleaned from observing the world around…

still saddening to see the common man accept such a dangerous perspective. The acceptance of moral relativism is essentially the acceptance of immoralism, due to the fact that with its acceptance there becomes no possible way to declare any action immoral. For philosophers, objective ethics are viewed positively, as most philosophers recognize the inherent contradictions and intellectual laziness in moral relativism. For objective ethics there are two major contemporary approaches. First, there…

Cultural or moral relativism cannot be correct as all humans share and follow universal norms as they live their everyday lives. Each individual is faced with decisions at time to time, and they make their decision based on what they believe is correct. Most of the things that humans believe in, which are correct, relate back to universal norms. If groups or majorities believe something is right and they teach or praise this belief around the world it can be known as a universal norm (Demuijnck,…