Feelings and moral decision making
A Written Report
Presented to Ms. Neizzel Joy T. Labro
Of the basic Arts and Science Department
Technological University of the Philippines – Taguig Campus
In partial fulfillment
Of the requirements for the Course Subject
Ethics
Submitted by:
Group 3
BTVTED – ICT – 1D
Hagoriles, Michaela Mae E.
Lusares, Kiara V.
Santos, Jan Dave H.
Sulapas, Andrei A.
October 2018
Lesson III. Feelings and moral decision making
Feelings as instinctive response to moral dilemmas
• Ethics is also a matter of emotion.
• Ethics as we all know is the study of what is right and wrong. It requires thinking and also
feelings. One might say that only thinking is needed but feelings will help us to do what is right
instead of doing what is rational.
• Feelings or emotions are said to be judgments about the accomplishment of one’s goals.
• Every time we achieve or do something we always have a response. For example, if we
murdered someone it is an achievement although not a positive one. This achievement then
results on the person feeling some sort of guilt, sadness or even depression. This is due to them
being judged by themselves as evil which then resulted to our feelings instinctively kicking in to
make a response. If we make a positive achievement such as making through the Dean’s List or
finishing college we then feel intense happiness and a feeling of fulfillment. This is due to us
being judged as good and successful by ourselves.
• Being good involves both thinking and feeling.
• As stated earlier feeling is also needed to make something good. This is be further explained in
the following reporting.
Feelings as obstacles to making the right decisions
• When feelings, roles in ethics are misinterpreted or exaggerated.
• Feelings may also be obstacles in doing what is right or wrong if not controlled properly. Here
are some examples of situations wherein the feelings aren’t controlled properly which results to
wrong decisions:
1. Teenagers getting pregnant
2. Teenagers who run away from their parents or home.
Ethical subjectivism
• it is a theory about the nature of moral judgments
• It holds the truth or falsity of ethical propositions which is dependent on the feelings, attitudes or
standards of a person or group of persons
• It submits that our moral opinions are based on our feelings and nothing more analyzing ethical
subjectivism
• It makes sense for a theory not to ultimately base morality on what society feels or dictates.
• Subjectivism has plenty of problems
• Subjectivism states that no one is right or wrong. It states that everyone is correct on their own
right given that they express in properly. It also states that something is correct as long as the
person feels happy about it. In this case it then tolerates people who love to murder and steal.
We all know that those are evil doings but this theory condones those people.
• Another problem about this theory is that it states that each person is infallible. Infallible
meaning incapable of making mistakes since what one’s opinion or belief cannot be considered
correct or wrong. In this case how about the people who admit that they are mistaken and
change? This doesn’t align with the theory making it another loophole.
Emotivism
• Developed by American Philosopher Charles L. Stevenson (1909-1979)
• One of the most influential theory or theories of Ethics in the 20th Century
• Moral Judgments are not statements of fact but are mere expressions of the emotions of the speaker.
• Utterances in ethics are not fact stating sentences, that is, they are not used to convey information.
• Emotivism claims that they have two entirely different purposes.
- Means of influencing other’s behavior
1. When one is saying “Stealing is bad” he or she is influencing the other person to NOT steal.
- Used to express the speakers attitude.7
1. When one says that “Stealing is bad” he or she is saying that they don’t like stealing or do
not approve of it.
Evaluating emotivism
• Emotivism provides morality with insufficient explanations.
• This theory could encourage propaganda wars.
• It fails to distinguish moral judgments from more expressions of personal preference.
- This theory states that reasoning isn’t important since the very purpose of Moral Judgments
is to influence others. This encourages more conflict which results to propaganda wars.
- This theory also doesn’t have the capabilities in distinguishing the difference between Moral
Judgments and mere expressions of personal preference. This results to misunderstanding
which may result to conflict.
Feelings can help in making the right decision
- Feelings can also be a way in doing the right decisions. This serves as the limitations to our
thinking. This is also what makes us human giving us the capability to do what is right
instead of doing what is rational.
