Deontological Moral Judgments
First, in this paper I will discuss normative ethics and how people go about making hard decisions. I will explain to you what consequentialism and deontology are. I will also explain how our emotions play a role in our decisions to make consequentialist moral judgements and deontological moral judgements. Next, I will discuss how our emotions influence our decisions. Greene believe that we should not trust our deontological moral judgements. I agree with Greene and I will give examples and reasoning behind why I also do not think we should make deontological moral judgements. Consequentialism says we should only focus on the consequences of our actions. According to consequentialism we should do what is morally right, but the consequences of our actions will determine whether it is righteous or unjustifiable (Gensler, 2011). On the other hand, deontology says that some actions are just wrong (e.g. murder) and it does not matter whether the consequences will be good or bad (Gensler, 2011). In a lecture video by Shaun Nichols, he uses the footbridge case as an example. In this example, there is a runaway train coming and will
…show more content…
kill five people on the tracks. There are two men on the bridge above the tracks, and one man must make the decision whether to push the other man in front of the train to save five others. According to consequentialism, the man should push the man to save the five other men (Nichols, 2017). This would be a better outcome than losing the other five people. According to deontology, the man should not push the other man because that is just wrong--it is murder (Nichols, 2017). The five people on the tracks would still die. Emotions tend to influence our tendency to make deontological decisions vs. consequentialist decisions. When emotions come into play, we tend to make deontological decisions. An example that Shaun Nichols uses is showing people two different movies. One was extremely boring and the other was funny and more entertaining. After watching these two videos, the viewers were asked to answer whether they should push the man off the bridge to save five others. After watching the boring video, the viewers were not more likely to say “yes, push the man!” After watching the funny video, the viewers were more likely to say “Yes, push him!” This shows that the viewers decisions had been altered because of the movie they watched (Nichols, 2017). Our emotions can alter our decision making and our emotions tend to change. Philosopher Joshua Greene does not think we should trust our deontological moral judgements.
As mentioned above, emotion and deontology go together. This is because our decision is constructed from our morals and what we think is morally right or wrong, rather than what the outcome of our action is. Greene discusses post hoc rationalization and why we make up reasons for something that is wrong when we have a feeling about something being wrong. In the example of the runway train, we think that it is wrong to push the man off the bridge. Greene argues that we should not trust that disposition because we are reasoning with our emotions. He does not think that we should use our intuitions because we are in a new complex world and our emotions are primitive and not correspondent. Therefore, we should not trust our deontological
judgements. I agree with Joshua Greene that we should not trust our deontological moral judgements.
Our emotions can affect our decisions and the decisions can change day to day. If someone is feeling upset one day, but happy the next day, they may not be making the most rational decision. It is important to see what the outcome would be based on the consequences, emotions set aside. We should base actions off the consequences and who it will benefit and who it will not. If it is a good consequence for more people, than we should make that decision, even if we do not want to. From personal experience, I have made decisions due to my emotions, even though they did not have good consequences in the long run. I now try to base decisions off the consequences rather than my emotions. Overall, if we depend on our emotions to construct our actions, our moral judgements will not be consistent.
kill five people on the tracks. There are two men on the bridge above the tracks, and one man must make the decision whether to push the other man in front of the train to save five others. According to consequentialism, the man should push the man to save the five other men (Nichols, 2017). This would be a better outcome than losing the other five people. According to deontology, the man should not push the other man because that is just wrong--it is murder (Nichols, 2017). The five people on the tracks would still die. Emotions tend to influence our tendency to make deontological decisions vs. consequentialist decisions. When emotions come into play, we tend to make deontological decisions. An example that Shaun Nichols uses is showing people two different movies. One was extremely boring and the other was funny and more entertaining. After watching these two videos, the viewers were asked to answer whether they should push the man off the bridge to save five others. After watching the boring video, the viewers were not more likely to say “yes, push the man!” After watching the funny video, the viewers were more likely to say “Yes, push him!” This shows that the viewers decisions had been altered because of the movie they watched (Nichols, 2017). Our emotions can alter our decision making and our emotions tend to change. Philosopher Joshua Greene does not think we should trust our deontological moral judgements.
As mentioned above, emotion and deontology go together. This is because our decision is constructed from our morals and what we think is morally right or wrong, rather than what the outcome of our action is. Greene discusses post hoc rationalization and why we make up reasons for something that is wrong when we have a feeling about something being wrong. In the example of the runway train, we think that it is wrong to push the man off the bridge. Greene argues that we should not trust that disposition because we are reasoning with our emotions. He does not think that we should use our intuitions because we are in a new complex world and our emotions are primitive and not correspondent. Therefore, we should not trust our deontological
judgements. I agree with Joshua Greene that we should not trust our deontological moral judgements.
Our emotions can affect our decisions and the decisions can change day to day. If someone is feeling upset one day, but happy the next day, they may not be making the most rational decision. It is important to see what the outcome would be based on the consequences, emotions set aside. We should base actions off the consequences and who it will benefit and who it will not. If it is a good consequence for more people, than we should make that decision, even if we do not want to. From personal experience, I have made decisions due to my emotions, even though they did not have good consequences in the long run. I now try to base decisions off the consequences rather than my emotions. Overall, if we depend on our emotions to construct our actions, our moral judgements will not be consistent.