Moral Emotions

Reason versus Emotion

Morality was traditionally thought to be largely a matter of reasoning. Because the Western philosophical tradition placed such a strong emphasis on the role of reasoning for proper moral judgment, and because emotions were seen as damaging to the reasoning [Page 588]process in general, the study of morality focused heavily on the development of the reasoning ability. If anything, emotions were seen as harmful to the moral process. At first glance, this view is not unreasonable. After all, many emotions further one's own self-interest (such as happiness when one succeeds or anger and sadness when one fails), or bias one toward those individuals who are close to him or her (e.g., you become more angry if someone insults your mother than if someone insults a stranger's mother). Because impartiality seems to be critical for proper moral judgment, many thinkers believed that emotions should be eliminated from the process of moral judgment entirely.

Nonetheless, some influential thinkers noted that human morality seemed to depend heavily on the presence of certain emotions. Philosophers such as David Hume and Adam Smith were among the first to implicate emotions (particularly sympathy) as forming the foundations of morality. And recent research seems to support them: Without certain emotions, moral concern would not exist.

Evolutionary Origins

One area of research that elucidates the role of emotion in morality comes from evolutionary theory. However, because morality is inherently other-serving, and evolution was traditionally understood as a selfish mechanism (e.g., survival of the fittest), morality itself was not properly understood by evolutionary theorists for quite some time. Key insights from a few theorists, however, led to an understanding that a trait that encouraged altruistic behavior (helping others at a cost to oneself) could be adaptive, thus increasing the probability that the trait would be passed on to offspring. These traits likely took the form of emotional tendencies to help those in need and punish those who violated rules (e.g., cheaters). The evolutionary etiology of many emotions is still a matter of debate, but most people now believe that the presence of moral emotions is not inconsistent with an evolutionary account.

The Moral Emotions

Broadly speaking, three classes of emotions can be termed moral emotions: emotions that encourage people to care about the suffering of others (e.g., sympathy), emotions that motivate people to punish others (e.g., anger), and emotions that are, in essence, punishments upon oneself for violating one's moral code (e.g., guilt). Some researchers also include a class of emotions that are elicited when one sees the positive moral acts of others, such as praise and a form of moral awe termed elevation.

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