Question Are feelings/emotions susceptible to moral judgment? For example, can a person be blamed for merely feeling in a certain way, without acting on it?

Accepted:
July 22, 2016

Comments

It's an interesting question.

It's an interesting question. If an emotion simply wells up in you, it might not be reasonable to blame you—especially if you don't act on it. In any given moment, we may not have much control over what we feel. But here are two things to consider.

First, we do sometimes say that certain reactions aren't appropriate; we do use broadly moral language to talk about emotions. When we say things like "He should get over himself!", we're often making a judgment about the moral appropriateness of staying in the grip of an inappropriate emotional reaction.

Second, most of us do have at least some ability, over the long haul, to train and reshape our emotions. This is one of the goals of certain kinds of psychotherapy, but therapy isn't the only path to the goal. This suggests that we can hold people (including ourselves!) responsible for not doing what it takes to modulate their habitual emotional responses.

Here's another way to put it. It's part of a person's character that s/he reacts to things in certain ways. And while it's important not simply to assume that everyone is capable of becoming cool-headed, warm-hearted, calm... most of us have some capacity to retrain our reactions and shape our character. Even though we should avoid crude judgments about emotional blameworthiness, it certainly doesn't follow that we bear no responsibility for our emotions.

Question Are feelings/emotions susceptible to moral judgment? For example, can a person be blamed for merely feeling in a certain way, without acting on it? Accepted:July 22, 2016

Question Are feelings/emotions susceptible to moral judgment? For example, can a person be blamed for merely feeling in a certain way, without acting on it?

Accepted:
July 22, 2016