Are Reason

Mr Robertson :: Yr 11 IB Theory of Knowledge Essay
Are Reason & Emotion equally necessary in justifying moral decisions?

When justifying a moral decision I believe that using both reason and emotion are necessary, but to
which proportions both must be used is not clear. Both reason and emotion are two different ways
of knowing but that does not make them separate in any way. In fact all the ways of knowing
intertwine and connect so that not one decision can be made without several of the ways of
knowing being used. The justification of moral decisions is no exception, both reason and emotion
will always be used no matter how hard one tries to avoid either one.
A problem I found when analysing the question was that it does not specify to whom the justification
is being made. Therefore this question could actually be split into two separate questions. The first
question would be ‘Are reason and emotion equally necessary in justifying moral decisions to
someone else? Or to oneself?’ I find the latter of the two options a more satisfying question to
analyse because of the simple reason that if one can justify something to themselves, it would be
much easier to justify it to another person.
One must not become confused with morals and ethics, while this topic could be an essay in itself; it
is my understanding that morals involve one’s own personal beliefs and guidelines while ethics are
the beliefs and guidelines of a society as a whole. For instance, in the society I was brought up in,
eating an animal is not unethical, but on a personal level eating an animal can be immoral due to the
fact that a living being was killed unnecessarily. On the opposite side of the spectrum an unethical
act may be for a doctor to have a sexual relationship with a patient, whereas morally he may not be
doing anything wrong. Therefore a moral is decided on a personal level and is usually attributed to
religion, while ethics are decided by the society and are more likely to be attributed to professional
conduct. From this example we can also see how ethics can change in different societies; there are
many societies such as those found in parts of India where the slaughter and consumption of a cow
would be unethical. A moral is also not fixed, what one person finds moral may not be what another
person finds moral.
Reason is the process of using logical system to come up with a rational explanation for something.
There are many kinds of logical systems that one can use to come up with a rational explanation, a
few examples are inductive and deductive reasoning. Reason provides a person
Reason is just as flawed as emotion is when it comes to justifying moral decisions because reasoning
may not come to a conclusion that is not moral at all. This can be seen if one takes Jonathon Swift’s
“A Modest Proposal” as a hypothetical situation. The satirical essay proposed that the problem of
the children of the poor burdening their parents and society could be solved by eating the babies.
The essay goes on to make perfectly rational arguments for the scheme, such as the improvement of
the economy and standard of living of the poor because the babies could be sold as a commodity.
This reasoning is an extreme hypothetical case where emotion is left completely out of the equation.
Emotions can sway and change just as quickly as any situation can. This makes emotion a highly
unstable and unreliable way of perceiving something. A simple example is that a person that had just
failed a maths test and was upset would most probably not appreciate something like good weather
that other people would be happy about. In this sense, emotion is purely subjective and how it is
triggered and to what extent each person feels it cannot be measured.
Mr Robertson :: Yr 11 IB Theory of Knowledge Essay
As one delves deeper one finds that without emotion reason is almost always pointless because
emotion is what always proceeds reason when something happens. If a car is driving towards you at
high speeds, one first feels fear or danger and then (if possible) moves out of the way. Emotion is the
first response or impression one gets from a stimulus and then reason is a rational explanation for
that stimulation.
An issue that all of humanity face today is the grounds for which to allow or disallow abortions. This
is such a big issue because of the clear moral dilemma that it provides to every person involved. An
abortion is a process in which a pregnant woman can abort their child inside the womb before it is
born. Although this provides the mother with a convenient way of getting rid of a potentially bad
situation, for example if the mother did not have the recourses to properly raise the child, many also
see the process as murdering a human being and argue that preventing potential life itself is
immoral. There are many views to this argument but I will explore very few to try and look at the
rational and emotional justifications for each side of the argument.
The first moral consideration is the killing of life or even preventing potential life. If we accept that
the killing of living beings is fundamentally wrong than one can easily see that aborting a child is
wrong. However if one looks at the situation rationally, one could argue that the baby is, at least in
the first weeks, nothing but a group of cells multiplying. Those who go further and counter this
argument with their own, stating that the prevention of potential life should not be a human right
and it is “playing god”, can rationally be argued against with the simple argument that using a
condom is also preventing potential life and should not be permitted due to it being a murderous
act. The major point in both of these arguments that most people miss, is the fact that there is no
clear line drawn up to show exactly where humans become humans or when humans should be able
to “play god”.
For the purpose of illustrating this point, let us assume that one argument is chosen as the correct
course of action.
To find an answer to the elusive question of whether reason and emotion equally necessary in
justifying moral decisions one finds that every situation contains its own sets of variables, and no
two people have the same sets of opinions, feelings, logic or morals. This means that one cannot
simply apply a formula to govern how to consider a moral dilemma, but has to look at every single
side of the situation, both logically and emotionally and reasonably. One cannot judge to what
proportions reason and emotion should be used, but neither should be favoured without analysing
the other option.
By Adi Rai
Word Count: 1600

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Mr Robertson :: Yr 11 IB Theory of Knowledge Essay

Are Reason & Emotion equally necessary in justifying moral decisions?

Word Count: 1600

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