One more amazing quote from the article referenced by Aaron Zimmerman two posts below.

“Moral judgments are… rapid intuitive decisions and involve the emotion-processing parts of the brain. Most of us make snap moral judgments about what feels fair or not, or what feels good or not. We start doing this when we are babies, before we have language. And even as adults, we often can’t explain to ourselves why something feels wrong.

In other words, reasoning comes later and is often guided by the emotions that preceded it. Or as Jonathan Haidt of the University of Virginia memorably wrote, “The emotions are, in fact, in charge of the temple of morality, and … moral reasoning is really just a servant masquerading as a high priest.”

Reminds me of what Ashley Null wrote regarding Thomas Cranmer’s (founder of Anglicanism) understanding of human nature:

“What the heart loves, the will chooses and the mind justifies.”

COMMENTS

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4 responses to “Morality is Emotional, Not Rational”

1. Aaron M. G. Zimmerman says:

   04/08/2009 at 11:17 am

   This phenomenom, I think, is why Jesus told us not to judge. He knew how faulty our internal “Morality-O-Meters” are. Our moral judgments are not based on God’s Law, but rather are a mix of feelings, narcissism, and human standards of Good and Evil. This is also why Jesus says to remove the plank from our own eye before removing the speck from our brother’s eye. David Brooks identifies the plank in this piece.

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2. John Stamper says:

   04/08/2009 at 4:11 pm

   Thanks, R-J. I was hoping you'd bring up that penetrating Reformation insight, and of course you did (heart –> will –> mind).

   Very helpful.

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3. Tess M. says:

   04/08/2009 at 10:13 pm

   I love the last quote – The mind is apt to justify what the heart wants. And I do think that our judgements are flawed, as we are impossibly flawed. Yet I wonder if that doesn’t make God’s law even more important. If humans are inclined to base their moral reasoning on their desires, is it not even more important for them to lay themselves before God’s law (and by this I mean the 10 commandments) so they can see where they fail and where they need God’s grace? (which will undoubtably be in all 10 commandments…)

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4. R-J Heijmen says:

   04/09/2009 at 9:31 am

   Tess –

   I agree that the 10 Commandments and Jesus’ Greatest Commandment (love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength and neighbor as self), along with Mt 5.48 (be perfect as God is perfect) are the most helpful diagnostic instruments of human inability to be moral.

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