Moral rationality demands that we eliminate cultural and emotional influences from our ethical thinking.
Moral rationality demands that we eliminate cultural and emotional influences from our ethical thinking.
When people ask how "reason" fits into ethics, they're often asking how thinking (as opposed to feeling and desiring) can contribute. This isn't my question. Instead, I'm asking how we ought to make ethical judgments. I'm convinced that we need to integrate various elements -- including logical and quasi-logical principles, empirical knowledge, imagination, desires, and feelings. So my moral rationality conditions include all these things.
Moral rationality demands that we eliminate cultural and emotional influences from our ethical thinking.
It demands that we try to learn from other cultures -- and disagree with our own when it's inconsistent, ignorant, or inhuman. It demands that our decisions integrate consistency and factual knowledge with imagination and feelings. And it demands that we try to reinforce reason's weak voice with powerful allies like social approval, habits, and feelings.