Silverfox Posted February 17, 2008 Posted February 17, 2008 Put it this way - very basic and old analogy: You have a child who is terminally sick, but there is a single wonder-drug that is guaranteed to cure them. It costs $1'000'000 for the cure, but you are unemployed and the government won't pay for the drug and neither will a charity. Reason argues this: you cannot afford the drug, so your child will die. Emotion argues this: you *could* break in to the lab and take the cure and your child lives on. Obviously, it is illegal to steal the drug, and reason says it is immoral. However, can you put value on a human life and justify the theft of this wonder drug? There we have it. Hope this helps you a little. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayMeow Posted February 17, 2008 Posted February 17, 2008 Put it this way - very basic and old analogy: You have a child who is terminally sick, but there is a single wonder-drug that is guaranteed to cure them. It costs $1'000'000 for the cure, but you are unemployed and the government won't pay for the drug and neither will a charity. Reason argues this: you cannot afford the drug, so your child will die. Emotion argues this: you *could* break in to the lab and take the cure and your child lives on. Obviously, it is illegal to steal the drug, and reason says it is immoral. However, can you put value on a human life and justify the theft of this wonder drug? There we have it. Hope this helps you a little. Jack's response is best right now. I think you need to remember your initial question; it's about moral decisions. Andrew's post may be a good example of how emotion plays a role in everyday decisions, but whether to walk close to a girl or stay away from a phobia is not a moral decision. However, Jack gets it a little mixed up, IMO. It's emotion that actually tells you something is immoral. In his example, stealing the drug is illegal, and it's reason that makes you realize that. Emotion towards your child may cause you to consider that path, but it's also emotion that causes you to consider that as something immoral. Illegality and immorality are different beasts, even though they often coincide. Let's take another example. You're walking through a store and you notice a $5 bill fall out of someone's pocket ahead of you. You decide to pick it up. Reason tells you you can keep the $5, and there's nothing illegal about doing so. However, emotion kicks in and you realize that that would be immoral. So what do you do? Your next action is determined by whichever wins out in your head, reason or emotion. So the answer to your question would be, Yes, they're both equally necessary in justifying moral decisions. Even though one will often win out of the other, neglecting the impact of either one would not be human. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingdingeling Posted February 17, 2008 Posted February 17, 2008 Hehe, that's one of the examples in our ToK book It's a dilemma, however in my opinion it doesn't specify if emotion or reason are more important in making/justifying moral decisions. This could open a discussion on what is moral (stealing the drug or not), which you could write a 4,000 word Extended Essay on (don't have to worry about that anymore lol) Right now I'm desperately seeking for "counterclaims" as the grading criteria put it, something that goes against your argument, but that you can then smash apart in your discussion [i-leave-my-window-open-and-don't-refresh-before-posting-edit] Clay, you are exactly right here, however this is not a YES/NO questions It's a smeggin' 1200-1500 word essay and I'm wrecking my brains how to fill these words with something worthwhile Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverfox Posted February 17, 2008 Posted February 17, 2008 Whoops - clay you are right - reason says it is illegal was what I meant to write Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayMeow Posted February 17, 2008 Posted February 17, 2008 Hehe, that's one of the examples in our ToK book It's a dilemma, however in my opinion it doesn't specify if emotion or reason are more important in making/justifying moral decisions. This could open a discussion on what is moral (stealing the drug or not), which you could write a 4,000 word Extended Essay on (don't have to worry about that anymore lol) Right now I'm desperately seeking for "counterclaims" as the grading criteria put it, something that goes against your argument, but that you can then smash apart in your discussion [i-leave-my-window-open-and-don't-refresh-before-posting-edit] Clay, you are exactly right here, however this is not a YES/NO questions It's a smeggin' 1200-1500 word essay and I'm wrecking my brains how to fill these words with something worthwhile I didn't know I wrote just "Yes" or "No" I'm not going to write the whole essay for you ...nor do I think you'd want to me to. I provided an example, and I'm sure you can come up with more where reason and emotion come into play. Without emotion, we're a machine; without reason, we're animals. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingdingeling Posted February 17, 2008 Posted February 17, 2008 I didn't know I wrote just "Yes" or "No" I'm not going to write the whole essay for you ...nor do I think you'd want to me to. I provided an example, and I'm sure you can come up with more where reason and emotion come into play. Without emotion, we're a machine; without reason, we're animals. DUH Neither did you just put yes or no, nor am I asking you to write the essay, I was just trying to say that a post is helpful for me (thanks to all of you guys ), but this essay is still ticking me off to say that least But here we go again, you said "without reason, we're animals". I beg to differ! For example a dog on a hot day comes in contact with a piece of metal that has been heated by the sun. He burns himself on it, therefore REASON tells him next time not to touch metal on a hot day. By no means am I a dog expert, but I believe that is a fair assumption to make. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayMeow Posted February 17, 2008 Posted February 17, 2008 DUH Neither did you just put yes or no, nor am I asking you to write the essay, I was just trying to say that a post is helpful for me (thanks to all of you guys ), but this essay is still ticking me off to say that least But here we go again, you said "without reason, we're animals". I beg to differ! For example a dog on a hot day comes in contact with a piece of metal that has been heated by the sun. He burns himself on it, therefore REASON tells him next time not to touch metal on a hot day. By no means am I a dog expert, but I believe that is a fair assumption to make. Well some animals are more intelligent than others. Consider the experiments done on mice; they often use shocks to "teach" mice not to do something, and it often takes a few jolts before they learn. Not very smart. But is that really "reason" that's causing them to make that decision? Nevertheless, I wasn't going to say "without reason, we're animals"...the first thing I wrote was actually, "without reason, we're...idiots"...but I didn't think that was an essay-worthy statement . Equating the lack of emotion to a machine is easy, but what does one equate the lack of reason to? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingdingeling Posted February 17, 2008 Posted February 17, 2008 Lack of reason.... women?! btw, 6002 posts.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
94Camaro Posted February 17, 2008 Posted February 17, 2008 I wasn't going to say "without reason, we're animals"...the first thing I wrote was actually, "without reason, we're...idiots"...b Without reason, people vote hillary. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayMeow Posted February 17, 2008 Posted February 17, 2008 Lack of reason.... women?! btw, 6002 posts.... Without reason, people vote hillary. double touch Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverfox Posted February 17, 2008 Posted February 17, 2008 Another psychological thought for you: "There's no such thing as good taste - it's all just coincidence." I love them for their ability to be thought provoking. Good discussion points too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingdingeling Posted February 17, 2008 Posted February 17, 2008 @ clay Fox, I like that one, but sadly I'm not writing an essay about that... that's bring out some nice paradigms to break Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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