A Defense of David Humes Moral Sense Theory Essay

In this paper I will defend David Hume’s Moral Sense Theory, which states that like sight and hearing, morals are a perceptive sense derived from our emotional responses. Since morals are derived from our emotional responses rather than reason, morals are not objective. Moreover, the emotional basis of morality is empirically proven in recent studies in psychology, areas in the brain associated with emotion are the most active while making a moral judgment. My argument will be in two parts, first that morals are response-dependent, meaning that while reason is still a contributing factor to our moral judgments, they are produced primarily by our emotional responses, and finally that each individual has a moral sense. Morals are not†¦show more content†¦Furthermore, it is proven that morals have an emotional basis, as recent studies in neuroscience and psychology have shown. In Moral Obligations, Jesse J. Prinz draws on some of these studies, in which researchers w ould measure brain activity while asking subjects to participate in various activities such as deliberating on moral predicaments, deciding whether something is morally right or wrong, showing them morally significant pictures, etc (Greene et al. 2001; King et al. 2006; Moll et al. 2002). Most studies tend to demonstrate that areas in the brain associated with emotion are the most involved in making a moral judgment concluding that emotions are a fundamental part of moral judgment in general (Prinz 2007, 272). It has also been shown that we are less likely to make wrong moral judgments when our negative emotions are reduced. In one study, â€Å"watching a comedy routine dramatically reduces the judgment that it is wrong to kill one person in order to save five† (DeSteno and Valdesolo 2006). Because there is such a clear connection between moral judgments and the emotional state we make them in, it follows that studying cognitive science is the answer to questions about wh ether morals are response-dependent or are response-independent. So, it is now clear that morals are not derived from reason, but rather from what Hume calls impressions, the fundamental, primitive units of sense-experience that include both theShow MoreRelated Humes Wide Construal of the Virtues Essay3865 Words   |  16 PagesHumes Wide Construal of the Virtues ABSTRACT: The term virtue has traditionally been used to designate morally good character traits such as benevolence, charity, honesty, wisdom, and honor. Although ethicists do not commonly offer a definitive list of virtues, the number of virtues discussed is often short and their moral significance is clear. 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