Are reason and emotion equally necessary in justifying moral decisions Essay - 1

Are reason and emotion equally necessary in justifying moral decisions - Essay Example Sometimes, a person is not even aware that a decision has been made as he goes through his day. However, when it comes to moral decisions that entail more intensive consideration of all factors involved, a person may be stunned enough to scratch, or even dig beyond the shallow surface and summon reason and emotion to help him come up with the right decision. History has produced deep thinking men who debated on the competing roles of reason and emotion in moral judgment. A man named Kohlberg (1984) even came up with a theory of moral development based on a hypothetical moral situation calling on children’s decision-making skills, and his theories attracted much attention from moral philosophers. His proposed dilemma was about a husband named Heinz who needed to decide whether to steal an overpriced drug to save his dying wife. It was theorized that young children conceptualize morality in terms of obedience to adults’ rules and regulations. They know that it makes them good children. This is so because they think in concrete, physical, egocentric ways and their social worlds are dominated by adults. On the other hand, older children think of morality in terms of cooperation with peers because they are cognitively able to comprehend the views of others and already understand concepts such as reciprocity and cooperation beca use their social worlds consist mainly of interactions with peers. Kohlberg based his work on this theory of cognitive development and emphasized reasoning as the key to moral development. He did not pursue any direction towards the role of emotion in the moral decision-making process. Basing on a vast amount of evidence gathered from structured interviews, Kohlberg’s rationalist model views moral judgments as primarily caused by complex reasoning. In considering dilemmas, defined as â€Å"scenarios constructed to highlight a