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Demarcating moral responsibility in relation to emotions

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RupeeRoundhouse

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Thought experiment:

Someone offers you $5 for every second you keep your hand on a stove. You agree and the stove gradually heats up. At what point do you decide to remove your hand?

Real-world example:

You want to socialize with a group of industry peers for networking purposes. The intensity of social anxiety is initially dim enough to tolerate but it gradually ramps up. At some point, the intensity is overwhelming and you withdraw from the group.

Implications:

(A) Can responsibility be absolved if emotions are too intense?

(B) Are we dealing with borderline cases and/or is there a principle I'm overlooking or am not aware of?

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Rupee, it seems to me:

Any more particular goal such as making more money or producing art or architecture or keeping transcontinental passenger rail service afloat will be enmeshed in more general purposive structure standing in the background, which would be moral values attained by moral virtues: a self-composed human life and happiness chronically attending such life-making is kept going by adherence to the many ramifications of the virtue of rationality and by particular lines of action, such as a career in architecture together with making a family. Changing the amount of time (including changing to zero) dedicated to one's various particular lines of actions can be and would be sensibly gauged off one's comparative emotional stresses and rewards. But that guage does not generalize to moral virtues and responsibilities. It is strenuous to be rational, but if it is emotionally painful to be rational, that would seem to be a signal to get to work on some self-recomposing.

Edited by Boydstun
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One of the preconditions for moral responsibility (not to be confused with “metaphysical/causal responsibility”) is volition. Perhaps then, one is not morally responsible insofar that volition is compromised. Take for examples, people with mental conditions that cause hallucinations (e.g., schizophrenia) or nervous systems that produce incommensurate emotions (e.g., bipolar disorder). And don’t the U.S. courts “pardon” defendants for insanity?

Applied to my original post: Qualitatively, the demarcation of moral responsibility is whether volition is involved. Quantitatively, what intensity of emotions compromise volition? It sounds like we are dealing with borderline cases.

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1 hour ago, Boydstun said:

It is strenuous to be rational, but if it is emotionally painful to be rational, that would seem to be a signal to get to work on some self-recomposing.

Under normal circumstances, yes: One's goals ought to be attainable.

But insofar that volition is compromised—as described in my reply above—perhaps moral responsibility is absolved.

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I am reminded of a thread a while back in which someone on this forum admitted his emotions were telling him to murder his wife, and he was having a hard time getting it clear in his mind that this would be wrong.  Fortunately he had enough awareness that something was wrong there to come here for help.  (I don't think you'll be able to find this thread because it was hidden in the archives to make sure school bullies or other bad actors couldn't use it to identify his son.)

 

Edited by dream_weaver
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On 2/27/2023 at 9:29 AM, RupeeRoundhouse said:

Quantitatively, what intensity of emotions compromise volition? It sounds like we are dealing with borderline cases.

None, emotions themselves are not volitional.

It's hard to answer your question because you aren't giving an example. In general, you are responsible for your emotions to the extent that you get yourself into situations where you feel particularly emotions, or to the extent that your rational judgments can lead to feeling different emotions (feeling fear is quite different than feeling sadness). 

Your thought experiment example is a matter of reflex, not really in emotion. Pain is not an emotion. 

If you feel social anxiety in a situation like your real life situation that you gave, it would be your own fault for putting yourself into the situation, and it is your own fault if you lack the skills to deal with social anxiety. 

You can say that your volition was compromised in some situations, similar to how people with addiction really do have their volition compromised. But sometimes it's your own fault for getting into that situation. 

On 2/27/2023 at 9:29 AM, RupeeRoundhouse said:

Take for examples, people with mental conditions that cause hallucinations (e.g., schizophrenia) or nervous systems that produce incommensurate emotions (e.g., bipolar disorder).

There are almost always precautions that you can take. I mean, in some way someone with bipolar experiencing a manic episode spending their entire year's salary is not responsible. This is not what they do when they are in a stable state of mind. Perhaps if it is their first episode, they can be absolved to an extent. They didn't know they were bipolar, and bipolar is not something brought on by one's own actions. But there are precautions they can take in the future to prevent that from happening. Anything ranging from minimizing the symptoms of manic episodes with medication, or using hard spending limits for your credit card. 

 

Edited by Eiuol
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