EMOTIVISM AND RELIGIOUS ETHICS: EMOTIONS AND MORAL NORMS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20107728Keywords:
Emotivism, Moral Emotions, Religious Ethics, Normative Morality, Bioethics, Social Justice, Interfaith DialogueAbstract
Emotivism and Religious Ethics: Emotions and Moral Norms.
This article investigates the relationship between emotivism and religious ethics, emphasizing the role of emotions in moral judgment. Emotivism, as a noncognitivist and expressivist theory, interprets moral statements as expressions of personal attitudes and persuasive tools rather than objective truths. Religious ethical traditions, including Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, integrate emotions within normative frameworks grounded in transcendent principles, fostering both individual and communal moral development. The study analyzes points of convergence, such as the motivational power of affect, alongside key divergences, including the basis of normative authority, universality, and the role of reason. Practical implications are explored in bioethics, social justice movements, and interfaith dialogue, highlighting how affective engagement and principled guidance can complement each other. By proposing a synthetic framework, the paper demonstrates that combining emotive and normative dimensions enhances moral understanding and provides a robust approach to contemporary ethical challenges.
References
• AQUINAS, Thomas. Summa Theologiae. Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. New York: Benziger, 1947.
• AUGUSTINE. Confessions. Translated by Henry Chadwick. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.
• AUGUSTINE. De Doctrina Christiana. Translated by John Hammond Taylor. New Advent. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/12022.htm
• AYER, A.J. Language, Truth and Logic. London: Gollancz, 1936.
• BEAUCHAMP, T.L., and J.F. Childress. Principles of Biomedical Ethics. 7th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
• BENTHAM, Jeremy. An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.
• BLOOM, Paul. Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion. New York: Ecco, 2016.
• HAIDT, Jonathan. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. NEW YORK: PANTHEON, 2012.
• HARE, R.M. The Language of Morals. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952.
• HARVEY, Peter. An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
• HAUERWAS, Stanley. The Peaceable Kingdom. Notre Dame: Notre Dame Press, 1983.
• HICK, John. An Interpretation of Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.
• KEOWN, Damien. Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
• KIERKEGAARD, Søren. Fear and Trembling. Translated by Alastair Hannay. London: Penguin, 1985.
• MACKIE, J.L. Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong. London: Penguin Books, 1977.
• MOORE, G.E. Principia Ethica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1903.
• NASR, Seyyed Hossein. Islamic Life and Thought. London: Routledge, 2002.
• NUSSBAUM, Martha C. Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
• PLANTINGA, Alvin. Warranted Christian Belief. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
• RAHMAN, Fazlur. Islam and Modernity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.
• SEN, Amartya. The Idea of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.
• SINNOTT-ARMSTRONG, Walter. Moral Skepticisms. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
• STEVENSON, Charles L. Ethics and Language. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1944.
• WAINWRIGHT, W.J. Religion and Morality. London: Routledge, 2008.