Immanuel Kant Moral Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Immanuel Kant Moral Theory - Essay Example Emotions and desires should not hinder one from doing what is morally right. Such a stand raises several questions that Kant failed to state clearly. By emphasizing the superiority of reason, Kant seems to underrate the influence of emotions in decision making (Haidt 93). In some instances, it is difficult to separate emotions from reasoning. To understand this, other critics use an example of a situation where Kant's ambiguous claim is shown. The example goes that if one was to find their mother and another complete stranger drowning, Kant's moral duty theory fails to explain why one would choose to save their mother first. The theory is also not in a position to provide insight as to why that would not be the proper thing to do. Kant’s claim leads to another question. Which between emotion and reason is superior? Plato was of the opinion that the reason was the greater of the two, claiming that the reason was the king of the soul and the controller of passions (Haidt 189). O ther philosophers and psychologists however differ with Plato. David Hume claimed that the reason was the slave of passions whose sole role was to serve continually and obey them (Hume 173-196). Reasoning was just rationalization whereas the ego was the servant of the id. More researchers took to investigate the matter with differing results and findings. According to (Kagan 304), there existed a set of states in a society that formed the basis for various moral categories in which moral judgment and reasoning is embedded.