Can emotions be directly moral? Reflections on the recent book by Anthony Steinbock

Abstract

The chapter focuses on the claim raised by Anthony Steinbock in his recent book Moral Emotions, according to which some emotions are directly moral. First, I specify what Steinbock understands by "emotion" and in what sense he takes the term moral.

Second, I show on the example of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics and on Ricoeur's Philosophy of Will why important philosophical doctrines do not embrace the idea that at least some emotions are directly moral. Finally, I suggest a way to distinguish two meanings of Steinbock's claim.

Keywords

• Phenomenology
• Emotions
• Moods
• Moral Theory
• Ethics
• Edmund Husserl
• Max Scheler
• Aristotle
• Paul Ricoeur