A Study Of The Moral Feeling In Hutcheson's Theory

The answer to the question“What is the source of morality" has formed the different positions of the modem ethics school in the West.For a long time,rationalism,which takes rationality as its moral source,has occupied the dominant position,unilaterally respects the rational dimension,and ignores the emotional dimension.However,the construction of contemporary morality requires not only the rational consciousness of the subject,but also a deep understanding of the subject's emotions.Hutcheson,as a representative figure of modem sentimentalism,has a negligible enlightening effect on the maintenance of contemporary moral order.Therefore,it is of great theoretical and practical significance to systematically study its relevant theories.This article systematically analyzes Hutcheson's moral emotion theory through text analysis of Hutcheson's works.Hutcheson believes that the goal of moral philosophy is to explore the greatest happiness of mankind.The exploration of this goal must be based on the human nature.In Hutcheson's view,the mind has two abilities:understanding and will.The former includes sensation and understanding and can understand things.The latter refers to desires and emotions,pointing to human happiness.Among them,the sensation comes from people's "five senses".As a kind of bittersweet sensation,it provides people with the initial understanding of good and evil,and moral sense officials can perceive moral goodness and evilness,and thus are the basis of moral distinction.In further exploring the motives of ethical behavior,Hutcheson attributed the roots of morality to emotions,but in his view,not all emotions produce ethical behavior.Only benevolence is the true moral feeling,and it is ethical.In addition,Hutcheson believes that the universal validity of moral emotions must be guaranteed by controlling desires.People must unravel the erroneous union of ideas through constant reflection so that benevolence returns to its natural state,places love at the highest level of emotion,and controls other personal emotions through love,thereby building a reasonable emotional order.Hutcheson's moral sentiment ideology integrates the dimension of emotion into the moral field and finds the foundation of human nature for morality,but on the other hand,it also has its own inevitable limitations.Although Hutcheson is biased to regard emotion as the sole source of morality,his emphasis and research on emotion in his ethical thought is of great significance for the construction of our contemporary ethics.