[GonzoII]

"Basically, see an ultrasound changes an abortion from a utilitarian decision about the fate of an anonymous stranger into an emotional decisions about the life of a person you've seen and know about."

I think It should be added that regardless of the emotional aspect of the decision making progress, ultimately a decision is made be the "will" although it is influenced by the emotions. I think the ultrasound pics enable one make a "reasonable" choice.

Regards

Gonzo

[Question_Assumptions]

If you read the article I provided a link to, it shows that the "emotional aspect" is critical to making sound and humane moral decisions. In fact, what seems to differentiate psychopaths from normal people is that they lack the emotional component of moral decision, thus a psychopath decides whether to kill another person or not the same way a normal person might decide whether to have french fries or mashed potatoes with their dinner.

I know it's popular for conservatives to praise rational thought over emotion but without empathy and a visceral emotional sense that causes certain thoughts to disgust a person, you wind up with utilitarianism and psychopathic behavior. Put another way, once you start thinking about other people like chess pieces, it becomes very easy to sacrifice them for some other objective, just like chess pieces.

Here is another we page to consider. It's point is that psychopaths demonstrate that being intelligent and rational does not inherently lead one to behaving morally, thus disproving the argument of moral rationalism that moral rules and behavior can be derived from rational thought alone.