the perspectives of martha c. nussbaum and thomas aquinas

336 Pages·2015·3.97 MB·English

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
FACULTY OF THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES

T R E E : T
HE OLE OF MOTIONS IN THICS HE
P M C. N
ERSPECTIVES OF ARTHA USSBAUM AND
T A
HOMAS QUINAS

A dissertation presented in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the
Doctor’s Degree in Theology

Supervisor by

Prof. Dr. Yves DE MAESENEER Vaiva ADOMAITYTE

2015

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Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies

KU Leuven KATHOLIEKE
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This form must be completed, signed, and dated. It is mandatory to insert a signed original in each
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Name and first name: Adomaityte Vaiva

Title of the dissertation: The Role of Emotions in Ethics: The Perspectives of Martha C. Nussbaum
and Thomas Aquinas

Signature Date of submission
14 12 2015

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”
– Meister Eckhart

This work is a fruit of a process of four years – a process along which I collected many
debts. Thus I would like to express my gratitude to those who were my companions along
this journey.
First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Dr. Yves De Maeseneer – his
feedback, corrections and advice helped me to systematize and sharpen my own thought in
so many ways. In addition, the generous amount of time Prof. De Maeseneer devoted to
my work should not be taken for granted – I am truly grateful for his guidance.
I would also like to thank my family back in Lithuania, especially, my father and
mother – Aidas Adomaitis and Diana Adomaitiene. Their encouragement and their
confidence that I would be able to face all the challenges that awaited me were a huge
source of inspiration for me.
Finally, I would like to thank my family also here, in Belgium. I would like to
express my gratitude to Luc Uten, Chris Devos and Syd Uten for their support. I would
like to thank Luc and Chris for their encouragement and all the little signs of attention that
became significant pushes in achieving this goal. The most special ‘thank you’ belongs to
my partner Syd who was my closest companion in this journey and supported me in
countless ways. I would like to thank him for his love, faith and patience – for huge and
small signs of it that I felt every single day of this process. I am grateful for the gentle care
and help I received. But mostly, I am thankful to Syd for changing my own perspective in
viewing human vulnerability and being an example of a tender and compassionate heart.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL LIST XIII

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER I. MARTHA C. NUSSBAUM’S CHALLENGE TO THEOLOGICAL 5
ETHICS: THERE IS NO ADEQUATE THEORY OF ETHICS WITHOUT AN
ADEQUATE THEORY OF THE EMOTIONS

1. INTRODUCTION TO MARTHA C. NUSSBAUM’S ETHICAL PROJECT 5
1.1 THE GOAL OF ETHICS 5
1.2 NUSSBAUM’S UNIVERSALISM 7
1.3 NUSSBAUM’S FEMINISM 9
1.4 NUSSBAUM’S FOCUS ON THE MORAL AGENT AND THE SENSE OF LIFE 10
1.5 NUSSBAUM’S JUDAISM 12
1.6 CONCLUDING REMARKS 20

2. NUSSBAUM’S THEORY OF EMOTIONS 21
2.1 THE STOIC ROOTS 22
2.2 THE NEO-STOIC THEORY OF EMOTIONS 26
2.2.1 Emotions Are Cognitive Judgments 26
2.2.2 Emotions Are Eudaimonistic 28
2.2.3 Emotions Are Eudaimonistic Value Judgments 29
2.2.4 The Intentionality of Emotions 30
2.2.5 The Non-Cognitive Elements of Emotions 31
2.2.6 Feeling and Kinetic Properties of the Emotion 33
2.2.7 Emotions as Upheavals of Thought 34
2.2.8 Emotions and Imagination 35
2.2.9 Types of Emotions: Background and Situational, General and Concrete 36
2.2.10 Emotional Conflict 38
2.3 ON ORIGINS OF THE EMOTIONS: BETWEEN NATURE AND NURTURE 39
2.3.1 The Logic of the Emotions: Human-Animal Differences 40
2.3.2 The Ways Temporal Thinking Affects Our Emotions 41
2.3.3 Language and Its Influence on Human Emotions 42
2.3.4 Social Norms and Human Emotions 43
2.4 ROOTS OF EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE IN INFANCY 45
2.4.1 Emotional Development of the Human Infant 46
2.4.2 Love, Anger, and Primitive Shame 48
2.4.3 The Body and Disgust 50
2.4.4 The Ambivalence Crisis and the Rise of Morality 53
2.4.5 Facilitating Environment and ‘Mature Interdependence:’ 56
From Families to Political Institutions
2.4.6 Concluding Remarks 58

3. THINKING OF NUSSBAUM’S ACCOUNT OF EMOTIONS: 59
SOME CRITICAL REFLECTIONS
3.1 A DISTINCTION BETWEEN BASIC AND COMPLEX EMOTIONS 61
3.2 EMOTIONS, THE BODY, AND THE BRAIN 69
3.3 EMOTIONS AND FEELINGS 74
3.4 CONCLUDING REMARKS 81

CHAPTER II. MARTHA C. NUSSBAUM ON COMPASSION 83

1. INTRODUCTION 83
1.1 A BRIEF NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY 83
1.2 DEFINITION OF COMPASSION AND ITS PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 84

2. COMPASSION AND ITS COGNITIVE CONTENT 85
2.1 ALTERING THE JUDGMENT OF SIMILARITY: EUDAIMONISTIC JUDGMENT 87
2.2 COMPASSION AND REASON 88
2.3 DOES COMPASSION CONTAIN FALSE THOUGHTS? CLASSIC STOIC OBJECTIONS 89
2.3.1 The Radical Defense of Human Dignity 89
2.3.2 Mercy Rather than Compassion 92
2.3.3 The Value of External Goods 93
2.3.4 The Limits of Compassion: The Problem of Bias 95

3. SITUATING COMPASSION IN THE PICTURE OF HUMAN MORAL PSYCHOLOGY 97
3.1 RADICAL EVIL 98
3.2 RADICAL EVIL: WHAT LIES BEHIND IT? 101
3.2.1 Animal Heritage: Problems for Morality 102
3.2.2 Animal Heritage: Positive Contributions to Morality 104
3.2.3 Concluding Remarks 105
4. EDUCATION OF COMPASSION 105
4.1 EDUCATION OF THE JUDGMENT OF SERIOUSNESS: 106
WHAT THINGS WE SHOULD REALLY VALUE?
4.1.1 The Central Human Capabilities 107
4.1.1.1 What Are the Capabilities? 108
4.1.1.2 Functioning and Capability 109
4.1.1.3 Capabilities Approach and the Relevance of Emotions 110
4.1.1.4 The Case of Anger 113
4.1.1.5 Concluding Remarks 116
4.2 EDUCATION OF THE JUDGMENT OF NONDESERT 118
4.2.1 Education of the Judgment of Nondesert: Compassionate Judges 119
4.3 EDUCATION OF THE EUDAIMONISTIC JUDGMENT 121
4.3.1 Humanities at the Aid of the Eudaimonistic Judgment: 122
Tragedy and Comedy as Didactical Tools
4.3.2 Tragedy 123
4.3.2.1 Tragedy and Education of the Eudaimonistic Judgment 123
4.3.2.2 Tragedy and Education of the Judgment of Seriousness 124
4.3.2.3 Tragedy and Value Conflict 125
4.3.3 Comedy 126
4.3.4 Concluding Remarks 128
4.3.5 Education of Compassion: 129
Realist Novel, the Role of Media, and Political Leaders
4.4 THE SPIRIT OF LOVE 130
4.4.1 Ethics, Compassion, and Play 132
4.4.2 Concluding Remarks 134

5. NUSSBAUM ON COMPASSION: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT 134
5.1 CATES’ THEOLOGICAL CRITIQUE OF NUSSBAUM’S CONCEPTION OF COMPASSION 136
5.1.1 How Do We Know That We Experience Compassion? 136
5.1.2 The Elements of Pain and Helping Behavior in Compassion 136
5.1.3 Do We Feel Compassion Only for Those Who Experience 138
an Undeserved Predicament?
5.1.4 Compassion and Religion 139
5.2 CATES’ CONCEPTION OF COMPASSION: IS COMPASSION EMOTION OR VIRTUE? 140
5.2.1 Defining Key Terms 141
5.2.1.1 Virtue 141
5.2.1.2 Infused Virtue 142
5.2.1.3 Friendship 143
5.2.2 Defining Compassion 144
5.2.2.1 Compassion’s Complacency: Pain 145
5.2.2.2 Compassion’s Desire 146
5.2.2.3 Compassion’s Belief and Perception 148
5.2.3 Compassion’s Act or Intention to Act: 149
Compassion as Virtue - Choosing to Feel Compassion in the Right Way
5.2.3.1 Exercising the Virtue of Compassion as a Christian 150
5.2.3.2 Christian Faith and Charity Altering Compassion’s Complacency 152
5.2.3.3 Christian Faith and Charity Altering Compassion’s Desire 152
5.2.3.4 Christian Faith and Charity Altering Compassion’s Belief and Perception 153
5.2.3.5 Christian Faith and Charity Altering Compassion’s Choice to Act 154
5.2.4 Concluding Remarks 156
5.3 JUDAISM IN NUSSBAUM’S ETHICS 157
5.3.1 External Transcendence Claims in Theological Ethics 158
5.3.2 Carnality, Aristotle, and Perception 159
5.3.3 Nussbaum’s Carnal Ethics Challenge for Christian Otherworldliness 161
5.3.4 Is There a Place for Theology in Nussbaum’s Ethics? 163
5.3.5 Concluding Remarks 165
5.4 IS COMPASSION THE ONLY POLITICAL EMOTION WE OWE TO OTHERS? 166
5.4.1 Looking at the Suffering Other: 167
Do We Owe Him/Her Something More Than Only Compassion?
5.4.2 Being a Victim of Political Injustice: 168
Is Compassion an Appropriate Response When We Suffer Injustice?
5.4.3 Balancing Between Compassion and Anger 169

CHAPTER III. AQUINAS ON THE PASSIONS 171

1. INTRODUCTION 171
1.1 SITUATING THE THOUGHT OF THOMAS AQUINAS 173
1.1.1 A Short Note on Epistemology 175
1.2 ETHICS AS AN INQUIRY TO HAPPINESS 176
1.2.1 Earthly Happiness 178
1.2.2 Components of Ethics of Happiness: Natural Law and Virtue 180
1.2.2.1 Natural Law 180
1.2.2.2 Virtue 183
1.3 THE APPETITE IN GENERAL 184
1.3.1 The Good 186