Do Moral Beliefs Motivate Action?

Do moral beliefs motivate action? To answer this question, extant arguments have considered hypothetical cases of association (dissociation) between agents’ moral beliefs and actions. In this paper, I argue that this approach can be improved by studying people’s actual moral beliefs and actions usin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ethical theory and moral practice 2023-07, Vol.26 (3), p.377-395
Main Author: Díaz, Rodrigo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Action
Beliefs
Book publishing
Comorbidity
Desire
Dissociation
Education
Emotions
Ethics
Morality
Motivation
Ontology
Philosophy
Philosophy of Medicine
Political Philosophy
Research methodology
Theory of Medicine/Bioethics
Violence
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Summary:Do moral beliefs motivate action? To answer this question, extant arguments have considered hypothetical cases of association (dissociation) between agents’ moral beliefs and actions. In this paper, I argue that this approach can be improved by studying people’s actual moral beliefs and actions using empirical research methods. I present three new studies showing that, when the stakes are high, associations between participants’ moral beliefs and actions are actually explained by co-occurring but independent moral emotions. These findings suggest that moral beliefs themselves have little or no motivational force, supporting the Humean picture of moral motivation.
ISSN:1386-2820
1572-8447
DOI:10.1007/s10677-023-10389-x