Kantian Sentimentalism: How Justice and Care Can Strengthen the Moral Framework

In the contemporary field of moral philosophy, care ethics can be emphasized as a more recent development—with its roots in feminist philosophy—that highlights the act of caring and human interdependence as fundamental to moral decision-making. Care ethics can be interpreted as revolutionary for the on-going moral discourse, as it underscores the necessity for emotions when partaking in rational, moral decision-making, which is in large contrast to more mainstream theories on the topic that emphasize emotional impassivity [i.e., Immanuel Kant]. With this theory in mind, care ethicists such as Nel Noddings will advocate that a caring attitude and the act of caring itself are sufficient for grounding an ethics of care. I argue against this sentiment as I believe it to be lacking a proper moral framework which loosely guides one on how to act on caring.In my nuanced version of care ethics, I will address these issues by cultivating what I term a spectrum of morality. This spectrum will be utilized as a loose guide to assess whether moral situations require more ideals/aspects of justice or care or a combination of the two, as the catalyst for moral decision-making and action. In developing this spectrum, I will focus on what constitutes certain moral situations to require more aspects of justice versus care, specifically by reference to early modern ideals of moral sentimentalism and deontology, spearheaded by philosophers such as David Hume and Immanuel Kant. Thus, when appealing to what will become the extremes of the spectrum, I foster the need for—what I term—Kantian Sentimentalism. The latter is a composite of Humean conceptions of sympathy (which I will henceforth refer to as empathy) founded on moral sentimentalist ideals and Kantian conceptions of inclination and duty founded on his ethics of virtue. Throughout this thesis, I will argue for a spectrum of morality where Kantian Sentimentalism is foundational to our understanding of justice and care as inseparable when partaking in moral decision-making or actions.