It just feels wrong

About this video

Sam handed the wallet he found on the bus to the driver. The next day he tells his friend Leo, and Leo says: "You should have kept it. Finders keepers." Sam feels at once that Leo is wrong. But when Leo asks why, all Sam can say at first is: "It just feels wrong." Is that enough?

Feelings are not useless in ethics. A strong feeling that something is wrong works like an alarm: it tells you to stop and look. But an alarm can't tell you why it rang, and alarms sometimes ring for nothing; people have felt that the new child in class was "weird", and that feeling was no guide to what was right. And when two people feel differently, feelings alone leave them stuck: "It feels wrong." "Well, it feels fine to me."

So Sam thinks about it and gives reasons, set out as an argument with the conclusion last. The wallet belongs to someone, and finding a thing doesn't make it yours. Mrs Okafor may need her bus pass to get to work tomorrow. If you lost your wallet, you would want it back. So Sam should hand the wallet in. A view about what is right or wrong in a case is a moral judgement, and a judgement with reasons differs from a feeling: others can share it, check it, and weigh its reasons against others. When Sam asks why finding a thing would make it yours, Leo has no answer. "Finders keepers" was a feeling dressed up as a reason. Giving reasons means you might find yours are weak, and that is the point. This video goes with the Reasons, Not Just Feelings lesson of Ethics Level 1 on Knaph.

Transcript

1. 0:00Leo says finders keepers. Sam says, it just feels wrong.
2. 0:05A feeling is an alarm. It says stop and look. Not why.
3. 0:11It feels wrong. It feels fine to me. Feeling against feeling is stuck.
4. 0:17So Sam sets out his reasons, and the conclusion last.
5. 0:23Reasons can be shared, checked and weighed. Finders keepers has none behind it.
6. 0:29A feeling starts the thinking. Reasons finish it.