Thread by @Femi_Sorry

The reason I always say morality should be based more on logic than on emotion is:

A) People feel more empathy for people they identify with.
That's what lets people prioritise the needs of their race/class/sex/religion at the expense of others and still feel like a good person.

Tory MPs don't think they're bad people when they raise national insurance on people who can't heat their homes.
They just have more empathy with the bankers they grew up with.
So they find it easier to justify working people's suffering to themselves as 'protecting the economy'.

Racists don't think they're bad people.
They just don't feel as much empathy for people who don't look like them as they do for people they identify with.
So when they hear anything that sounds like it may balance things for minorities, all they feel is an attack on white people.

B) If you're acting based on your own emotions, then your objective is making yourself feel better.

Whereas if you're acting based on an logical analysis of what is going to remove the most suffering from others, your objective is improving the emotions of others.

I.e. Emotional intelligence is a logical analysis of the emotions of others.

Therefore emotions should inform your decisions but shouldn't directly guide them. That allows you to be more certain you're doing the right thing as you've minimised your selfish motivations.