this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2024
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Conversely I've seen some very seemingly very logical people unaware that some deeper emotions are motivating their logic - people who can make what seem like very logical arguments, yet the conclusions of which immediately fail the "sniff test," of any reasonably empathetic individual.
I think that whole rationality is a necessary component of ethics, it alone won't ensure good ethical standards - someone who genuinely doesn't care how others or society at large feel well see it as rational to betray them when they can get away with it.
I would say generally there good reason for us to have various senses and that some people are better at one than the other, and an extreme weakness emotionally or rationally will impact one's ability to be a moral person.
The issue with logic is that it is a great tool for analysis … but fails utterly at telling you what to analyze. The issue is the inevitable core of all logical argumentation: your warrants (sorta a.k.a. axioms).
No logical system can exist without axioms. And axioms by their nature cannot be logically proved. Axioms are where the failures of logic, even in otherwise rational and analytical people, slip in, often unseen until it's too late.
By way of analogy, the field of human knowledge is a large meadow. Somewhere in that meadow is a large chest of buried treasure you have to find. Most tools of analysis are like digging into the meadow with your bare hands in search of the treasure. Logic is a backhoe. NOTHING will dig through the ground faster and better than logic to get you to the tasty, tasty treasure.
But it does you no good if you dig in the wrong place.