An Inquiry Concerning Francis Hutcheson’s Concept Of "Moral Sense"

"Emotion" is the key word of English moral emotionalism philosophy in the 18 th century.The English philosophers of moral emotionalism in the 18 th century connecte d morality with the emotions in the heart and tried to lay the emotional foundation fo r moral philosophy.In order to establish the validity of this moral philosophy,Francis Hutcheson built his philosophical system of moral emotionalism based on "moral sense".Under the influence of Locke’s sense theory,Francis Hutcheson inherited Shaftesb ury’s concept of "moral sense" and formed his own thought of moral emotionalism int he process of developing Shaftesbury’s moral philosophy system.Francis Hutcheson ins ists thatthe base of morality is emotion,which,more specifically,means universal cal m disinterested benevolence,which is also regarded as the base of "moral sense." It i s the cornerstone of the "moral sense" moral judgment of all emotions.The prototype of the concept of "moral sense" is "sense of beauty".Francis Hutc heson explores the root of beauty and finds it in the unity of diversity in things,andt his unity of diversity is the proof of the intentions of Love."Moral sense" is also the creation of the God of love,in the search for the greatest beauty,"moral sense" provi des a new way to this.Noble moral behavior is the external expression of beauty,am ong which the moral beauty is the greatest beauty we pursue,bring us the highest ha ppiness.The concept of "moral sense" has a twofold basis.One is kindness.The second i s the natural mechanism of emotion.Francis Hutcheson discovered that human nature is all about benevolence,and that the actions that come out of it are the moral good we recognize.And benevolence contains the natural mechanism of emotion,which ma kes our emotion appear as an order.We are also guided by love in the pursuit of virt ue,the pursuit of self-improvement,as a code of conduct in our social interactions.The concept of "moral sense" has two important functions: moral judgment and moral education."Moral sense" takes benevolence toward the public good as the princ iple of moral judgment,based on which it approves or condemns the actions of others or oneself.However,in the process of moral evaluation,our emotions often deviate fr om the influence of various opinions.Therefore,rational help is needed to correct our emotions and have correct moral emotions.Francis Hutcheson’s "moral sense" also had a profound influence on Hume and S mith.While Hume criticized and absorbed "moral sense",he took sympathy as the bas is of morality and social utility as the principle of moral approval,while Smith contin ued to use the concept of sympathy and built the principle of moral judgment on thee motional mechanism in the form of sympathy.On the whole,through the development of Hume and Smith,the concept of "moral sense" shows a theoretical process which can be called "naturalization" in its gradual development.