That sounds about right. The person in the second case is less morally ugly than the first. This is spot on:
the important part is the internalized motivation vs reasoning out what to do from ethical principles.
What do you mean by this though?:
(although I notice my intuition has a hard time believing the premise in the 2nd case)
You find it hard to believe someone could internalize the trait of compassion through “loving kindness meditation”? (This last I assume is a placeholder term for whatever works for making oneself more virtuous). Also, any reason you swapped the friend for a stranger? That changes the situation somewhat – in degree at least, but maybe in kind too.
I would note, according to (my simplified) VE, it’s the compassion that makes the action of visiting the stranger/friend morally right. How the compassion was got is another question, to be evaluated on different merits.
I’m not sure I understand your confusion, but if you want examples of when it is right to be motivated by careful principled ethical reasoning or rule-worship, here are some examples:
for a judge, acting in their capacity as judge, it is often appropriate that they be motivated by a love of consistently respecting rules and principles
for policymakers, acting in their capacity as policymakers (far-removed from “the action”), it is often appropriate for them to devise and implement their policies motivated by impersonal calculations of general welfare
These are just some but I’m sure there are countless others. The broader point though: engaging in this kind of principled ethical reasoning/rule-worship very often, making it a reflex, will likely result in you engaging in it when you shouldn’t. When you do so involuntarily, despite you preferring that you wouldn’t: that’s internal moral disharmony. (Therefore, ethicists of all stripe probably tend to suffer internal moral disharmony more than the average person!)
Also, any reason you swapped the friend for a stranger? That changes the situation somewhat – in degree at least, but maybe in kind too.
Yes, the other examples seemed to be about caring about people you are close to more than strangers, but I wanted to focus on the ethical reasoning vs internal motivation part.
examples of when it is right to be motivated by careful principled ethical reasoning or rule-worship
That sounds about right. The person in the second case is less morally ugly than the first. This is spot on:
What do you mean by this though?:
You find it hard to believe someone could internalize the trait of compassion through “loving kindness meditation”? (This last I assume is a placeholder term for whatever works for making oneself more virtuous). Also, any reason you swapped the friend for a stranger? That changes the situation somewhat – in degree at least, but maybe in kind too.
I would note, according to (my simplified) VE, it’s the compassion that makes the action of visiting the stranger/friend morally right. How the compassion was got is another question, to be evaluated on different merits.
I’m not sure I understand your confusion, but if you want examples of when it is right to be motivated by careful principled ethical reasoning or rule-worship, here are some examples:
for a judge, acting in their capacity as judge, it is often appropriate that they be motivated by a love of consistently respecting rules and principles
for policymakers, acting in their capacity as policymakers (far-removed from “the action”), it is often appropriate for them to devise and implement their policies motivated by impersonal calculations of general welfare
These are just some but I’m sure there are countless others. The broader point though: engaging in this kind of principled ethical reasoning/rule-worship very often, making it a reflex, will likely result in you engaging in it when you shouldn’t. When you do so involuntarily, despite you preferring that you wouldn’t: that’s internal moral disharmony. (Therefore, ethicists of all stripe probably tend to suffer internal moral disharmony more than the average person!)
Yes, the other examples seemed to be about caring about people you are close to more than strangers, but I wanted to focus on the ethical reasoning vs internal motivation part.
Thanks, that’s helpful.