Does the Irratrionality of Emotional Recalcitrance have any Moral Significance?

Recalcitrant emotions are the emotions that persist notwithstanding better evaluative judgments reached by agents. There is a renewed scholarly attention on this phenomenon because of the challenges it poses to our understanding of rational and moral agency. Apart from the pathological cases, emotional recalcitrance occurs all too often in ordinary people. Despite the resurgent philosophical contributions in explaining the irrationality and forms of normative principle violated by the subjects of emotional recalcitrance, there is still a paucity of research exploring its moral significance. Thus, in this presentation, I will move the debate forward by highlighting under what conditions this phenomenon is relevant to the moral agency. First, I argue that the irrationality of emotional recalcitrance helps us explain the nature of the connection between moral judgment and moral motivation. Second, it plays an important role when it comes to assigning moral praise or blame to a person’s actions or omissions.