Moral Decisions versus Rational Decisons

 What do you think, are moral decisions merely rational decisions, as Wollstonecraft thought, or do they have sensual or emotional aspects too? 

All in all, reading this chapter was very interesting to me. Especially hearing Mary Wollstonecraft's thoughts as a female philosopher in the eighteenth century. I'm not too aware of the fundamental differences in education several hundred years ago between men and women, but some of the insights she makes are magnificent. She argues, "the best education, for man or woman, should have the aim of cooperating... with the supreme Being. It must strengthen the body and form the heart. Virtuous beings are virtuous because of their capacity for reason." Never would I have thought about education in this light; to "cooperate with the supreme Being." Wollstonecraft believed that the way women have been educated draws them out of this rational realm as oppose to men by "false refinement". These writers on women's education have contributed to this false refinement making women weak and less rational. 

When referring to the question on moral and rational decisions, I believe Wollstonecraft to be spot on. When sensual and emotional aspects are brought into decision making there is no way for the decision to be rational. Humans are a very reactive species and most of the time we hear what we only want to hear. Our emotions completely dominate the choices we make. In order for a decision to become rational, we must disregard our emotions and truly think about the decision at hand as opposed to just reacting. So, if a moral decision is just a rational decision, these moral decisions cannot be made out of an emotional response. As said in the text by Dea, "Wollstonecraft saw our senses and emotions as tugging us away from rationality and hence from virtue." We will never be able to work towards rationality with our emotions. 

Although I agree with Wollstonecraft's thoughts on rational decisions, I cannot help but be confused with the way she describes education. After all, she is an eighteenth century philosopher; a period I do not know too much about, so I wouldn't expect to know too much about education. Dea states, "she regarded the education of girls as especially problematic since it was intentionally geared toward cultivating girls' senses and emotions, unlike boys' education, which sought to cultivate their rationality." I would love to learn more about this time period and the education being brought upon kids with the differences between boys and girls. I would like to think that times have changed since these days.