CENT PAPER NUMBER TWO (C):

SELF-ACCEPTANCE AND OTHER-ACCEPTANCE IN RELATION TO COMPETENCE AND MORALITY

Copyright (c) Dr Jim Byrne, March 2010

1. Introduction

In this paper I will explore the concept of unconditional self-acceptance (USA), developed by Dr Albert Ellis (1962[1], 1994[2]).  In order to understand the background to the development of this idea, I will investigate the concept of unconditional positive regard (UPR), developed by Dr Carl Rogers[3].  I will then relate the idea of unconditional self acceptance (USA) to some of the most important concepts of moral philosophy, including the ideas of praise and blame.  I will then relate all of these ideas to the newly emerging field of study of ‘moral emotions', and show that Albert Ellis was (at least theoretically) in the ‘ethical rationalist' tradition created by Jean Piaget (1952, 1954), which holds that moral judgements are driven by linguistic reasoning, rather than by emotional intuitions (as argued by Haidt, 2001[4], 2003[5], 2006[6]).  I say that Ellis was ‘theoretically' an ethical rationalist because, in practice, he is not actually a moralist of any description, being mainly a pragmatic promoter of prudence rather than moral codes and rules.  He expressly forbids all forms of the moral imperatives: should, must, have to, got to, need to, ought.  And he insists that nobody should ever be blamed for anything.

To view the whole paper, please click on the link below the references that follow.

[1] Ellis, A. (1962) Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy.  New York: Lyle Stuart.

[2] Ellis, A. (1994) Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy: revised and updated.  New York: Carol Publishing.

[3] Rogers, C.R. and Stevens, B. (with Eugene T. Gendlin, John M. Shien and Wilson Van Dusen) (1967/1998). Person to person: The problem of being human; a new trend in psychology. Lafayette, CA: Real People Press.

[4] Haidt, J. (2001) The emotional dog and its rational tail: a social intuitionist approach to moral judgement.  Psychological Review, 108(4): 814-834.

[5] Haidt, J. (2003). The moral emotions. In R.J. Davidson, K.R. Scherer, & H.H. Goldsmith (Eds.), Handbook of Affective Sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 852-870.

[6] Haidt, J. (2006) The Happiness Hypothesis: Putting ancient wisdom and philosophy to the test of modern science.  London: William Heinemann.