Q&A 9, First Answer

My question is: Can thoughts or emotions be immoral?

I do not think they can.  Isolated from actions, which they may or may not lead to, thoughts and emotions harm no one but (in some cases) the person who is thinking or feeling them.  As such, they are not immoral, because they do not negatively affect others.  The actions resulting from those thoughts or emotions may be immoral, but that does not make the sources immoral.  Furthermore, to suggest that thoughts and emotions, even disconnected from actions, can be immoral renders a completely moral life basically impossible, because thoughts and emotions are sometimes impossible to control.  Even if one makes allowance for this, by invoking the 'ought-implies-can' concept, it still mandates that people attempt to repress natural thoughts and emotions in order to comply with morality - something which is almost universally severely damaging, and which can lead to people becoming unbalanced and therefore acting in immoral ways.  Lastly, in most cases, legal systems attempt to enforce morality by means of banning or regulation.  It is impossible to regulate the thoughts and emotions of others (and even if it were possible, I think it would be radically immoral).  This is yet another aspect which sets thoughts and emotions apart from actions in terms of moral value.