Ethical Theories and Moral Cognition

Ethical Theories

• Divine Command Theory: A moral act is one God deems moral. Example: Paying taxes because Jesus said to give to Caesar what is Caesar's.
• Categorical Imperative: A moral act is one that, if universally adopted, would yield positive results. Example: Telling the truth, because if everyone did it, the world would be better.
• Act Utilitarianism: A moral act maximizes good for the greatest number of people. Example: Throwing a lever to save three lives on a runaway train, even if it means one person dies.

Integral Parts of a Moral Act

• Moral judgments are made by considering laws, traditions, religious texts, and rational thought.
• However, feelings like disgust, fondness, or fear also impact decisions.
• Philosophers debate the role of subjective feelings in morality. Some prioritize emotions, while others favor impartial reason.

Moral Cognition

• The field of moral cognition studies moral decision-making using psychology, economics, and neuroscience.
• Studies like the trolley problem, using brain imaging, examine the role of intuition in ethical tradeoffs.
• Moral decisions are susceptible to biases like other types of decisions.

Reason and Feelings

• Ethics involves understanding intuitions about what is right and good through reasoning about feelings.
• Emotions are inseparable from decision-making, even when suppressed.
• Complete objectivity is impossible; observations shape perception.

Elements of Moral Experience

• Feelings and rationality are interconnected and necessary for ethical decision-making.
• Reason helps to scrutinize feelings for biases, inadequacy, or argumentative desires.
• Emotions motivate moral action and ensure reasoning is fair and humane.
• Empathy is a key element in moral development, enabling identification with others and concern.
• Empathy precedes rational abilities, both in individual and evolutionary terms.
• Conscience integrates moral sentiments and principles. Examining values with others, including concerns about social and environmental issues, strengthens ethical decision making.

Moral Communities

• Morality is shaped by participation in different communities, from family to global groups.
• Moral communities evolve; from family, to friendships, to neighborhoods, and to global groups.
• These communities shape our values and the expression of our moral code. The ethical framework we use depends to a large degree on the community that we belong to.

Impartiality

• Impartiality—treating all equally—clashes with partiality, favoring those close.
• Moral implications of impartiality vs partiality:
  • Reject impartiality.
  • Reject partiality.
  • Reframe impartiality.
• Impartial judgments enhance moral considerations and protect individuals from biases.

Seven Steps in Moral Reasoning Model

• Step 1: Define the problem.
• Step 2: Gather the facts.
• Step 3: Identify factors.
• Step 4: Generate options.
• Step 5: Evaluate each option using tests like the harm, publicity, defensibility, reversibility, colleague, professional, and organizational tests.
• Step 6: Choose the best option based on evaluation.
• Step 7: Reflect and determine how to prevent future similar decisions.

Emotions and Reason

• Reason is often contrasted with faith, but some argue faith and reason can coexist.
• Emotions involve reason; e.g. anger based on a belief a wrong has occurred.
• Religious ethics debates the role of emotions in morality, including voluntariness, relationship with action, and definition.

Conscience

• Conscience allows discernment of right and wrong.
• Religious ethicists debate the extent to which conscience is influenced by faith.
• Framing is a cognitive process where the brain creates meaning from a complex situation.

Developing the Will

• Will is central to selfhood, encompassing both spiritual and self-development.
• Will involves active control, receptiveness, and synergy.
• Maintaining focus (attention) relies on energy and replenishment. Skill and intelligence are key to working towards any goal.
• Success requires setting appropriate (achievable), difficulty-sized goals that avoid dependence on others.

Principles in Moral Behavior

• Golden Rule: Doing to others what you want done to you (Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31),
• Critique of Golden Rule: Can lead to justification of aggressive actions based on personal values.
• Negative Golden Rule: Do not do to others what you do not want done to you (Confucius). Emphasizes restraint and avoiding actions that cause harm to others.

Framework for Making Ethical Decisions

• Ethics considers individual actions, organizational responsibilities, and social impact.
• Ethics contrasts with religion, which may not cover all ethical scenarios.
• Law provides a universal guide, but ethics accommodates individual situations.
• Morality often overlaps with ethics, where ethics provides a rational foundation for moral principles and decisions.
• Ethics is divided into meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics.