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    Teachers Notes Unit 2 (21-22)

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    MIA GONZALES
    This document discusses the concept of moral agency and decision-making. It defines a moral agent as someone who can discern right from wrong and be held accountable for their actions. It discusses how moral agency requires personal autonomy and the ability to make choices freely. However, people may lose autonomy through things like illness, mental disabilities, or external constraints. The document also examines how moral intent, emotions, context, and reasoning influence moral decisions and actions. Finally, it provides a framework for moral decision-making that involves recognizing issues, gathering facts, evaluating options, making a decision, and reflecting on the outcome.

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    Teachers Notes Unit 2 (21-22)

    Uploaded by

    MIA GONZALES
    52 views5 pages
    This document discusses the concept of moral agency and decision-making. It defines a moral agent as someone who can discern right from wrong and be held accountable for their actions. It discusses how moral agency requires personal autonomy and the ability to make choices freely. However, people may lose autonomy through things like illness, mental disabilities, or external constraints. The document also examines how moral intent, emotions, context, and reasoning influence moral decisions and actions. Finally, it provides a framework for moral decision-making that involves recognizing issues, gathering facts, evaluating options, making a decision, and reflecting on the outcome.

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    TEACHERS NOTES UNIT 2 (21-22)

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    This document discusses the concept of moral agency and decision-making. It defines a moral agent as someone who can discern right from wrong and be held accountable for their actions. It discusses how moral agency requires personal autonomy and the ability to make choices freely. However, people may lose autonomy through things like illness, mental disabilities, or external constraints. The document also examines how moral intent, emotions, context, and reasoning influence moral decisions and actions. Finally, it provides a framework for moral decision-making that involves recognizing issues, gathering facts, evaluating options, making a decision, and reflecting on the outcome.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    52 views5 pages

    Teachers Notes Unit 2 (21-22)

    Uploaded by

    MIA GONZALES
    This document discusses the concept of moral agency and decision-making. It defines a moral agent as someone who can discern right from wrong and be held accountable for their actions. It discusses how moral agency requires personal autonomy and the ability to make choices freely. However, people may lose autonomy through things like illness, mental disabilities, or external constraints. The document also examines how moral intent, emotions, context, and reasoning influence moral decisions and actions. Finally, it provides a framework for moral decision-making that involves recognizing issues, gathering facts, evaluating options, making a decision, and reflecting on the outcome.

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    UNIT II :MORAL AGENCY AND THE HUMAN PERSON

    Lecture Objectives: After learning this material you will be able to:
    1.Discuss the concept of moral agency,personal autonomy and responsibility in the study of ethical
    behavior
    2.Understand the process of exercising moral agency and accountability.
    3.Compare/ contrast the concept of moral claim,intent,emotion,context in the exercise of ethical behavior
    4.Understand the process of moral decision-making and the role moral reasoning and conscience
    5.Reflect on the meaning and importance of living a moral life

    I:WHO IS A MORAL AGENT

    MORAL AGENT-

    1. Ability to discern right from wrong and to have accountable for his actions(ex.harm to others)
    2. Responsible for their actions( children,adult with mental disabilities) little or no capacity to be moral
    agents
    3. Adults relinquish their full capcity when being held hostage(acting out of duress)
    4. N:B:Questions do corporate entity,artificial intelligence have moral responsibiliuties?
    BEHAVIORAL ETHICS
    1. Studies why people(moral agents) make ethical and unethical decisions
    2. Consider moral agents far from completely rational ethical choices(ex.intuitions,feelings ignorance)
    3. Usually influenced by internal biases(self-serving bias,outside pressure (conformity don’t have control)
    4. Focus is to study why even with the best intentions people still commit poor ethical choices

    PERSONAL AUTONOMY AND MORAL AGENCY


    1. We assume that other adults are  self-determining individuals who make choices freely.
    2. People sometimes make choices without full autonomy.
    3……People are not always fully autonomous, even when they appear to act of their own volition.
     The eight-year-old who resists medical treatment for religious reasons
     The Alzheimer’s patient who injures a nurse
    CONDITIONS FOR BEING AUTONOMOUS
    1. Persons must satisfy three sets of conditions to qualify as genuinely autonomous
    INDEPENDENCE CONDITIONS: capable of free choices without any external constraints or inner compulsions.
    A. Those who cannot make any choices at all fail these conditions (infants, comatose patients, etc.).
    B. External constraints: outside influences that control how a person acts (e.g., threats, physical force)
    C. Internal compulsions: internal influences (e.g., addictions, obsessive/compulsive behaviors, phobias)
    COMPETENCY CONDITIONS: capable of rationally deliberating in making her choices. This requires:
    A. Know and understand what one’s choices are
    B. Understanding the consequences of each possible choice
    C. Evaluate how the consequences of each choice serve one’s own goals and values
    AUTHENTICITY CONDITIONS :reflecting own goals and values, of choosing some and discarding others.
    NOTE:
    1.Even normally autonomous people can lose autonomy for a period of time(illness)
    2.Others may lack autonomy longer or even permanently(e.g., an advanced Alzheimer’s patient )
    3.Moral incompetent: a person who lacks autonomy for any significant length of time.

    MORAL IMPLICATIONS OF AUTONOMY

    1 An autonomous person has moral responsibility for her choices,


    2 Moral responsibility implies (blamed or praised) for her choices.
    3 An autonomous person is owed moral deference (no interference)
    NOTE:Paternalism: interfering with another person’s choice or action for that person’s own good
    To interfere, we should normally have good reason to doubt, at least the person is autonomous.
    There should also be a great deal at stake.

    MORAL INTENT AND RATIONALIZATION

    2. It is a desire to act ethically when facing a decision


    3. If a person has no moral intent then moral decision is useless.

    SOME RATIONALIZATIONS TO JUSTIFY MORAL BEHAVIORS

     Denial of Responsibility- unethical acts shifted to someone to mitigate feelings of guilt


     Denial of Injury- do something wrong because slightest harm not seem so bad.
     Denial of victim- fault attributed to the victim thinking that he deserves it
     Social weighing-doing wrong but compare it to those who does worse acts.
     Appeal to higher loyalties(family,company,group)ex I have a family to feed so I have to do it
     Metaphor of the ledger-we do immoral acts due to maltreatment caused by the victim.

    EFFECTS OF EMOTIONS TO OUR MORAL ACTIONS


     Impossible to make moral judgment without emotion
     Guilt,shame,embarrassment,fear of punishment motivate people to act ethically
     Anger,disgust and contempt to those who committed unethical behaviors
     Admirations and gratitude to thiose who committed ethical (kindness) behavior
     Sympathy and empathy allows people to act ethically and altruistically
     Ethical decisions not only influenced by our philosophies, values or religious upbringing

    WHAT IS MORAL REASONING AND KOLHBERG’ MORAL DEVELOPMENT


     Applies critical analysis to specific events to determine what is right or wrong
    and what people ought to do in a paricular situation(Ex.Shouod I lie?)
     It applies moral theories to a specific situation or dilemmas,problems
     Most people are not good at moral reasoning incapable of defending actions logically

    MORAL DECISION-MAKING

    1. Is made up intuitively before the brain’s cognitive process.


    2. When people make decisions some are deontologial leaning and others are consequential
    3. Some may also self-interest based but others are virtue/value based
    4. Which mode are you inclined when you make moral decision?

    FRAMEWORK OF MORAL- DECISION –MAKING

    1. RECOGNIZE A MORAL ISSUE/PROBLEM


     Is there something wrong( personally,interpersonally,socially)
     Is there conflict that would be damaging to stakeholders and non-stakeholders
     Is the issue going deeper to legal
     Is the issue cognizant of rights,dignity and hope forbetter life?
    2. GET THEFACTS
     What are the relevant facts of the case
     What groups/individuals who are at stake in the outcome=
     What are the options for acting/solving
     What measures you do to consult the stakeholders
    3. EVALUATE ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS/OPTIONS USING PERSPECTIVES
     Which option will do the most good and least harm
     Which option respect rights,dignity
     Which otion will engender fairness and justice
     Which option develops character traits
     Which otion promotes the common good
     Which otion develops traits that we value as a profession as a society

    4. MAKE A DECISION

     After considering these perspectives which option is the right thing to do/

    5. ACT AND REFLECT ON THE DECISION LATER


     How did it turn out for all concerned?
     Would do it over again based on the outcome or situation?

    MORAL ACTION AND MORAL COURAGE


     Taking of necessary steps to transform the intent to do the right thing into reality.
     Sometimes people fail to do the right thing even though they know what it is
     This is attributed to (behavioralfactors(self-serving bias,self interest,pressure,conformity etc.)tha can
    cause poor-decision-making
     Hence good people with good intentions sometimes do bad things
     Since it is necessary to translate moral decisions to actions
     This requirescommiitment to moralprinciples,courage of the implications/risks in following these
    principles

    IMPORTANCE OF MORAL CONTEXT,CONFLICT, DILEMMA AND CONSCIENCE

    MORAL CONTEXT: What are conditions of moral situations?


     Do moral situations only involve other people? What about non-human animals? Moral
    contexts has an intentional effect on another's well being.

    MORAL CONFLICT: Can the right action ever clash/conflict with another right action? Suppose you're obliged to
    do two different things, but you cannot do both. In choosing to do one of the actions, am I doing wrong with
    respect to the other? Two examples:
    EXAMPLE:You're walking to visit a terminally ill friend in hospital (you've promised to do this). Should you help
    another person on the way? Do you commit a wrong by choosing either action?

    MORAL DILEMMA-specific cases in which it is hard to tell what one ought to do.It will test our intuition about
    specific moral cases. A complex situation where ethical principles and values are in conflict

    EXAMPLE OF DILEMMA:

    George unemployed whose mother is in the hospital but reared as a god fearing child

    a Working to make chemical weapons with high salary


    b Being unemployed

    Give the consequences of each choice


    PRIMARY QUESTIONS:

    To whom do I have the duty

    What is a fair and just resolution

    Is it more to those who need it or to those who earned it

    Is it consequence/non consequence based

    Is it self/others based

    Is it reason/emotion based

    Is it act/rule based

    CHARACTERISTICS OF A WORKABLE MORAL SYSTEM/PRINCIPLE

    1.must be rational

    2. logically consistent

    3.universally applicable

    4.teachable

    5.capable of resolving dilemmas

    BASIC PRINCIPLES

    1.LIFE PRINCIPLE-reverence for life

    2.GOODNESS PRINCIPLE-“do good/avoid evil/harm to oneself /others

    3.JUSTICE PRINCIPLE-distributing benefits/burdens fairly

    4.HONESTY PRINCIPLE-needed for communication

    5.FREEDOM PRINCIPLE-freedom to/freedom from

    VALID APPROACH:HUMANITARIAN/PLURALISTIC

    MORAL CONSCIENCE
    Conscience-A means by which morality is apprehended and interpreted
     It is the mind of man governed by rules and passing moral judgment.
     It Is an act of practical intellect deciding wheteher a particular propsed action is good or bad here and
    now.
     Is in not an emotional state,neither infallible nor a superego

    PRINCIPLES ABOUT CONSCIENCE

    1. It must always be obeyed


    2. We must possess a clear/objective conscience
    3. We must educate our conscience
    4. Don’t act when your conscience is in doubt(resolve it using PDE,seek good advice)
    5. It is the criterion by which god will judge every human soul

    CONSCIENCE AND THE PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE EFFECT- one guide to resolve moral dilemma/conflict

    DOUBLE EFFECT
    1. It is an act that produces good and bad effect
    2. Guidelines/Conditions
    a. Must intend the good effect
    b. Action must be indifferent/good
    c. Don’t intend to produce good effect by means of bad effect
    d. Proportionate reason for allowing the bad effect to take place

    SUMMARY OF MORAL AGENCY

    ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN EXERCISING MORAL AGENCY

    1.Employ their autonomy in making actual (particular)moral choices.


    2.A moral agent has moral responsibility for such choices and is also owed moral deference.
    2.Moral incompetent cannot exercise moral agency.
    3.A normally autonomous person may be unable to exercise moral agency in a particular situation if he is
    unable to satisfy the conditions of autonomy in that situation.
    4 Even a person who has all the capabilities of autonomy may nevertheless fail to exercise moral agency in a
    particular situation by not fully employing those capabilities.
    5.It is possible to exercise moral agency at different levels, depending on the degree to which a person
    employs his capabilities.
    6.The higher the level of agency, the greater the responsibility and deference to be accorded to that person

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