What is moral reasoning?
Moral reasoning is the process of deciding whether an action, decision, policy, or institution is morally right or wrong.
What are the three main parts of moral reasoning?
A moral standard -
Relevant facts
A moral judgment
What is a moral standard?
A moral standard is a principle about how people should behave.
Example: People should not be harmed unnecessarily.
Why are facts important in moral reasoning?
Moral judgments must be based on correct and relevant information.
Incorrect or incomplete facts can produce the wrong conclusion.
What is a moral judgment?
A moral judgment is the final conclusion that an action or situation is morally right, wrong, fair, or unfair.
Give a simple example of moral reasoning.
Standard: Companies should not unnecessarily harm employees.
Fact: A company hides serious workplace risks.
Judgment: The company’s behaviour is morally wrong.
What does Kohlberg’s theory explain?
Kohlberg’s theory explains how people’s moral reasoning can develop from self-interest to broader moral principles.
The theory focuses mainly on why a person makes a decision.
What are Kohlberg’s three levels of moral development?
Pre-conventional level
Conventional level
Post-conventional level
What is the pre-conventional level?
A person decides based mainly on personal rewards and punishments.
Stage One (1): punishment and obedience orientation
Stage Two (2): instrumental and relative orientation
Main question: “What will happen to me?”
What happens in Stage 1: Punishment and obedience?
A person follows rules mainly to avoid punishment.
Example: “I will not steal because I might be fired.”
What happens in Stage 2: Personal benefit?
A person acts according to what benefits them or what they receive in return.
Example: “I will help you because you might help me later.”
What is the conventional level?
A person follows social expectations, rules, and laws.
Stage One (3): interpersonal concordance orientation
Stage Two (4): law and order orientation / Maintaining the Social Order
Main question: “What do other people and society expect?”
What happens in Stage 3: Social approval?
A person acts in a certain way because they want others to think they are good.
Example: An employee works extra hours to gain their manager’s approval.
What happens in Stage 4: Law and social order?
person follows laws and rules because they believe these rules maintain order in society.
Example: An accountant refuses to manipulate financial records because it is illegal.
What is the post-conventional level?
A person judges actions using principles such as justice, equality, dignity, and human rights.
Main question: “What is morally right in principle?”
What happens in Stage 5: Social contract?
A person believes that laws should protect people’s rights and welfare. Unfair laws may need to be changed.
What happens in Stage 6: Universal moral principles?
A person follows universal principles such as justice, equality, dignity, and human rights, even when these conflict with laws.
How to easily remember Kohlberg’s three levels:
Pre-conventional: What happens to me?
Conventional: What do society and the law expect?
Post-conventional: What is morally right?
What are the three criteria for good moral reasoning?
The reasoning must be logical.
The facts must be accurate, relevant, and complete.
The moral standards must be consistent.
What does logical moral reasoning mean?
The moral conclusion must follow logically from the moral standard and the available facts.
What does consistency mean in moral reasoning?
Similar situations should be judged using the same moral standards.
You should not change your moral rule simply because another result benefits you.
Can moral standards conflict with each other?
Yes. Two important moral standards may support different actions.
Example:
Employees should obey their employer.
People should not endanger others.
An employee may need to reject an unsafe order.
What are the four steps leading to ethical behaviour?
Recognize the ethical issue.
Judge the ethical action.
Decide to act ethically.
Carry out the ethical decision.
Memory aid: Recognize – Judge – Decide – Act
What happens when recognizing an ethical issue?
A person gathers the facts and asks:
Could someone be harmed?
Could someone’s rights be violated?
Is a moral standard involved?
What happens when judging the ethical action?
A person:
identifies possible actions;
considers the affected stakeholders;
applies moral standards;
chooses the most ethical option.
What is moral imagination?
Moral imagination is the ability to think of different ethical solutions instead of seeing only one or two options.
Why is deciding to act ethically different from knowing what is right?
Deciding to act ethically requires turning moral knowledge into personal will. Knowing what is right is an intellectual judgment of a situation.
Acting ethically means choosing to do that right thing even when it costs you time, money, or safety.
What happens when carrying out an ethical decision?
The person turns the ethical judgment into real action and prepares for possible objections or consequences.
What is moral disengagement?
Moral disengagement happens when people mentally separate themselves from the harmful or unethical meaning of their actions.
It allows them to behave badly without feeling fully responsible.
What are the most important forms of moral disengagement?
Moral justification
Euphemistic language
Comparing the action with something worse
Minimizing the consequences
Blaming the victim
Dehumanization
What is euphemistic language?
Euphemistic language uses softer words to make harmful actions sound less serious.
Example: Calling employee dismissals “rightsizing.”
What is advantageous comparison?
Advantageous comparison means making your behaviour appear acceptable by comparing it with something worse.
Example: “Our company polluted the river, but other companies polluted much more.”
What important biases can affect ethical decisions?
Ignoring long-term consequences
Forgetting some stakeholders
Stereotyping other people
Believing we are more honest or objective than we really are
Ignoring conflicts of interest
What is the main lesson of moral and ethical reasoning?
Ethical behaviour requires more than knowing moral rules.
Zuletzt geändertvor 17 Tagen
