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Basic Principles
Aum Amriteshvaryai Namah
Kohlberg’s 3 levels of Moral Development
Level One: Preconventional Stages
Stage One: Punishment and Obedience Orientation –
self-centered, fear of the stick approach
Stage Two: Instrumental and Relative Orientation – “i
should not hit him so that he doesn’t hit me”
Level Two: Conventional Stages
Living up to conventional norms of family, peers etc
Stage Three: Interpersonal Concordance Orientation
(phew!): Being “good” in order to conform to others’
expectations
Stage Four: Law and Order Orientation – Obeying the
laws of the land (out of respect for nation/society)
some of you may recall
“Heisenberg’s Uncertainty
Principle”
Level Three: Postconventional Stages
Questioning laws, values, conventions etc of society on the basis of his/her own moral beliefs
Stage Five: Social Contract Orientation – Awareness that people have conflicting moral views
Stage Six: Universal Moral Principles Orientation – “Right action” is based on reasonable, consistent & universally applicable moral principles
Gilligan’s Theory of Female Moral Development
For men, morality is impersonal, impartial and abstract!
For women, morality is primarily a matter of caring and responsibility (is it so?)
therefore, moral development in women progresses through better ways of caring and responsibility
caring for oneself --- > caring for others --- > caring for others and oneself
Perhaps, the best perspective is men DO care sometimes and women ARE impartial at times!!
Whatever approach you may take, ETHICS starts at the later postconventional stages of moral development
This is what we aim to stimulate in ourselves through the case studies and other discussions in forthcoming chapters
don’t accept what I say – think, discuss, criticize, analyse! (let’s create some “heat”!)
Which stage are you
in?
Research on Moral Identity
William Damon: Morality is not an important part
of the self until middle adolescence
the more morality becomes part of you, the
stronger will be your motivation to do what is
morally right
Augusto Blasi: Judgement of right and wrong
depend in part on the kind of person we think we
are (or want to be)
This is NOT “rocket science” … this is not QMM
So, here is the change in our approach:
Two students would present 2-3 topics in one session
Faculty will facilitate the discussion by giving examples from his experience
After all, we are learning this together, aren’t we?
Too much …? Consider the following:
You get to do this ONLY ONCE in the whole course … why?
21 x 2 = 42 < 57 ----------------- Ah! Some maths, at last!
We will have only PLACED students do this (incl those who have opted out of
placement!)
By the time “your” turn comes, hopefully (with God’s Grace) you would be placed too!
Will tell you the sections beforehand
Let’s make the course a bit more fun, engaging!
Another concept: “Devil’s Advocate”
Each of you should be an Ethics “brand ambassador”
But, for the class, 3-5 students should play the role of a Devil’s Advocate –
question, dispute whatever the faculty/presenters are saying
The reasoning process by which human behaviors, institutions, or policies are judged to be in accordance with or in violation of moral standards
An understanding – moral standards
Factual construct - information
A conclusion – moral judgment
6
"After this barbaric act, there cannot be business as usual with Pakistan. What happened at LoC is unacceptable"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21023932
7
Moral standard – War is not fair, why war, let’s be in peace, an act of breach of rights, Inhuman
Factual information – Two Indian soldiers killed, India says one was beheaded, at LoC (line of control)
Moral judgment – The action is unacceptable , there cannot be business as usual with Pakistan
8
Israel launched a major offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday, killing the military commander of Hamas in an air strike and threatening an invasion of the enclave that the Islamist group vowed would "open the gates of hell".
Panicking civilians ran for cover and the death toll mounted quickly. Ten people including three children were killed, the health ministry said, and about 40 were wounded. Also among the dead were an 11-month-old baby and a woman pregnant with twins.
9
The video tells us the extent of impact…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V46LtPueEq0
Exposure to these information and the set of moral standards within each of us, helps us arrive at certain individual judgments of ours
10
Moral Reasoning should be
Logical
Supported by evidences or information that is
accurate, relevant and complete
Consistent (“If you judge that one person is
morally justified in doing act A in circumstance
C, then you must accept that it is morally
justified for any other person to perform an act
similar to A, in any circumstances similar to C”)
11
4 steps leading to ethical behavior: Recognizing that a situation is ethical
Judging what the ethical course of action is
Deciding to do the ethical course of action
Carrying out the decision
Obstacles to recognizing an ethical situation: Euphemistic labeling
Rationalizing our actions
Diminishing Comparisons
Displacement of Responsibility
Diffusion of Responsibility
Disregarding or distorting the harm
Dehumanizing the victim
Redirecting Blame
12
Obstacles to judging (correctly) the ethical course of action: Biased theories about the world
Biased theories about others
Biased theories about oneself
Obstacles to deciding on the correct ethical course of action: Culture of an organization
“Moral Seduction” (slow but sure poisoning!) – vicious circle in which you are slowly drawn into doing smaller (and later bigger & bigger) unethical acts
Obstacles in carrying out your (ethical) decision: One’s strength or weakness of will (“do you have the spine??” )
One’s belief about the locus of control of one’s actions (“Is a 2nd invigilator justified in stepping into another invigilator’s territory?”)
13
Difference between being Morally Responsible and Moral Responsibility! I am morally responsible for that incident
I will help the poor, that is my moral responsibility
A person is morally responsible for an incident Only if he/she caused it (directly/indirectly), or
if he failed prevent it when he/she could & should have, and
He/she did it knowingly, and
He/she did so in his own free will
Workers’ health issues
Who is responsible? Is the owner responsible?
Analyse the Case Study in light of the
points mentioned in the previous slide
“Oh God! I feel so sorry that all my workers
have got lung injuries. But I don’t think it
was caused because of asbestos. All of them
were smokers!”
“Really? I didn’t know that asbestos would
create these health hazards, poor souls”
I am sorry, I was not free to prevent the
injuries. I gave them masks, but they
denied”
Moral Responsibility can be mitigated/removed by Minimal Contribution
Uncertainty
Difficulty
Moral Responsibility cannot be mitigated/removed by The cooperation of others
just bcos you were part of a group that did the wrongdoing does not mean you have no accountability for it
of course, the accountability is distributed amongst the group
Your own accountability may be mitigated by ‘minimal contribution’
Following orders (“loyal agent’s argument”)
Are Bull’s Eye and Bushmaster morally
responsible for the Washington D.C. victims’
deaths? Why or Why not?
Are gun manufacturers and/or gun dealers
ever morally responsible for deaths caused
by the use of their guns? Explain
Are manufacturers ever morally responsible
for deaths caused by the use of their
products? Explain
If you feel “guns” are not relevant to Indian society, think
of the questions in terms of cigarette/beedi
manufacturers/dealers!