Introduction to Dimensions of Moral Behaviour
Nature of Morality and Moral Education
- Morality encompasses more than virtues like truthfulness and impartiality; it includes intentions behind actions.
- It involves various facets of personality, especially cognitive and affective domains.
Objectives
Characteristics of a Morally Educated Person
- Ability to think critically and autonomously about moral issues.
- Demonstrates virtues like honesty, impartiality, and empathy.
Three Facets of Morality
- Cognitive: Involves understanding moral principles and reasoning.
- Affective: Deals with emotions, empathy, and compassion.
- Behavioural: Encompasses actual moral conduct and decision-making.
Distinguishing Morality and Ethics
- Morality: Concerned with principles of right and wrong conduct in specific contexts.
- Ethics: Examines broader philosophical questions about morality and ethical theories.
Gilligan's Contribution: The Caring Dimension
- Emphasizes the importance of care and relationships in moral decision-making.
- Contrasts with traditional justice-based approaches to morality.
Morality of Justice vs. Morality of Care
- Morality of Justice: Emphasizes fairness, rights, and rules.
- Morality of Care: Focuses on empathy, relationships, and responsibilities.
Ethic of Justice vs. Ethic of Care
- Ethic of Justice: Prioritizes impartiality, fairness, and universal principles.
- Ethic of Care: Values empathy, compassion, and context-specific responses.
Significance of Action in Moral Behaviour
- Actions themselves are morally neutral; their moral worth depends on intentions and consequences.
- Training in habit formation from an early age shapes moral behaviour positively.
Who is a Morally Educated Person?
Definition and Characteristics
- Not merely virtues: Morality goes beyond a list of virtues; it involves understanding and intention behind actions.
- Autonomous moral decisions: A morally educated person can autonomously decide based on understanding the context, not just following taught virtues.
- Knowledge of non-moral facts: Understanding factual knowledge relevant to situations helps in assessing moral consequences.
- Social skills: Essential for relating to others, communicating effectively, and understanding their perspectives.
- Emotional awareness: Involves empathy, understanding others' feelings, and balancing emotional responses in moral decision-making.
Role of Emotions in Moral Development
- Conflicts between reason and emotions: Emotions like attachment, greed, and selfishness can conflict with rational moral decisions.
- Two kinds of emotions: Self-preservation emotions vs. social preservation emotions (sympathy, empathy, kindness).
- Balancing emotions: Mature moral development involves balancing self-preservation and social preservation emotions.
Significance of Emotions in Morality
- Role in moral development: Emotions are crucial for moral development, distinguishing humans from machines.
- Essential for humanity: Emotions enable us to live as moral beings, fostering empathy and social bonds.
Difference Between Morality and Ethics
Morality
- Personal: Reflects personal beliefs and values.
- Influences: Shaped by religion, culture, family, and peers.
- Focus: Concerned with personal right and wrong, e.g., views on sex, drinking, gambling.
- Depth: Deeper, often spiritual, addressing personal character.
- Imposition: It's unethical to impose personal morals on others.
Ethics
- Behavior: Concerned with how a moral person should behave.
- Universal: Transcends cultural, religious, or ethnic differences.
- Values: Focuses on what is morally right and proper in a broader sense.
- Examples: Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship.
- Social Application: Applies moral principles within a social framework.
Summary
- Essence: Morals are personal values; ethics are societal standards.
- Application: Morals define personal character; ethics guide social systems.
- Flexibility: Ethics can change with societal norms and laws; morals are deeply ingrained personal beliefs.
Different Facets of Morality
1. Caring
Definition of Caring
- Caring involves reaching out to help others and understanding their needs.
- It encompasses a social and psychological understanding, where individuals feel for and empathize with others.
- "Love thy neighbor as thyself" encapsulates the essence of caring.
Carol Gilligan's Perspective
- Carol Gilligan emphasizes care orientation in morality, focusing on attention and response to others' needs.
- She argues that early childhood experiences, particularly with the mother, influence the development of care-oriented judgment and self-concept.
- Care orientation is often associated with female morality, contrasting with the more justice-oriented morality typically associated with males.
Differences Between Care and Justice
- Content: Care focuses on particular relationships, uniqueness of individuals, and specific situations, whereas justice emphasizes universal norms and impartiality.
- Form of Judgment: Care involves particularistic judgments that prioritize relationships and context over universalizability, unlike justice which requires impartial application of norms.
Implications for Moral Behavior
- Care-oriented moral judgments may not always meet Kohlberg's criterion of universalizability, as they prioritize unique circumstances and relationships.
- Despite this, care perspective enriches moral discourse by emphasizing empathy, responsiveness, and individualized ethical responses.
2. Objective Judging
Definition and Context
- Immediate Context: In Slotin's tale, judging refers to the immediate, unreflective assessment of a situation to take necessary action, as seen in caring dimensions.
- Broader Context: Judging also involves rational deliberation and reasoning when faced with moral dilemmas or complex socio-moral issues.
Dimensions of Judging
- Immediate Judging: Reacting swiftly to assess and respond to immediate needs or to prevent situations from worsening.
- Reflective Judging: Engaging in rational thought to evaluate moral obligations and make reasoned decisions, especially in moral dilemmas.
Types of Moral Judgments
- Moral Obligations: Deciding what is morally right or wrong in a specific situation, considering duties and responsibilities towards others.
- Moral Values: Assessing the goodness or badness of people's motives, character traits, or broader societal values.
Examples and Applications
- Controversial Issues: Examples include euthanasia, abortion, where moral judgments require careful consideration of ethical principles and consequences.
- Ethical Reasoning: Involves questioning moral rules and principles beyond simple statements like "killing is bad," considering contexts like self-defense or national security.
Conclusion
- Judging in morality encompasses both immediate, instinctive responses (caring dimension) and reflective, reasoned deliberation (ethical reasoning).
- It involves assessing moral obligations and values, influencing how individuals perceive and act in ethical dilemmas and everyday moral decisions.
3. Resolute Action
Nature of Actions
- Actions themselves are not inherently moral or immoral; their moral worth depends on the motives and intentions behind them.
- Example: Slotin's act of separating plutonium pieces was morally commendable due to his caring motive to prevent harm.
Moral Evaluation
- Killing in self-defense is morally justified, but with malicious intent, it becomes murder, illustrating how motives determine moral judgment.
Educational Perspective
- Teachers differentiate behaviors like hitting or selfishness (discouraged) from helping or sharing (encouraged) in children.
- Early childhood behaviors are often driven by feelings and intentions rather than reasoned justifications.
Developmental Approach
- Children's actions are guided by immediate feelings and emotions; teachers reinforce positive behaviors to foster moral habits early.
- Over time, children develop reasoning abilities to understand moral principles behind their actions.
Role of Teachers
- Teachers play a crucial role in nurturing moral development by appreciating positive behaviors and guiding children towards understanding the reasons behind moral actions.
- Emphasizing social conventions initially can lay groundwork for moral autonomy later, though caution is needed not to equate conformity with true morality.
Conclusion
- Acting in morality involves understanding the motives behind actions, guiding children towards moral reasoning, and balancing social conformity with genuine moral development.
4. Morality and Justice
Kohlberg's Contribution to Moral Development
Foundation on Piaget's Ideas
- Kohlberg expanded Piaget's theory by focusing on moral development as a cognitive process.
- Piaget differentiated between conventional morality (heteronomy of the will) and rational morality (autonomy of the will).
Stages of Moral Development
- Kohlberg proposed a six-stage theory of moral development, categorized into three levels: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional.
- Each stage reflects different levels of moral reasoning, from simple obedience to universal ethical principles.
Cognitive Process of Moral Judgement
- Moral judgement is based on the reasoning individuals use to resolve moral dilemmas.
- Kohlberg emphasized that moral reasoning evolves with age and experience.
Ethics of Justice
- Kohlbergian ethics primarily focuses on justice and fairness as the core principles of moral decision-making.
- Moral problems are viewed as conflicts between rights, duties, and principles.
Principles and Norms
- Principles guide rational judgement when norms (such as property rights or promises) conflict or are unclear.
- They provide a framework for resolving moral dilemmas impartially and consistently.
Conclusion
- Kohlberg's theory highlights the cognitive development underlying moral reasoning, progressing from external rules to internal ethical principles.
- It underscores the importance of reasoning and reflection in achieving higher stages of moral maturity.
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