1.2 Moral and Ethical Reasoning

Question 1

Definition Ethical Reasoning

Answer 1

An intellectual procedure for justifying ethical judgments

Question 2

Definition Moral Reasoning

+ Whats the process here?

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Answer 2

The reasoning process by which human behaviors, institutions, or policies are
judged to be in accordance with or in violation of moral standards

1. moral standards, by which the situation is to be evaluated
2. factual information, on the policy or behavior under consideration
3. moral judgement, on the rightness or wrongness of action or behavior

(recognizing the ethical situation -> judging -> deciding to do or not -> carrying out)

Question 3

How to evaluate whether a piece of moral reasoning is good?

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Answer 3

1. Moral reasoning must be logical:
   * Evidence for conclusion?
2. Factual evidence must be accurate, relevant and complete:
   * Are statistics and relationships accurate?
   * Does behaviour/ policy have characteristics being condemned?
   * Is all information taken into account?
3. Moral standard must be consistent * between different moral standards
   * same moral standard to be applied to all situations

Question 4

What are Kohlbergs Three Levels of Moral Development?

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Answer 4

1. First level: Pre-conventional stages
   * Stage One: punishment and obedience orientation (physcial consequences of an act wholly determine the goodness or badness of this act)
   * Stage Two: instrumental and relative orientation (right actions become those that can serve as instruments for satisfying the childs own needs or those for whom the child cares) -> ability to respond to rules and social expectations
2. second level: conventional stages
   Stage One: interpersonal concordance orientation (good behavior living to expectations of those you feel loyal affectionate towards)
   * Stage Two: law and order orientation / Maintaining the Social Order (Right and wrong at this more mature conventional stage now come to be determined by loyalty to one’s own larger nation or surrounding society) -> maintaining expectations of family or peer group is now valuable
3. Third-Level: Post-Conventional Stages
   * Stage One: social contract orientation (getting awareness that people hold many conflicting personal views; emphasis on agreements)
   * Stage Two: universal principles orientation (right acion = principles chosen bc of comprehensiveness and consistency)
   -> no longer simply accepting values of peer group

Question 5

What are forms of moral disengagement that might prevent from recognizing situation as ethical situation?

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Answer 5

1. Euphemistic labeling. i.e. “downsizing” or “outsourcing” instead of “firing people”
2. Rationalizing our actions. Pursuing a worthy/moral cause, i.e. terrorist as a
   courageous fighter against brutal oppressor
3. Diminishing comparison. Student cheating during exam arguing others cheat even more
4. Displacement of responsibility. Manager justifying his immoral behaviour by arguing his boss required him to do so
5. Diffusion of responsibility. Accountant justifying his immoral behaviour by arguing he was only a team member
6. Disregarding/distorting the harm. Weapon producer arguing weapons are sold in the first place to protect oneself
7. Dehumanizing the victim. Displacing human resources instead of firing people

Question 6

Deciding to do what is ethcial can be influenced by….

Answer 6

Moral seduction: organizations can also generate a form of “moral seduction” that can exert subtle pressures that can gradually lead an ethical person into decisions to do what he or she knows is wrong

Question 7

What are the three components of moral responsibility? (always check when thinking about if anyone is responsible for sth!)

Answer 7

1) Who should fix the wrong?
2) Not to blame an innocent person
3) No feelings of guilt if innocent
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1. Causality: Person caused or helped cause the injury, or failed to prevent it when he or she could and should have
2. Knowledge: Person did so knowing what he or she was doing
3. Freedom: Person did so of his or her own free will

Question 8

Mitigating Factors of Moral Responsibility |

1. Whats minimal contribution?
2. whats uncertainty?
3. whats difficulty?

Answer 8

1. In general, the less one’s actual actions contribute to the outcome of an act, the less one is morally responsible for that outcome
2. A person may be fairly convinced that doing something is wrong yet may still be doubtful about important facts, or may have doubts about the moral standards involved, or doubts about how seriously wrong the action is
3. A person may find it difficult to avoid a certain course of action because he or she is subjected to threats or duress of some sort or because avoiding that course of action will impose heavy costs on the person

-> these depend on whether how serious the wrongs are

Question 9

What are four things to consider in the term of context?

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Answer 9

1. same kind of action can have different consequences
2. operating in corrupt environments
3. similar actions done by indigenous businesses
4. different traditions and expectations