An Integral Approach to Ethics

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An Integral Approach to Ethics
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An Integral Approach

• You are probably beginning to see that our moral
  knowledge does not come simply from reason, or
  intuition, or emotions, or experience. Perhaps
  they all have to work together for us to begin to
  approach an adequate way of accessing moral
  knowledge.

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Three Levels

• Boss All three levels overlap and interact with
  one another. Experience provides the material for
  interpretation and analysis analysis, in the
  end, returns to experience. If the results of our
  analysis are inconsistent with our experience,
  then we need to start over and fine-tune our
  analysis so that it takes into account all
  relevant experience. Analysis also returns to
  experience in the form of action or praxis.

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Experience

• Boss Experience is the first level of thinking.
  Experience goes beyond the five senses We notice
  certain events happening, we observe different
  feelings within ourselves, we have certain
  intuitions, and we receive information about the
  world by reading or hearing about the experiences
  of others. Experience forms the foundation of the
  philosophical enterprise.

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Interpretation

• Boss Interpretation involves trying to make
  sense of our experience. This level of thinking
  includes individual interpretations of experience
  as well as collective or cultural
  interpretations. Some of our interpretations may
  be well informed others may be based merely on
  our opinions or personal feelings.

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Analysis

• Analysis is what allows us to compare experiences
  and interpretations to come up with as accurate a
  picture of reality as we are capable of. This is
  critical if we are to find our way into an
  understanding of moral knowledge.

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Analysis

• A big part of becoming a wise person is the
  result of our ability to analyze our worldview
  and discover what the hidden assumptions about it
  are.

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More Perspectives

• We live in an exciting time when we now have
  access to many other viewpoints and this only
  helps us analyze our experience and
  interpretation of reality with more insight.

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Different Views?

• Do women see the world differently than men do?
  Womens studies programs are asking us to take
  this question very seriously, not only in the
  study of ethics, but in other areas as well.

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Moral Sensitivity

• Boss The first dimension, moral sensitivity,
  grows out of a collective consciousness raising.
  Until we develop an awareness of the experience
  of violence, victimization, and pain that
  surrounds us, we will continue to inadvertently
  perpetuate it.

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Ontological Shock

• Boss When we experience ontological shock, the
  worldview that we once took for granted is
  displaced, thereby forcing us to reanalyze our
  old assumptions.

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Praxis

• Boss The third dimension of analysis is praxis.
  Praxis refers to the practice of a particular art
  or skill. In ethics, praxis requires informed
  social action. True philosophical analysis always
  returns with an altered and heightened
  consciousness to the world of particular
  experiences.

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Moral Sensitivity

• We grow in moral sensitivity with new
  experiences. This is one reason why it is so
  important to travel and expose ourselves to
  different people and different types of food,
  literature, and music. It is all too easy for us
  to stay with the safe and small circle of where
  we are comfortable. But without challenges we
  dont seem to grow.

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An Integral Approach

• Hopefully you are starting to see how an integral
  approach that includes experience,
  interpretation, and analysis all work together.
  When we combine this integrally with moral
  sensitivity, ontological shock, and praxis we
  start to get a much richer view of ethics and
  morality.

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Overcoming Resistance

• Boss Most of us hate to be proved wrong. When a
  particular paradigm becomes thoroughly entrenched
  in our worldview, we may begin to see it as fact
  rather than an interpretation of experience,
  especially if we benefit by that particular
  worldview.

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Defense Mechanisms

• Boss Defense mechanisms are psychological
  tools, which we usually learn at an early age,
  for coping with difficult situations. Defense
  mechanisms can be divided into two main types
  (1) coping and (2) resistance.

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Coping

• Boss Coping, or healthy defense mechanisms,
  allows us to work through challenges to our
  worldview and to adjust our life in ways that
  maintain our integrity. Healthy ways of coping
  include logical analysis, objectivity, tolerance
  of ambiguity, empathy, and suppression of harmful
  emotional responses.

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Resistance

• Boss Resistance, in contrast, involves the use
  of immature defense mechanisms that are rigid,
  impulsive, maladaptive, and nonanalytical.
  Isolation, rationalization, indecision, and
  denial are all examples of immature defense
  mechanisms.

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Resistance

• We freeze up or we react in a mechanical manner
  rather than being able to respond with
  mindfulness and compassion, traits that Buddhism
  teaches are essential to the ethical life.

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Cognitive Dissonance

• We often approach life with a whole series of
  beliefs about how it should be and how things
  should go. When this does not happen it can shake
  us up and give us an experience of cognitive
  dissonance. How we respond to this determines
  whether we grow or stagnate.

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Forms of Resistance

• Boss Ignorance Not learning about a
  particular issue because we dont want to know.
• Avoidance Staying away from people and
  situations that challenge our worldviews.
• Denial Refusing to acknowledge problems and
  issues.
• Anger Using threats or violence to keep others
  from challenging our views.

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More Forms of Resistance

• Boss Clichés Responding with trite sayings or
  expressions when our views are challenged.
• Conformity/Superficial Tolerance Agreeing
  simply for the sake of agreeing.
• Im Struggling Wrestling with an issue as a
  substitute for taking a stand.
• Distractions Turning to diversions to keep
  from thinking about troubling issues.

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Doublethink

• Boss Doublethink involves holding two
  contradictory views at the same time and
  believing both to be true.

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Doublethink

• Boss In Allan Blooms book on U.S. colleges and
  universities, The Closing of the American Mind,
  the author claims that most students believe
  morality is relative and that there are no
  universal moral values. At the same time,
  however, these students profess to believe that
  human equality and tolerance are universal moral
  values!

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Double Standards

• In fact, most of us are guilty of having double
  standards and this insight can be so painful and
  uncomfortable that we simply avoid it - through
  resistance!

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Exhausted?

• Boss It may seem that, by avoiding conflict,
  life will be more tranquil and enjoyable in
  fact, habitual resistance takes a lot of energy.
  When we shut out ideas and experiences that
  conflict with our cherished worldview, we also
  shut out much of lifes richness.

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Is and Ought Statements

• Boss Descriptive statements tell us what is.
  Descriptive statements are either true or false.
  Prescriptive statements, on the other hand, deal
  with values. They tell us what ought to be.

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Moral Values

• Boss Only moral values carry the force of the
  ought. Although it would be awfully nice to be
  healthy, wealthy, popular, and a straight A
  student, moral values, by their very nature,
  demand that we give them precedence over nonmoral
  values.

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Facts

• So many moral issues tend to either resolve
  themselves or at least become simpler when we
  first gather all of the facts. It is amazing how
  often we try to make major decisions with faulty
  information.

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The Importance of Knowledge

• Boss The social sciences are important to
  ethics because they systematically test ideas
  about moral development, human nature, and
  society. Concepts about human nature are useless,
  and may even be harmful, if they are not grounded
  in reality.

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Idiot Compassion

• Many political programs that dont work and
  simply waste money are built on good intentions,
  but are not backed up with any evidence of their
  ability to work. Buddhists talk about Idiot
  compassion. This is compassion that is not
  guided by intelligence and so it ends up
  increasing suffering rather than decreasing it.

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Assumptions Are Dangerous!

• The assumption (assumptions are usually
  dangerous!) was that patients would panic and be
  stressed out. In fact, once they had the proper
  information they were able to face things with a
  surprising calmness and this lack of stress may
  have been what actually helped some of them live
  longer.

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Facts Are Not Enough

• Boss Ethics goes beyond science and
  observation. We cannot go directly from a
  descriptive statement about how things are to a
  statement about how things ought to be. For
  example, most patients with terminal cancer do
  better if they know they are dying, but this does
  not mean that we ought to tell Juan, who is
  depressed and suicidal, that he has cancer.

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Moral Reasoning

• Boss The ability to analyze arguments and to
  recognize faulty reasoning is important to the
  study of ethics. Logic, the study of correct and
  incorrect reasoning, provides us with the methods
  and skills to formulate sound moral arguments and
  to distinguish good arguments from poor
  arguments. Reason is defined as the power of
  understanding the connection between the general
  and the particular.

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Intentions

• Boss Without correct reasoning, even a person
  with good intentions can end up causing more harm
  than good. Although people may be motivated to do
  what is right, they cannot always figure out what
  is the best course of action to accomplish this
  goal.

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Moral Tragedy

• Boss There may be times when we know that a
  persons argument is faulty, but we refrain from
  speaking out because we cannot determine exactly
  what is wrong with the argument. When this
  happens, we are more likely to back down on our
  own position or even adopt the other persons
  interpretation and possibly even do something
  that we may later regret. When individuals fail
  to take appropriate moral action or make a moral
  decision that they later regret, we call it a
  moral tragedy.

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Critical Thinking and Freedom

• Psychologists know how good we are at resisting
  the truth. Having an ability to think critically
  is one of the ways we can experience more freedom
  in our lives.

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An Argument

• Boss An argument is made up of two or more
  propositions one of these is claimed to follow
  from or be supported by the others. A proposition
  is a statement that expresses a complete thought.
  It can be either true or false. The conclusion is
  the proposition that is affirmed or denied on the
  basis of other propositions in the argument. The
  premise is a proposition that supports or gives
  reasons for accepting the conclusion. An argument
  can have one or many premises.

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Factual Statements

• You cant argue about facts. If I tell you my
  uncle is older than my father that is a factual
  statement. It is either true or false and which
  it is does not depend on your opinion, whether
  you like it or not. Many so-called arguments can
  be avoided just by getting our facts straight.

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Rhetoric

• Boss Rhetoric, in contrast, begins with a
  conclusion or position. The rhetorician then
  presents only those claims that support his or
  her particular position. The purpose of rhetoric
  is to win over your opponents through the power
  of persuasive speech the purpose of
  argumentation is to discover the truth.

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Constructing Arguments

• Boss When constructing an argument about a
  particular moral issue, we begin by making a list
  of premises. Never begin by first stating your
  position or opinion and then seeking only
  evidence that supports your particular position
  in an attempt to persuade those who disagree with
  you to come around to your way of thinking and to
  dismiss any conflicting views.

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Socratic Dialogue

• Boss When coming up with premises, it is
  generally most productive to work with others,
  especially those who disagree with us. According
  to Socrates, it is through the process of
  dialogue that we are given an opportunity to try
  out our views and, ideally, come close to
  discovering the truth.

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Making An Argument

• Boss 1. Develop a list of premises. In a good
  argument, the premises will be relatively
  uncontroversial and should be acceptable to all
  or most reasonable people. Much of the
  disagreement in moral arguments stems not from
  disagreement about basic moral principles but
  from empirical facts or the definitions of
  ambiguous key terms.

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Making An Argument

• Boss 2. Eliminate irrelevant or weak premises.
  After coming up with a list of premises, go back
  over them and eliminate any that are weak or
  irrelevant.

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Making An Argument

• Boss 3. Come to a conclusion. The last step in
  constructing a moral argument is drawing the
  conclusion. The conclusion should take into
  account the information in the premises but
  should not state more than what is contained
  therein. Conclusions that are too broad include
  more than the premises say conclusions that are
  too narrow ignore certain premises.

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Making An Argument

• Boss 4. Try out the argument on others. The
  next step is to try out your argument. When doing
  this, be careful not to slip into rhetoric.
  Remember, the mark of a good philosopher is to be
  open-minded. If your argument is weak, you should
  be willing to revise it in your ongoing search
  for wisdom.

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Example Divorce

• When studies were conducted, scholars found that
  children suffered mainly from bad divorces rather
  than from divorce itself. This does not mean that
  divorce is a good thing or that you need to be
  for it. What it does mean is that if we want to
  make a good argument against divorce we have to
  find good reasons backed up by the facts. Without
  this we slip into rhetoric.

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Fallacies

• Boss When an argument is psychologically or
  emotionally persuasive but logically incorrect,
  it contains what logicians call an informal
  fallacy. A fallacy is mistake in thinking.

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Fallacy of Equivocation

• Sometimes we need to simply ask people to clarify
  their thoughts. If I say the word bark what do
  you think of? Some of you might think of the bark
  of a dog and others might think of the bark of a
  tree. These are two very different things that
  simply need clarification.

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Appeal to Force

• Boss The appeal to force occurs when we use or
  threaten to use force - whether physical,
  psychological, or legal - in an attempt to coerce
  another person to accept our conclusion. The
  phrase might is right summarizes the reasoning
  (or lack thereof) behind the appeal to force.

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Abusive Fallacy

• Boss This fallacy occurs when we disagree with
  someones conclusion, but instead of addressing
  their argument, we turn and attack or slur the
  character of the person(s) who made the argument.
  By doing so, we attempt to evoke a feeling of
  disapproval toward the person, so that
  disapproval of the person overflows into
  disapproval of the persons argument. The abusive
  fallacy is also known as the ad hominem fallacy.

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Avoiding Attacks

• We have to remember that bad people can make good
  arguments and that good people can make bad
  arguments.

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Circumstantial Fallacy

• Boss The circumstantial fallacy occurs when we
  argue that our opponent should accept a certain
  position because of special circumstances, such
  as his or her lifestyle or membership in a
  particular group based on race, ethnicity,
  gender, nationality, or religion.

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Insight or Double Standard?

• Ironically, sometimes those who are suffering
  from an addiction make the very best arguments
  for not starting drug use!

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Inappropriate Authority

• Boss We commit a fallacy when we appeal to
  inappropriate authority, to an expert or
  authority in a field other than the one under
  debate. The assumption that someone who is an
  authority in one field must also be knowledgeable
  in all other fields is sometimes called the halo
  effect.

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Authority Figures

• Boss Titles such as Doctor, Professor,
  President, and Lieutenant and the visual impact
  of uniforms such as white lab coats and police or
  military uniforms all increase our perception of
  a persons authority. We tend to believe and obey
  these authority figures even when they overextend
  their authority to the point where it would be
  appropriate to question their authority.

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Popular Appeal

• Boss The popular appeal fallacy occurs when we
  appeal to popular opinion to gain support for our
  conclusion. Popular appeal can take several
  different forms. The most common one in moral
  arguments is the bandwagon approach, when a
  certain conclusion is assumed to be right because
  everyone is doing it or everyone believes it.

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Tyranny of the Majority

• Boss Historian Alexis de Tocqueville, after
  visiting the United States in 1826, made the
  observation that, although democracy liberates us
  from tradition, the great democratic danger is
  enslavement to public opinion. In fact, studies
  show the majority of U.S. citizens define
  morality in terms of what the majority believe to
  be right and wrong.

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Hasty Generalization

• If you go on vacation somewhere such as Hawaii
  and have a rotten time, this does not mean Hawaii
  is a bad vacation spot. Or just because you
  disliked an actor in a film does not mean he or
  she will be bad in the next film. When we arrive
  at hasty conclusions we tend to block out new
  experiences and close our minds.

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Stereotypes

• Boss Stereotypes and prejudices are often based
  upon hasty generalizations. Negative stereotypes
  can lead to an unconscious devaluation of whole
  groups of people, particularly when not much
  interaction exists between the different cultural
  groups. During wartime, governments may
  intentionally create negative stereotypes of the
  enemy, thus justifying the dehumanization and
  destruction of that enemy.

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Fallacy of Accident

• Boss A rule that is universally accepted as a
  good rule need not be absolute. When applying
  both legal and moral rules, we need to consider
  the context in which the rule is being
  considered. People who rigidly apply moral rules
  regardless of the circumstances are known as
  absolutists.

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Fallacy of Ignorance

• Boss The fallacy of ignorance is committed
  whenever it is argued that our conclusion is true
  simply because it has not been proven false or
  that it is false because it has not been proven
  true. However, our being ignorant of how to prove
  the existence of something such as UFOs or free
  will does not mean that they do not exist.

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Agnostic

• There are all sorts of open questions in our
  universe and sometimes the wisest position is to
  wait until we have more evidence one way or the
  other.

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Universal Principles?

• Boss The ultimate source of universal moral
  principles has been a source of puzzlement to
  many ethicists. This does not mean, however, that
  universal moral principles do not exist. We also
  dont know the source of the laws of physics, but
  this ignorance on our part does not prove that
  the laws of physics dont exist, nor does it
  diminish the hold that the laws of physics have
  upon us as physical beings.

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Begging the Question

• Boss Begging the question is also known as
  circular reasoning. This fallacy occurs when a
  premise and conclusion are actually rewordings of
  the same proposition. In other words, when making
  the argument, we assume the truth of our
  conclusion rather than offering proof for it.

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Circular Reasoning

• Boss Voluntary euthanasia is morally
  acceptable because people have the right to
  choose when and how they will end their lives.
  The conclusion of this argument is a rewording of
  the premise. Rather than offering proof that
  voluntary euthanasia is morally acceptable, the
  premise assumes that it is morally acceptable.

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Irrelevant Conclusion

• Boss In the fallacy of irrelevant conclusion,
  the conclusions are irrelevant in a particular
  way. This fallacy is committed when we support or
  reject a conclusion using premises that are, in
  fact, directed at a different conclusion. In
  other words, we change the topic to a related but
  different subject that we feel more comfortable
  discussing.

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Example

• Boss Rosa Dont you think that it was wrong
  for Michael to copy the test answers from the
  person sitting next to him?
• Katrina Oh, I dont know about that. If I had
  been in his situation, I probably would have done
  the same thing.

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Descriptive and Prescriptive

• Remember that a descriptive statement tells us
  what is done or even what we might do, but a
  prescriptive statement is always about what we
  should do. That is why prescriptive statements
  are so prevalent in ethics and morality.

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Naturalistic Fallacy

• Boss Only women are physically capable of
  bearing and nursing children. Therefore, women
  ought to be the primary caregivers of children.
  While it may be true that women are physically
  capable of bearing and nursing children, and men
  are not (what is), this does not mean that women
  have a moral obligation to be the primary
  caregivers of children (what ought to be).

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Appeal to Tradition

• Boss This fallacy also goes from an is to an
  ought statement. Whereas the naturalistic
  fallacy points to what is natural, this fallacy
  appeals to tradition or cultural norms as a
  reason for a certain practice The Negro has
  never been recognized as a person in this country
  or by the U.S. Constitution. Therefore, slavery
  should remain legal.

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Moral or Legal?

• Boss The U.S. Constitution is a legal rather
  than a moral document. Our constitution has
  allowed slavery and prevented women from voting
  and, to this day, allows people to own handguns,
  but this does not necessarily mean that these
  traditions are or were moral. On the contrary,
  the provisions of the constitution itself should
  be judged in the light of moral principles.

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Moral Dilemmas

• Boss In a moral dilemma, no matter what
  solution we choose, it will involve doing
  something wrong in order to do what is right.
  Solutions to moral dilemmas are not right or
  wrong, only better or worse. For example one
  moral rule might be that we should always tell
  the truth. But what if our telling the truth will
  put someone in danger? What do we do? We now have
  a moral dilemma!

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Slippery Slope

• If we are not centered in our compassion and
  wisdom, one of the classic issues we often end up
  facing is the slippery slope dilemma. This is
  where we overlook small offences such as little
  white lies, and eventually find ourselves caught
  up in a pattern of dishonesty and deceit.
  Eventually the consequences can lead to the loss
  of trust in a relationship.

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Encountering Dilemmas

• Boss In a study of moral reasoning and the
  college experience, discussion of real-life
  dilemmas was found to be more effective in
  promoting moral reasoning than the acquisition of
  knowledge in specific content areas, such as the
  study of different ethical theories.

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Resolving Moral Dilemmas

• Boss Resolving a moral dilemma is similar to
  constructing an argument. It begins with the
  collection of relevant facts and moral principles
  and ends with a proposed solution or conclusion.
  As with moral argumentation, it is important to
  resist the temptation to start with a solution
  and then rationalize it by selecting only the
  facts and principles that support it.

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Describe the Facts

• Boss In the process of gathering the facts, we
  may discover that what at first appeared to be a
  moral dilemma was not a dilemma after all.

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List the Relevant Principles

• The next thing we have to do is be clear about
  what our values really are. This is much more
  difficult if we have never taken the time to
  really explore these things before a crisis hits.

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List Possible Actions

• It is often by letting our minds wander freely
  while brainstorming that we can get ourselves out
  of a false dilemma mode where things need to be
  either one way or another and finding a third way
  that meets more of our needs.

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Devise a Plan of Action

• Boss Highlight the courses of action that seem
  the best and delete the others. Your final plan
  of action can include a combination of some of
  the alternative courses of action, just in case
  your first plan doesnt work.

81
Remain Flexible

• We need to stay open to new information and new
  ways of dealing with things. If we can be sure of
  anything in this world, it is that things change.

82
Pragmatic

• Boss Some of our premises or assumptions may
  later prove to be false, and new facts may come
  to light. Thus, we can only do our best with the
  facts at hand. We also need to be pragmatic.
  Lofty moral solutions may seem ideal on paper but
  may not be practical or may meet with too much
  resistance. Thus, we need to ask ourselves which
  course of action is most likely to work given the
  particular circumstances.

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Moral Reasoning

• Boss Logic or moral reasoning is a tool rather
  than an end in itself. Moral reasoning is only
  one of the components of moral development. Moral
  sentiments like sympathy and intuitive truths are
  also important for ethical decision making.
  Indeed, just as a person who is deficient in
  moral reasoning can make decisions that he or she
  later comes to regret, so too can people who are
  rational but lack sympathy inadvertently behave
  in cruel and unfeeling ways.