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Leadership and Ethics Introduction to Moral Reasoning

Leadership and Ethics Introduction to Moral Reasoning. “We haven’t taught you any real answers, we have only taught the skills you need better to seek your own answers.” Admiral James D. Watkins. Leadership and Ethics Introduction to Moral Reasoning. Discussion Objectives:

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Leadership and Ethics Introduction to Moral Reasoning

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  1. Leadership and EthicsIntroduction to Moral Reasoning “We haven’t taught you any real answers, we have only taught the skills you need better to seek your own answers.” Admiral James D. Watkins

  2. Leadership and EthicsIntroduction to Moral Reasoning • Discussion Objectives: • Comprehend the basic purpose and objective behind understanding moral reasoning. • Comprehend and apply right and wrong conduct utilizing theories of relativism. • Comprehend that psychological pursuit of self-interest is not necessarily inimical to the establishment of principles of morality or the rule of law. • Comprehend the difference between narrow, short-term self-interest and more enlightened or long-term self-interest.

  3. Leadership and Ethics Legal & Moral Ethics We cannot live our lives as Naval Officers and be pacifists in the strict definition of the word. Pope Paul the sixth: “As long as man remains the weak, changeable and even wicked being he often shows himself to be, defensive armaments will, alas, be necessary.”

  4. Leadership and Ethics Legal & Moral Ethics • Roman Catholic Vatican II Council observed: “All those who enter the military service in loyalty to their country should look upon themselves as custodians of the security and freedom of their fellow countrymen; and when they carry out their duty properly, they are contributing to the maintenance of peace.”

  5. Leadership and EthicsMoral Reasoning Every human being engages in moral reasoning. Consequences for actions Basis of felt obligations - Promises - Oaths Everyday morality is not systematic - What do we value? - Why do we value it?

  6. Leadership and EthicsMoral Theories Attempts to more fully articulate our everyday moral thinking. Moral Theories are somewhat abstract… - Evaluate our current moral beliefs - Consistence in our beliefs Provide guidance for complex issues - Complex decisions - Value conflicts

  7. Leadership and EthicsMoral Philosophers Traditionally three main categories • Agents (persons) What makes a person vicious or virtuous? • Actions Which actions are right, which wrong? • Consequences Which consequences are good, which bad?

  8. Leadership and EthicsThe Ring of Gyges Let’s consider the story “The Ring of Gyges.” Do you think that all people would act in the same way if given the ring?

  9. Leadership and EthicsThe Ring of Gyges Why be Moral at all? If we can lie and steal with impunity then why be moral? If our deeds sometimes go unrewarded or even unrecognized, then why be moral?

  10. Leadership and EthicsWhy Ethics Is So Hard • Morality perceptions change over time • Thomas Jefferson’s perception of slavery • Civil rights today • Two complicating factors • Time pressures • Limits of Knowledge • Impact of emotion • Admiral Boorda’s suicide

  11. Leadership and EthicsTrying Out One’s New Sword • Moral isolationism • Strange cultures • separate societies • sealed units 1. Does the isolating barrier between cultures block praise as well as blame? 2. What is involved in judging?

  12. Leadership and Ethics Relativism Descriptive relativism claims that members of different cultures have different moral beliefs. Normative relativism claims that the truth of moral beliefs depends upon particular cultures, such that the belief that cannibalism is right can be true for culture A but false for culture B.

  13. Leadership and Ethics Descriptive or Cultural Relativism Many people in contemporary society are inclined toward relativism - roughly, the view that there is no objective truth in morality, right and wrong are only matters of opinion that vary from culture to culture, and possibly, from person to person.

  14. Leadership and Ethics Normative or Ethical Relativism Normative relativism has some rather undesirable implications: • it prohibits us from ever morally condemning another culture’s values and practices; • it suggests that we need look no further that our own culture for moral guidance; • it renders the notions of moral progress and moral reform incoherent.

  15. Leadership and EthicsYour Moral Values 1. What are our own deepest moral values? 1a. What qualities do you look for in other people as well as in yourself? 1b. Are these values you think everyone shares, or are some of your values ones that you feel are not always observed by our culture as a whole? 1c. How have your values changed, if at all? 1d. What influenced their development?

  16. Leadership and Ethics 2a. Why do you think people are moral ? 2b. Is it because they fear punishment or ostracism? 2c. Is it because they believe that they should always do the right thing just because it is the right thing? 2d. Is it because they believe they are following “higher” orders?

  17. Leadership and EthicsIssues 3a. What is the moral issue that you are most undecided about? 3b. Describe the pro’s and con’s in regard to this issue. 3c. How do you go about arriving at a decision when it is unavoidable?

  18. Leadership and EthicsEthical Problems 4a. Is telling the truth more important than avoiding harm to others? 4b. Why or why not?

  19. Rules of Engagement What would you do? Why?

  20. Leadership and EthicsEthical Problems 5a. Suppose you cold save one thousand people from certain death by killing a single innocent person. 5b. Would that be permissible? 5c. Why or why not?

  21. Leadership and EthicsEthical Problems 6a. Imagine that 5 of our shipmates are ill and you own all of the drugs they need to be well. Are you obliged to give them the medicine? 6b. What if you only had enough to cure two of them? 6c. How would you decide what to do?

  22. Leadership and Ethics Frame work for Ethical Decision-Making 1. Identify the problem. • Be alert; be sensitive to morally charged situations. • Gather information and don't jump to conclusions. • State the case briefly with as many of the relevant facts and circumstances as you can gather with the decision time available.

  23. Leadership and Ethics 2. Specify feasible alternatives. • State the live options at each stage of decision-making for each decision-maker. • You then should ask what are the likely consequences of various decisions. • You should remember to take into account good or bad consequences not just for yourself, [your squad or company], but for all affected persons.

  24. Leadership and Ethics 3. Use your ethical resources to identify morally significant factors in each alternative. • Principles • Respect for autonomy • Don’t harm • Do good • Be fair • Moral models • Use ethically informed sources • Context • Personal judgments

  25. Leadership and Ethics 4. Propose and test possible resolutions. • Perform a sensitivity analysis. • Impact on others’ ethical performance? • Would a good person do this? • What if everyone in these circumstances did this?… • Does it seem right? Are you still satisfied with your choice?

  26. Leadership and Ethics 5. Make your Choice. • Live with it • Learn from it. This means accepting responsibility for your choice. It also means accepting the possibility that you might be wrong or that you will make a less than optimal decision. The object is to make a good choice with the information available, not to make a perfect choice. Learn from your failures and success.

  27. Bottom Line • Our profession requires a distinguished ethical code • Not always written, nor easy to understand or execute • Specific, complex and binding on all of us

  28. Bottom Line We may have to lay down our lives in the service of our nation or risk/sacrifice the lives of those under our command. Therefore, although our service’s ethic is complicated, it is the moral responsibility of everyone in it

  29. Leadership and EthicsNext Class - Constitutional Ethics Reading Assignment: ETHICS, Chapter 2 Constitutional Ethics and the Moral Obligations of Military Service Reading Objectives: • Comprehend the constraints imposed on the military by the Constitution of the United States. • Comprehend the historical moral and ethical justification of military service. • Comprehend the four principles of the Constitutional Paradigm. • Comprehend the four prerequisites to principle IV in the Constitutional Paradigm.

  30. Leadership and Ethics“Moral means what is right” “You cannot live in two different worlds, but rather must meet the same standards in both your personal and your professional life, for without a high sense of moral responsibility you may have achieved by your personal example in other areas.” Admiral de Cazanove

  31. Think about it

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