An Integral Approach to Ethics

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.

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

Different Views? Do women see the world differently than

men do? Women’s studies programs are asking us to take this question very seriously, not only in the study of ethics, but in other areas as well.

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.”

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.”

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.”

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 don’t seem to grow.

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.

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

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.

Forms of Resistance Boss: “Ignorance: Not learning about a

particular issue because we don’t 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.”

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.

‘I’m Struggling’: Wrestling with an issue as a substitute for taking a stand.

Distractions: Turning to diversions to keep from thinking about troubling issues.”

Doublethink Boss: “Doublethink involves holding two

contradictory views at the same time and believing both to be true.”

Doublethink Boss: “In Allan Bloom’s 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!”

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!

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 life’s richness.”

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.”

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.”

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.

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.”

Idiot Compassion Many political programs that don’t 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.

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.

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.”

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’.”

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.”

Moral Tragedy Boss: “There may be times when we know that

a person’s 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 person’s 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.”

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.

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.”

Factual Statements You can’t 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.

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.”

Abusive Fallacy Boss: “This fallacy occurs when we disagree

with someone’s 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 person’s argument. The abusive fallacy is also known as the ad hominem fallacy.”

Avoiding Attacks We have to remember that bad people

can make good arguments and that good people can make bad arguments.

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.”

Insight or Double Standard? Ironically, sometimes those who are

suffering from an addiction make the very best arguments for not starting drug use!

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’.”

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 person’s 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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

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 don’t know the source of the laws of physics, but this ignorance on our part does not prove that the laws of physics don’t exist, nor does it diminish the hold that the laws of physics have upon us as physical beings.”

Begging the QuestionBoss: “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.”

Circular ReasoningBoss: “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.”

Irrelevant ConclusionBoss: “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.”

ExampleBoss: “Rosa: Don’t you think that it was wrong for Michael to copy the test answers from the person sitting next to him?

Katrina: Oh, I don’t know about that. If I had been in his situation, I probably would have done the same thing.”

Descriptive and PrescriptiveRemember 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.

Naturalistic FallacyBoss: “‘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).”

Appeal to TraditionBoss: “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’.”

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.”

Moral DilemmasBoss: “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!

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.

Encountering DilemmasBoss: “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.”

Resolving Moral DilemmasBoss: “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.”

Describe the FactsBoss: “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.”

List the Relevant PrinciplesThe 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.

List Possible ActionsIt 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.

Devise a Plan of ActionBoss: “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 doesn’t work.”

Remain FlexibleWe 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.

PragmaticBoss: “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.”

Moral ReasoningBoss: “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.”