ETHICS

• Critical thinking in ethics involves developing discerning judgment based on standards
• Human actions are derived from decisions, which are outcomes of thoughts
• Critical thinking is about improving the quality of thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them
• Two modes of thinking in critical thinking: First-Order Thinking (ordinary thinking) and Second-Order Thinking (critical thinking)
• Dangers or hindrances to critical thinking include egocentrism and sociocentrism
• Elements of thought in critical thinking include point of view, purpose, question at issue, information, interpretation and inference, concepts, assumptions, implications and consequences
• Characteristics of a well-cultivated critical thinker include raising vital questions, gathering and assessing relevant information, coming to well-reasoned conclusions, thinking open-mindedly, and communicating effectively with others
• Asking questions is essential in critical thinking and ethical reasoning
• Philosophy focuses on the ethical formation and transformation of the self
• Human acts are distinguished from acts of man by being performed with full knowledge through free will
• Elements of a human act include knowledge of the act, freedom in doing the act, and voluntariness or free will in doing the act
• Moral distinctions include moral actions (in conformity with norms of morality), immoral actions (not in conformity with norms of morality), and amoral actions (neutral or indifferent to norms of morality)
• Amoral actions stand neutral or indifferent with the norms of morality, neither good nor bad
• Actions become good or bad depending on their intention and/or circumstances
• Sources of the morality of human acts:

  • Object (Act itself)
  • Intention (Purpose)
  • Circumstances
• Object (Act itself):

  • Primary source for judging the morality of an act
  • Morality of a human act depends primarily on the 'object' rationally chosen by the deliberate will
• Intention:

  • Refers to the goal which the agent aims to achieve
  • Subjective element of a moral act because the intention for doing the act lies within us
• Circumstances:

  • Conditions outside the act that influence or affect it
  • Include person, place, time, manner, condition of the agent, the thing itself, and the means
• Circumstances of person:

  • Refers to the doer [agent] of the act and the receiver
  • Principles: a good act can become better or worse by the reason of the doer, and by the person to whom the act is done
• Circumstances of place:

  • Refers to the space or locality where the act is performed
  • Example: creating scandal is bad, worse when done inside a church
• Circumstances of time:

  • Refers to the exact moment when the act is performed
  • Example: fasting is good, more meritorious if done on designated times like Ash Wednesday
• Circumstances of manner:

  • Refers to how the agent manages to do the act
  • Example: managing to have a sexual act by making false promises
• Condition of the agent:

  • Answers the question of the agent's condition when performing the act
  • Example: failure to attend mass is bad, but if invincibly ignorant, no sin is committed
• Circumstance of the thing:

  • Denotes the special quality of the object
  • Example: object stolen is a famous religious icon
• Means:

  • Answers how the act is done and by whose help
  • Example: robbing a bank with the help of security personnel
• Moral accountability and responsibility:

  • Accountability: deservingness of blame or praise
  • Responsibility: causation, duty, obligation towards others
  • Moral vs Legal Accountability
• Conditions for Moral Accountability:

  • Attribution conditions: incriminating and excusing conditions
  • Degree conditions: mitigating and aggravating conditions
• Attribution Condition:

  • Agency Condition: person is only accountable for actions they cause
  • Knowledge Condition: person knows the moral quality of their action
  • Intentionality Condition: person intends or freely chooses to perform the action
• Impediments to Full Knowledge:

  • Impaired by ignorance, error, and inattention

  1. Ignorance: invincible and vincible

  2. Error: widespread in mass-media culture

  3. Inattention: result of various factors like drunkenness
• Impediments to Full Freedom and Consent:

  • Impaired by passion, fear, force, social pressure, and habit

  1. Passion or Concupiscence

  2. Fear

  3. Social pressure/Peer pressure

  4. Force

  5. Habit