module 8-10

• Moral character


  Refers to the existence or lack of virtues such as integrity, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty
• Moral character


  Can be conceptualized as an individual's disposition to think, feel, and behave in an ethical versus unethical manner, or as the subset of individual differences relevant to morality
• Character


  Comes from the ancient Greek term charaktêr, which initially referred to the mark impressed upon a coin, and later came to refer more generally to any distinctive feature by which one thing is distinguished from other
• Character


  In contemporary usage, often refers to a set of qualities or characteristics that can be used to differentiate between persons
• Character


  In philosophy, the term is typically used to refer to the particularly moral dimension of a person
• Approaches to explain the development of moral character

  • Virtues
  • Disposition
  • Circular relations of acts and character
  • Theoretical perspectives
• Moral character and virtues


  Represents the concept that individual's actions are based upon inner moral virtue
• Virtue ethics


  Instead of asking "what should we do?", virtue ethics asks "what kind of person should we be?"
• Virtues


  • Good habits that help you act well
  • Virtuous actions are guided by good reasoning
  • You develop virtues by practice
• Virtue


  The mean between two extremes of excess and deficiency
• Aristotle considered goodness of character as a product of the practice of virtuous behavior
• Moral character as dispositions


  Particular kinds of properties or characteristics that objects can possess<|>Refer to stable and enduring qualities or tendencies within a person
• Moral character


  Refers to the overall ethical identity and integrity of an individual
• Moral character traits


  Individual moral qualities that are part of a person's overall moral character
• Virtue


  A moral character trait for which an individual is deserving of a positive reactive attitude
• Vice


  A moral character trait for which an individual is deserving of a negative reactive attitude
• Moral character


  A disposition of moral decisions, implying that the moral decisions a person makes are significantly shaped by their underlying moral character
• Repetition of action and its effect on the person

  1. Habit: Behavior that has become automatic through repetition

  2. Education: Repetitive training and experience that cultivate skills

  3. Habitus: A stable quality that resides in an individual and inclines them toward certain kinds of actions
• Actus humanus


  Acts done with full knowledge and deliberate will
• Actus humanis


  Acts that lack deliberate will and full knowledge
• Will


  The rational power of human beings to act, the ability to choose what is good (or what one thinks is good) directed by reason, can be hindered by external forces and lack of knowledge
• Humans are self-governing because they can choose to perform an action or not, and due to self-possession and self-governance, humans both intend their actions and bear responsibility for them
• Virtue


  • Good moral character
• Virtue and vice


  • Moral character
  • Moral decisions
• Stages of moral development

  1. Repetition of action

  2. Type of action

  3. Intention and responsibility
• Lawrence Kohlberg


  American psychologist and educator known for his theory of moral development, formulated a theory asserting that individuals progress through six distinct stages of moral reasoning from infancy to adulthood
• Kohlberg's theory was based on a series of moral dilemmas, including The Heinz Dilemma
• Kohlberg's stages of moral development

  • Level 1: Preconventional Level (Stage 1: Punishment/Obedience Orientation, Stage 2: Instrumental Purpose Orientation)
  • Level 2: Conventional Level (Stage 3: Good Boy/Nice Girl Orientation, Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation)
  • Level 3: Postconventional or Principled Level (Stage 5: Social Contract Orientation, Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle Orientation)
• Reason


  The capacity of the mind to think, comprehend, and make judgments through a process of logical analysis, an innate and exclusive human ability that utilizes new or existing information as bases to consciously make sense out of things while applying logic, associated with thinking, cognition, and intellect, spells the difference of moral judgments from the mere expressions of personal preference
• Impartiality


  The quality of being unbiased and objective in creating moral decisions, involves the idea that each individual's interest and point of view are equally important, a principle of justice holding that decisions ought to be based on objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias
• Reason and impartiality become the basic prerequisite for morality as one is expected to be able to deliver clear, concise, rightful, and appropriate judgments made out of logic and understanding in an unbiased and unprejudiced manner while considering the general welfare to accurately concoct moral decisions