The Moral Ecosystem

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The Moral Ecosystem

• Professional Ethics

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The Moral Ecosystem

• Agents (actors)
• Claimants (stakeholders)
• Basic needs
• Legitimate expectations
• Obligations
• Values
• Interests

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The Moral Ecosystem
Claimant
Agent
Claimant
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Claimant
Agent
Claimant
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Bivins, pp.28-44

• We are actors
• agents
• Our actions affect others
• claimants
• stakeholder
• We are linked
• Clients
• Organizations
• Profession
• Society

• Linkage requires consideration of otherswe are
  obligated
• Rosss Obligations or Duties
• Fidelity
• Gratitude
• Justice
• Beneficence
• Self-improvement
• Non-injury

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Bivins, pp.28-44
Moral agent
Moral claimants
Duties
client

• Fidelity
• Gratitude
• Justice
• Beneficence
• Self-improvement
• Non-injury

organization
profession
society
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Who says were connected?

• Irreducibly social nature of existence (Dewey)
• Complexity theory
• Nexus Small World Theory

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Irreducibly Social Nature of Human Experience
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Complexity Theory
Interconnection
Ecological theories
Coevolution
Transaction
Non-linear dynamical systems
Complecti to weave together
Living systems theory
Complexus network
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Small Worlds or Network Theory
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The Point

• We are inextricably entangled with one another
• Our actions affect those to whom we are
  entangled
• We can expect certain things from those to whom
  we are bound (rights)
• Others can expect certain things from us
  (obligations)

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Bivins, pp.28-44
Moral agent
Moral claimants
Duties
client

• Fidelity
• Gratitude
• Justice
• Beneficence
• Self-improvement
• Non-injury

organization
profession
society
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Moral Considerability
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Moral Considerability

• We are partially connected to everything
• Do we have equal obligation to everything to
  which we are connected?
• How do we define our world of moral
  considerability?
• Who or what exerts the strongest and weakest
  pulls on us?

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distant
proximate
immediate
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• Rosss Obligations
• Fidelity
• Gratitude
• Justice
• Beneficence
• Self-improvement
• Non-injury

distant
proximate
immediate
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"Until he extends the circle of compassion to ALL
living things, man will not himself find peace."
Albert Schweitzer
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distant
proximate
immediate
More-than-humans?
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Values Value Systems
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What is a value?

• Something we think has worth
• Something we hold in high regard

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What is a value system?

• An interconnected complex of personal or social
  values

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SOCIAL SOURCES OF VALUES
Economic
Celebrity Idols
Churches
Organizational
Popular Culture
Religion
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
CULTURE
Schools
Ethnic Culture
Legal
Political
Ethnicity
FAMILY
Tradition
FRIENDS
Peers
family narrative
Religion
Mentors
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Social Institutions
Culture
Family
Friends
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Conflicts Dilemmas
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Conflict / Dilemma

• Problematic condition
• Problematic choice

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Conflict as dissonance or tension

• Intra-personal or Interpersonal
• Among values
• Among interests
• Among attitudes
• Learned approach orientation
• Among habits
• Learned behaviors automatic response

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Intra-personal Conflicts

• Internal
• Choice between good and bad
• Choice between two goods
• If I perform act A, then Jennifer would get a
  raise If I perform act B, then Charlie gets the
  raise both are deserving
• Choice between to evils
• Do I vote for the rich mean spirited guy, or the
  rich smooth-talking guy, both of whom are
  beholden to certain special interests?

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Inter-personal Conflicts

• Between or among two or more people
• Conflicts of values
• Conflicts of interests
• Conflict of attitude
• Conflict of habit

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We dont solve moral problems, we get over
themJohn Dewey
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