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Impediments

The document discusses impediments to ethical decision-making, highlighting factors such as egocentrism, failure to mature in reasoning, and refusal to let go of wrongful thinking. It emphasizes the importance of balancing reason and will, as well as the necessity of moral courage to implement knowledge into action. Additionally, it asserts that knowledge alone does not guarantee ethical behavior, and individuals must take responsibility for their actions based on their capacity for choice.

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2 views3 pages

Impediments

The document discusses impediments to ethical decision-making, highlighting factors such as egocentrism, failure to mature in reasoning, and refusal to let go of wrongful thinking. It emphasizes the importance of balancing reason and will, as well as the necessity of moral courage to implement knowledge into action. Additionally, it asserts that knowledge alone does not guarantee ethical behavior, and individuals must take responsibility for their actions based on their capacity for choice.

Uploaded by

Tribune Riot
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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D.

Impediments to Ethical Decision Making


There are instances when our reason runs
counter with what we do. There are also instances
In understanding the when our will does not jibe with what we know as
difference between proper. As a result, there are times we end up
reason and will, we are to consciously doing that we know as wrong and
a) point out the refrain from doing what we know as right.
significance of knowing
Here are some known hindrances why we fail to
and actually executing
execute what is ethical and consciously do what
good moral decisions; is unethical. This enumeration is not exclusive.
and b) evaluate actual There are others hindrances out there that we
and hypothetical ethical encounter in our everyday life. You are hereby
behavior relative to asked to enumerate more based on your daily
planning and execution experiences.
of important ethical
1. Egocentrism
decisions; and c) state the
Every person generally focuses on her own
significance of
thinking and feeling. We experience the world vis
maintaining a healthy a vis our feelings of pains and pleasure, joy and
balance and interaction sadness, and what we long for and what we
between reason and will. dislike. Our experience is heavily influenced by
how we think and feel and this thinking and
feeling influence a lot our decision-making.

If I am a teacher, it’s very easy to be engrossed with my tasks and needs and
I may not see things from the parents’ and administrators’ points of view. Ethical
decision making needs to see points of view that are opposed to our own. We
experience that when we focus on our reasoning and feeling, we will not hear and
see what others are saying and doing.

When too much focus is given to the self, we fail to see objectively what
surrounds us. If we fall in this trap, we lose our objectivity and become one sided
towards our personal concern.

2. Failure to go with our developmental Maturity


Our thinking and decision-making capability grow side by side with our age.
In the words of Dr. Carlos Medina (1998), “We keep on defining and re-defining
our plausibility context.” This means we undergo different stages in our lives. As
children, we think, act, and speak like children. Our world is focused on the
children’s world characterized by toys, kiddie fun activities and food. When we
become adolescents, we leave our children’s world behind to embrace a new world
belonging to the young and energetic people. We start to outgrow our love for toys
and kiddie stuffs. We start to see the worlds using the lens of young people. When
we turn adults, we leave the adolescent life behind and become more serious with
life.

The problem on ethical decision-making crops up if we fail to grow. When


we continue to use the pattern in deciding and dealing with our concerns using our
younger day strategies, we will experience problem. If we deal with an adolescent
concern using a child’s reasoning or an adult concern using a child or adolescent
perspective, we will encounter problems.
3. Refusal to let go of our wrongful thinking and see things objectively
One who says he/she does not believe in hell because he/she’s never been
there is a very difficult person to convince. One who says that there can be no global
warming because nobody proved that the earth is getting warmer through a
scientific instrument all at the same time in a global scope is a person not worthy
of our time for discussion purposes. If a person refuses to believe, no amount of
convincing effort can change her/his mind.

If we only base our decision on what we have experienced, our decision can
turn faulty because our experience is often times very limited. There are those who
create a picture of what the world is through what they virtually hear and see and
just use them as bases on what they claim as true. Again, this is very limited
because what we hear and see virtually together with the information we derive
from social media is often times not so reliable.

E. Moral Courage and Will

Even if the person is very intelligent and has a lot of ideas but s/he lack the
will and power to implement his ideas, then the ideas remain to be abstract. The
will is important to make knowledge possible. This explains why we consider an
action to be a human act. Our knowledge as an awareness or being conscious of
one’s actions including its possible consequences requires human will so that it
becomes palatable. Since the act of knowing is always consciousness of something
which is inevitably linked to the subject or the knower, then It is not enough for
an individual to know what is good. What really count are his good acts.
Hence, an insane person and a three-year old child are not liable for their actions
since they are not capable of acting with proper knowledge. Their actions can never
be considered as immoral. College students and professionals are expected to be
possessors of knowledge; thus, they cannot claim excuses for their immoral
actions. They are liable for the consequences of their actions. According to
Aristotle, knowledge is the first element of ethical practice. This knowledge
provides a framework for deliberating about the most appropriate
technique(s) by which the good can be attained.

But it should be noted that although knowledge is a requirement for


considering an act to be a human act, being knowledgeable or being aware of what
is ethical or moral is not a guarantee that the person is already considered as an
ethical or moral person.

The Freedom of the Will, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, is the power
which human beings have in determining their actions according to the judgment
of their reasons. This always involves a choice or an option of whether to do or not
to do a certain action. Without this freedom of choice, responsibility and/or
liability on the part of the individual would be meaningless. Hence, insane people
who have no control of their minds and children who have no idea of what they are
doing or are not free to do or not to do, are not responsible for their actions. On
the other hand, matured people, college students and professionals are expected
to be free from doing or not doing; thus, they are responsible or liable for their
actions.

To develop the will, voluntariness is required which is an act of consenting


or accepting a certain action whether it is done whole-heartedly, half-heartedly, or
non-heartedly. According to Aristotle, the moral evaluation of an action
presupposes the attribution of responsibility to a human agent; thus, responsible
action must be undertaken voluntarily (Nicomachean Ethics III). It is then
important to sharpen the “will” so that we can become consistent in doing the right
and the good.

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