Throughout, this book has lots of good examples worthy of discussion

Preface: the book’s goal: "to help change the way we think about the world and to provide through that change, a practical set of mental tools by means of which good people can make tough choices."

Moral temptations are right Vs wrong choices.

Ethical dilemmas are right Vs right choices. Egs on 16-17.

Four paradigms of ethical dilemmas

truth Vs loyalty

individual Vs community

short-term Vs long-term

justice Vs mercy

Ask: whose dilemmas is it?

Look for a middle course, a third option; beware the bipolar dilemma

How paradigms above help us analyze a dilemma:

a. Helps us cut through complexity by providing patterns of analysis; realizing dilemmas are manageable

b. Helps us get to the heart of the matter, strip away extraneous detail

c. Helps us separate ethical dilemmas from moral temptations

Three principles for decision making:

a. Utilitarian principle: greatest good for greatest number (ends based thinking); requires estimating consequences-- what if..

b. Categorical imperative (Kant): follow the principle you want everyone else to follow; requires ignoring consequences and following the rule

c. The golden rule -- at the center of every major religion; requires reversibility

Chernobyl example: what’s new in history is the scale and power of our systems

three ways to be wrong:

violation of law

departure from truth

deviation from moral rectitude -- we all have the inner moral compass, though it may be faint in some

Sidebar on Character Education

Concludes that Kohlberg’s techniques of moral dilemma discussion have been successful while Simon’s values clarification techniques have not. Today’s movement (see Lickona’s Educating for Character) tries to steer between values-neutral approach and codified codes of behavior. Research says what works are

moral dilemma discussion programs

cooperative-learning environments where students take responsibility for theirs and others’ learning

school climates based on clear standards, mutual respect and shared governance

clear communication of peer- and community-based consensus on appropriate behavior

SCANNING THE MORAL BAROMETER reviews hopeful signs and causes of concern today -- lots of good stats etc.

Sidebar: Why Do children Do Right?

Summarizes Kohlberg’s work in the 1950s:

stage one: fear of punishment or respect for authority

stage two: sense of fairness -- follow rules only when someone’s interest is served

stage three: expectations of others and Golden rule and "basic values"

stage four: generalized moral system, rules and duties; a kind of categorical imperative

stage five: values relative the one’s group, but understand implied social contract; utilitarian

stage six: personal commitment to universal moral principles, recognizing people as ends not means

mentally engaged; care

DEFINING ETHICS: MORALS AND MANNERS -- he doesn’t worry much about definitions

DEFINING ETHICS: OBEDIENCE TO THE UNENFORCEABLE

the relations of ethics and law -- when ethics collapses, law rushes in

ethics and free will -- steer between license and excessive regulation to permit real creativity

ethics as measure of national strength -- lies in the middle ground; what ruins states is lack of trust

Sidebar on the Golden Mean -- 70-71

DEFINING ETHICS: DELIBERATE LAWBREAKING -- civil disobedience, with full willingness to take the consequences

opens with Stafford’s poem "Treaveling Through the Dark"

Definition: Value: what has intrinsic worth; an end in itself

political, economic, culinary are different from moral

MORAL VALUES, LETTUCE VALUES, AMD CODES OF ETHICS

lots of different kinds of codes: 1- Com.; Boy and Girl Scout Law; West Point Honor code; Rotary 4 way test,; corporate codes etc.

Sidebar on growing trend of corporate ethics codes

BRAINSTORMING FOR UNIVERSALS: THE CORE VALUES

Givers several sample lists from philosophy and theology, including his own, the result of his discussions with ethical individuals:

love

truth

fairness

freedom

unity

tolerance

responsibility

respect for life

ETHICAL RELATIVISM AND THE MOTHER’S UNCLE SYNDROME

uses analogy of science to show how though there are "small but nonnegligible probabilities" of balls passing through walls, soare ethical laws like Newtonian physics -- where we live our normal lives (the odd example of ok to steal from mother’s uncle doesn’t undermine the core values)

Sidebar on Situation Ethics and Fletcher, notes at the end how the term has come to mean different from what Fletcher said about Chrsitian love

ABORTION, RIOTS AND THE VALUES-TACTICS LADDER

Values > Goals > Plans > Tactics: we find it easy to agree on valaues but we come unglued at the lower levels

"Leadership ... is about articulating shared values and developing a vision for the future"

long discussion of the things abortion opponents can agree on, with only the definition of when life begins separating them

LA riots as "moral meltdown"

long analysis of the dilemma of transferring the female chemist to the dioxin lab she wanted to work in

SIDEBAR comparing Kohlberg and Gilligan on gender moralities: Men tend toward ethic of justice, seeing rights as most important, while women tend toward ethic of care, emphasizing responsibilities;

hierarchies Vs networks

formal & abstract Vs contextual and narrative

etc. -- worth reviewing

Kidder continues to resist splitting hairs with definitions and focusing on the issues

Analysis through the four paradigms:

justice Vs mercy

short Vs long term

self Vs community

truth Vs loyalty

resolution often depends on the knowledge we have

purpose of analysis through paradigms is understanding, not resolution, which will use the three decision making rules

If none of the four paradigms fit, the issue may be a moral temptation not an ethical dilemma

PARADIGM # 1: TRUTH VS LOYALTY

Truth often turns out to be what we all agree to be true: accuracy, completeness, relevance

Summarizes Bok on lying and trust as foundation of relations

THREE EXAMPLES 123-126

lots of good examples in this chapter, which could lead to good discussions

Individual Vs Community

looks at the historical perspective; by 1980s economic individualism had become public greed (Boesky) and perversion of community under commies had come to light

John Gardner’s 8 principles of community:

1. wholeness incorporating diversity

2. A shared culture

3. Good internal communication

4. Caring, Trust and Teamwork

5. Group maintenance and government

6. Participation of the sharing of leadership tasks

7. Development of young people

8. Links with the outside world

Short Vs Long Term

economic: in late 19c shift from self- control to self realization and the necessity of consumption to create demand for what gets produced

environmentalism

more interesting case studies -- without resolutions

Justice Vs Mercy -- the balancing of the two came about around the end of Old Testament times

Only Four Paradigms?

Science and humanities -- measuring or character, objective or subjective

measurement: short or long term, self or community

character: justice or mercy, truth or loyalty

the point of the paradigms, he repeats, is the analysis that helps determine what goods are in conflict

Reviews the 3 principles for resolving dilemmas:

Utilitarianism -- can be act util’ism--taking whatever act might produce the greatest good, or rule util’ism--following whatever rule will. Modern policy making mostly uses this principle.

Criticism: how can you ever really know the consequences in advance? And logical extremes often produce serious problems

Categorical imperative (deontological -- from GK. for duty or obligation)

Criticism: impossible strict, overlooks human individuality and unique circumstances

Golden Rule (criterion of reversibility) -- imagine self as object instead of agent of the action

Criticism: too simplistic; how to decide the most relevant "other"

SIDEBAR: Rawls’ "veil of ignorance" thought experiment asks us to imagine we do not know who we are or how any action could possible affect us, thus to decide on the fairest and most impartial principles possible so that when followed, they’ll be most likely to produce results the choosers will find fair t them.

He them applies the principles to several cases he’s earlier described to show how they can work. But he also stresses that these principles don’t make it easy or even always clear (and he fails to reintroduce the idea of ethical fitness that would help at this point).

Ethical dilemmas are narrated and analyzed in language. Narrative language is often expansive, but analytical language should be a precise as possible. Another reason why ethical resolution is not always so obvious.

SIDEBAR: The Prisoner’s Dilemma -- a thought experiment that illustrates the difficulty of using only rationality for ethical thinking: often we sacrifice self-interest for the general good.

NINE CHECKPOINTS FOR ETHICAL DECISION MAKING

1. Recognize that the issue is a moral one, not just manners, or taste, or aesthetic

2. Determine the actor as one responsible, not just involved.

3. Gather relevant facts.

4. Test for right v. wrong issues, perhaps requiring use of the stench test, the front page test or the Mom test.

5. Test for right v. right paradigms

6. Apply the three resolution principles, locating the reasoning that seems most relevant and persuasive

7. Investigate the trilemma options

8. Make a decision

9. Revisit and reflect on the decision in order to learn

these then applied to space program case study.

The distinction between private and public ethics is spurious; we want moral consistency.

Thorough analysis of three public issues:

1. Condoms in public schools

2. Post-communist world order: what framework is to replace instinctual anti-communism?

3. Conservation v. Consumption

And a list of lots of other public issues just as sticky.

Chemistry class metaphor: core values are like moral reagents reacting with each other; ethical thinkers are catalysts. But catalysts must be pure. We stay pure by practicing good judgment.

Future Ethics:

1. We’ll have lots of new issues, at increasing speeds

2. Moral intensity will also increase, fanned by media and speed.

3. We’ll be tempted with finding a separate peace. Religious extremism or terrorism may offer simpler, clearer answers. "But the real purpose of the community is to make itself so fair, caring and tolerant that a Koresh can find few followers." 218

cummings: joy is a mystery at right angles equally to pain & pleasure, a truth is to fact & fiction"

so too will practical ethics be perpendicular to the battles over liberalism family values, outcomes education and so on.

"Ethics is not a compromise; it’s a lens.

Kidder himself, would choose, ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL, truth over loyalty, community over self, long over short term and mercy over justice.