The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.  Dante

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to

• Describe the Milgram  Learning Experiment and its implications
• Differentiate between ethics and morality 
• Define ethics
• Define morality
• Understand the difference between contemporary and classical ethics.
• State a purpose for ethical reflection
• Define moral ballpark
• Explain two strategies people use to avoid ethical  personal responsibility
• Explain "The Gap"
• Answer & explain - According to the Greek philosophers, "Can ethics be taught?"
• Answer & explain - According to Kohlberg, "Can ethics be taught?"
• Provide background information on Kohlberg, relating his life to his studies
• Explain Kohl berg's three levels of moral development
• Explain which calls one to a higher standard, ethics or law?
• Explain problems with legalizing ethical values
• State highlights of Genovese, Strohmeyer, and the Tabatha Pollock/Jamie Sue cases

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The Facts - introduction:

Adolph Hitler quote,  "What good fortune for those in power that people do not think"(Boss1).

Milgram Learning Experiment:  (1933-1984)

For $4.50 some subjects lives were changed forever.
Two-thirds delivered potentially fatal electric shocks to "learners"  of word pairs when urged by "professionals" in white coats
Of the 40 male subjects:
       Only 5 refused to go beyond the 300-volt level (where the learner pounded on the wall)
          9 others defied the scientists within the 300-volt range
        65% complied to XXX 450 volts
All "teachers" felt 45 volts & were told 
               electrode paste avoids "blisters & burns"
               "No permanent tissue damage"
Those who did not give in were able to articulate justifications (moral principles and moral theories) . In other words, they were able to state why delivering such shocks was wrong. (Stanley Milgram, Obedience to Authority  1969)

The German Supreme Court in 1936, "refused to recognize Jews living in Germany as 'persons' in the legal sense." (Ernst Fraenkel, The Dual State)
SS physician Fritz Klein compared  the destruction of Jews to removing "a gangrenous appendix from a diseased body" ((Lifton, The Nazi Doctors)

Those who gave shocks lacked resources, theories,  to support their intuitions..

The APA's 1992 Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct states deception may be used only when the benefits of the research outweighs the potential harm - and if it is believed participants would agree to the terms when understanding the benefits.  a debriefing must follow

Were they like college students with "inconsistent informational assumption" on homosexuality, pornography...    Solid critical theory is needed to "clarify, critically analyze and rank the moral concerns."  Theories offer guidance, a framework to identify contradictions and conflicts" (Boss 2)

90% of adult Americans, while they "acknowledge universal moral principles such as equality, believe that for the most part, that morality is relative to or created by society" 
(Boss 4) 
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When you signed up for this course, you looked under a heading called "Philosophy" & ethics fell under the category of philosophy. Therefore, let us define philosophy, followed by its relationship to ethics:

Philosophy means "love of wisdom."  Philosophy studies the most fundamental and important concepts underlying all of human existence: What is reality? What is the nature of God? How did the universe come to exist? How should we live? What is knowledge? How is knowledge different from belief?...

Philosophy deals with these questions and concepts in a unique manner: Philosophers use reason, logic & argument. Philosophers don't take surveys (is this good?) nor do they conduct scientific experiments.  They simply create arguments which are statements  that prove a conclusion.  Keep in mind, I love a good argument!

What is ethics?
What does ethics mean to you?  

Ethics is the philosophical study of morality.
Solomon defines ethics as "The study of moral principles."  More broadly, he says it is "the study of a way of life and its values, including a system of general moral principles and a conception of morality and its foundations."

Ethics in Criminal Justice, In search of the Truth defines ethics as, "Ethics is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with the study of what is morally right and wrong, good and bad" (50).

What is morality?

Morality, loosely speaking the rules for right action and the prohibitions against wrong acts. Morality  concerns how we should act  and the kind of person we should become. 

"Morality concerns what we ought to become, how we ought to relate to others, and how we ought to act.  ...morality concerns the recognition of the inherent value of people, both ourselves and others, a value that is not reducible to how others benefit us" (Martin 5).

Morality: beliefs and practices about good and evil by means of which we guide our behavior

Difference between contemporary and traditional ethics:

The definition of ethics is time-based.  Contemporary ethics defines ethics as  basically as how we should treat other people.

Traditional ethics was defined by three characteristics:

1. How to treat other people
2. How to have character or virtue
3. Summum Bonum - greatest good (or ultimate purpose and meaning of life)

Today ethics can be defined simply as "the rational search for how we ought to live."
(Above information taken from Newberry's Ethical Traditions.)

Ethical reflection is a tool for finding meaning and value in our own lives (Hinman).
(Recall Viktor Frankl)

What is done/learned in college ethics courses?

• Identifying ethical problems
• Considering alternate solutions
• Examining reasoning in support of different conclusions
• Applying competing ethical theories to a problem - utilizing
  • learned knowledge & skills
  • philosophical inquiry & analysis
  • critical thinking

What is not done/learned in an ethics course?

• No dogmas
• No preaching or propaganda
• No "right answers"
• No simplistic rules for conduct in light of  competing ethical tensions

What is a moral ballpark?
Moral ballpark is the domain of actions, motives,  traits, etc. that are open to moral assessment. These can be considered as morally good or morally bad.

What brings something into the moral ballpark?
Duties, rights, obligations, suffering, justice, human dignity, and respect due in interpersonal relationships. These issues cause us to reflect and see what is really important and a priority, bringing to the fore what is of utmost importance to each of us. Socrates reminds us, "The unexamined life is not worth living." We must be armed with the proper knowledge to make responsible decisions to improve our chances for doing what is best.  

Why don't some people like being in the moral ballpark?
When one is not in the moral ballpark, it's easy to turn one's face the other way, ignore an injustice, not think, and not act.
Being in the ballpark means that, at times, we are placed in an uncomfortable position where we must take a stand.  We may say, "I'm not going to buy X because it was made or picked by underpaid workers or because the corporation supports pornography..."
It is a burden to make all these ethical decisions, and what if the wrong decision is made - people don't want to be held responsible for a wrong decision; they would rather not make a decision at all.

Two strategies for avoiding personal responsibility:

(l) Transferring responsibility to another: We cannot shrug  and escape this important  personal responsibility onto an ethics instructor, a military leader, a cult leader, or a fellow co-worker.  When we do so, the responsibility or blame  for wrong-doing and  bad judgment is improperly transferred to them. Our sense of being truly human, of being responsible for our actions  becomes lost.

A striking example of this can be seen in the pleas of senior German officers when tried for ward crimes after World War II. They pleaded innocent because they were not responsible: they had just followed orders from the Fuhrer.  

(2) It's relative; it doesn't really matter: A second psychological strategy  for relieving oneself  of the stress and responsibility of looking deeply  for the right course of actions  is to say that all is relative. Values are a matter of personal preference, and these vary from person to person.  No one can or should judge me.  We must all do what is right for us.  Everybody is right; nobody is wrong. Different strokes for different folks. What's right for you may not be right for me. I like to wear suit in school and you like to wear jeans. I won't go out to dinner with a friend because I got a better invite one day later. My friend won't mind. I won't visit my friend at the hospital because I'd rather go elsewhere - no big deal.  There is no  universal objective  way of deciding .  All is personal preference.  But what happens when we discuss issues of deeper importance, like domestic abuse,  slavery...?

Being moral  is more than knowing morality. It is closing "the gap" between knowing what is moral and doing what is moral. It is closing the gap between what we know we should do and actually doing it.

Can Ethics be taught?

Almost 2500 years ago, the philosopher Socrates debated the question with his fellow Athenians. Socrates' position was clear: Ethics, in part,  consists of knowing what we ought to do, and such knowledge can be taught. 

Since behavior is directly related to one's moral perceptions and paradigm of the world, ethics education influences thought and action.

Although "being ethical" cannot be taught, by studying ethics persons can improve ethical decision making by identifying ethical issues and recognizing the approaches available to resolve them.

So why is it that when people know what is right and good for them that they sometimes do the opposite? Why do people eat chocolate cake when they are on a diet?

Kohlberg:

To become ethical is a gradual process, yet it can be accelerated by study. Harvard psychologist, "Kohlberg discovered that when his subjects took courses in ethics and these courses challenged them to look at issues from a universal point of view, they tended to move upward through the levels. This finding, as Rest points out, has been repeatedly supported by other researchers." (Ethics Connection)

The Kohlbergian Background: (born 1927-1987)

Kohlberg threw himself in the Zionist cause and smuggled Jewish refugees past the British blockade of Palestine.

Kohlberg wondered why some people were brave enough to break the written law. Clearly many did not break the law for personal or monetary gain, as this act could cost them their lives. So here we have two types of people:  Those who followed the law to the letter and those who broke it for a higher cause.  

In 1958 he published his doctoral dissertation regarding the 3 levels (6 stages) of moral development & became famous instantly! His reasoning was that moral/ethical development occurs in three  sequential stages and that  only a few persons (like Mother Teresa, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King) have reached the top stage, a stage characterized by universal ethical principles of justice, equality, respect, and reciprocity.

Discussion Question: The Doctor Heinz Dilemma:

Kohlberg asked people the following question:  There is a very poor man (fictional, of course) who could not afford to pay for a drug for his dying wife.  Was Heinz correct in stealing the drug?

Kohlberg reasoned young children said Heinz was wrong because the children were in "Level IA"  where stealing is bad because it is against the law.

More morally developed individuals  (Level IB) would reason from a point of self-interest.

The most moral (Level II) primarily reasoned from a viewpoint of personal relationships

 Level III individuals reasoned towards universality, from the principle of justice, working for a moral society, even if it meant breaking laws.

Purpose of Ethical Theories:  "To reduce complexity by introducing general principles that can explain a wide variety of cases....Ethical  theories do not only formulate ethical principles but also examine their validity (truthfulness) by checking their internal consistency and ensuring the absence of contradiction in their premises and conclusions" (51-52 Souryal)      

In what sense is a faith-based morality different from secular morality?
Secular morality often stresses what is necessary: Do unto others as you would like others..."Faith-based morality often raises the playing field one notch to what is best, not on what is necessary: "Love your neighbor."  It is raised to the level of love. It heightens the sense of seriousness and responsibility, making one think of both commission and omission

Distinction between Ethics and Law:
Ethics/moral responsibility calls us to a higher standard than law.

Discussion questions
What do you think of these cases ? Should there be a law stating that if one knows another   is or will be abused that it should be reported?
Contrast this to the Tabatha Pollock and Jamie Sue case?  (brief video to be shown later in class)  What issues should be looked at and what criteria should be followed?

Further Discussion Question:  What do you think of items like the following that appear on the web?

1. Do what you say you will do

2. Never divulge information given to you in confidence
3. Accept responsibility for your mistakes
4. Never become involved in a lie
5. Avoid accepting gifts that compromise your ability to perform in the best interests of the organization (Manske, 1987)

Further Discussion questions:
Morality is sometimes is complex. Vagueness surrounds many moral principles. Where does one draw the line? For example,:

• What about the white lie and the purple dress?  (When if ever is it OK to lie?)
• Precisely what is cruelty? Should one and at what point should one intervene when seeing cruelty?
• Should one always  report evil? Should one report an employee embezzling fund, an employee taking extended lunch breaks,  an employee talking on the phone???
• If a school has a strong honor code, what do you do if you notice someone cheating?
• Is it OK to bring supplies home from work (paper, pens), especially if i worked over during lunch or break? Does it really matter?
• One makes a marriage vow, "in good times and in bad...until death do we part" to only have oneself and the children subject to domestic violence...  is it ethical to break the vow?
• Does one have a moral responsibility to report acts of violence - like Kitty Genovese
• Conflicting & competing reasons arise.

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Links

Milgram, Stanley  Short Biography StanleyMilgram.com Questions to discuss from Milgram experiment More important to our interests are the ethical issues raised by such an experiment itself. What right does a researcher have to expose subjects to such stress? What activities should be and not be allowed in marketing research? Does the search for knowledge always justify such "costs" to subjects? Who should decide such issues? Psychology Today article "...an editorial lambasting Milgram and Yale for the ordeal they put their subjects through. That article marked the beginning of an enduring ethical controversy stirred up by the experiments that sometimes overshadowed the substance of the findings."

Excerpt from a letter Milgram wrote

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Jump starters to moral developments are crises or dilemmas  that face you.  Your friend embezzled. How much do you value her, her friendship, and honesty?   You've a limited income, so do you take classes or repair a car?

Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the reasonable obligations to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. And, ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom from injury, and the right to privacy. Such standards are adequate standards of ethics because they are supported by consistent and well founded reasons. Ethics

We are all philosophers of ethics  when we wonder and reflect upon certain situations  that trouble us in our lives   We begin by thinking about our  personal existential situation and then move outward to relate our situation to general principles.  These principles are  ethical theories.  Our moral judgements are based upon  ethical theories we hold. "If you hold an inadequate theory of ethics, you are liable to ignore some important moral questions.  It is this that makes the discussion important" (McCabe 2). Macelli states, "Ideas have consequences."

Kohlberg - an excellent link http://www.psy.pdx.edu/PsiCafe/KeyTheorists/Kohlberg.htm