Transcript Moral Imagination

Moral Imagination
… a "mental exploration of
what it would be like to realize
particular possibilities."
Moral imagination helps
people to envision:
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begin observing from the particular, not
the general.
project alternative frames and
perspectives.
form mental images.
discern possibilities for action.
Moral imagination helps people to
disengage, re-engage:
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disengage from the purely personal
aspects of experience.
sympathize with others -- observe "as
if" it were you.
envision the consequences of actions.
understand situations regardless of
one's evaluation of them.
Moral imagination helps people to
suspend the ordinary:
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Be creative in problem-solving and
understanding.
Not be limited by normal rules and
boundaries of senses, physics, or logic.
Moral imagination helps
people to make sense:
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synthesize perceptions and experiences.
draw analogies.
make sense of categories.
provide order to experience.
grasp the mental models in use and observe
their benefits and shortcomings (i.e., be selfaware, aware of others, reflective, and
evaluative).
apply from the particular to the general and
back to a new particular.
What makes it
moral imagination?
The ethical content of human behaviors and
situations:
 the allocation of harms and benefits,
 the existence & exercise of rights and duties,
 the rules of just process and distribution,
 the development & application of personal
virtue.
A-or-B Thinking
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In 1692, Salem, Massachusetts was struck by
"witchcraft hysteria," in which young women who
were accused of being witches were given a trial that
consisted of one question: "Are you a witch?“
If the women answered YES, they faced death by
hanging or burning at the stake.
If the women answered NO, they faced death by
drowning, in a dunking test of their truthfulness.
A-OR-B THINKING
…. often occurs when a problem or decision is framed
as an "EITHER/OR" alternative, in which the two
choices appear to be:
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mutually exclusive (if you choose A, then you cannot
have B, and vice versa)
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exhaustive (A and B cover all of the possible issues in
the decision -- at least, all the most important ones)
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rigid (once A or B is selected, then the decision is
final)
BREAKING OUT OF
A-OR-B THINKING
Identify how the choices are
NOT mutually exclusive.
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If we choose A, why can't we have B
too?
Are these trade-offs impossible to
overcome?
BREAKING OUT OF
A-OR-B THINKING
Identify how the choices are
NOT exhaustive.
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Hey, what about C or D?
or maybe a combination of A, E, and
Q?
BREAKING OUT OF
A-OR-B THINKING
Identify how the decision is NOT rigid.
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well, let's try A, and if it doesn't work,
then let's try B, and if that doesn't
work, let's move on to C or D
BREAKING OUT OF
A-OR-B THINKING
Identify the PERCEIVED THREATS and the
THINKING PATTERNS that are limiting choices
to A or B, and then address those threats and
thinking patterns.
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of? What are we missing?)
 NOTE: Sometimes A and B do represent the
BEST alternatives from a wide range.
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The challenge is to make sure that the
A-or-B pattern doesn't limit your
managerial effectiveness.
That’s where moral imagination comes
into play!
Revisiting Heinz
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Keeping in mind the A-or-B problem,
and the possibility of using moral
imagination, what other options might
Heinz have besides stealing the drug or
watching his wife die?