Transcript morality & ethics - bkenglishatmelville

MORALITY & ETHICS
►How
►How
moral are you?
do you decide what is good or bad?
LEARNING INTENTION
►To do some deep thinking about the film in
regards to THEME
►What messages does The Constant Gardener
give us about morality and ethics?
THE MORALITY QUIZ
► Take
the quiz
► Do it honestly and in silence
► You will have time afterwards to discuss
your answers
► From your answers, come up with what you
think defines a “moral decision”
Kohlberg’s theory of Moral reasoning
► Lawrence
Kohlberg was a
psychologist
► He based his theory upon
research and interviews with
groups of young children.
► A series of moral dilemmas were
presented to children, who were
then interviewed to determine
the reasoning behind their
judgments of each scenario.
►
A woman was near death from a special
kind of cancer. There was one drug that the
doctors thought might save her. It was a
form of radium that a pharmacist in the
same town had recently discovered. The
drug was expensive to make, but the
pharmacist was charging ten times what
the drug cost him to make. He paid $200
for the radium and charged $2,000 for a
small dose of the drug.
The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to
everyone he knew to borrow the money,
but he could only get together about $
1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told
the pharmacist that his wife was dying and
asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay
later. But the pharmacist said: "No, I
discovered the drug and I'm going to make
money from it." So Heinz got desperate and
broke into the man's store to steal the
drug-for his wife. Should the husband have
done that?
(Kohlberg, 1963).
The
Story
of
Heinz
Think about your
answer.
You have 1 minute to write your answer
and your REASON for your answer.
The reason is the most important part!
Level 1. Preconventional Morality
Stage 1: Obedience & Punishment
ANSWER: NO, he shouldn’t have, because he could
have got caught and then he would have got
punished.
Or YES, because if not, wife would be angry
- common in young children
- rules seen as fixed and absolute.
- Obeying the rules is important to avoid punishment.
- Does not consider the interests of others.
Stage 2 - Individualism and
Exchange
►
►
YES, he should have. The pharmacist refused to
make a deal so Heinz was right to steal drug to help
his wife get better.
Or NO, Your wife is wrong to expect you to steal. It
is not reasonable for her to ask you to break the
law, as she may still not get better.
Common amongst children aged 7-10 and some adults
► “What’s in it for me?” – (egocentric)
► Give-and-take guides behaviour
► Tries to strike deals that serve both parties interests
►
2. Conventional Morality
Stage 3 - Interpersonal
Relationships
►
►
NO, because good people do not steal. People will
think you are a bad person if you steal.
YES, Because good husbands should look after their
wives. Even if it means breaking the law, this is
what a good person would do.
This stage is reached by 10-16 years, and is usually found
in many adults
► the "good boy-good girl" orientation,
► focused on living up to social expectations and roles.
► emphasis on conformity, being "nice," and consideration of
how choices influence relationships.
►
Stage 4 - Maintaining Social Order
►
►
-
ANSWER: NO, because stealing is against the law.
If everyone stole, society would be in chaos.
YES, because when you married you promised to do
everything to help your wife. If you didn’t steal the
drug, you would be breaking your promise.
People begin to consider society as a whole when making
judgments.
The focus is on maintaining law and order by following the
rules, doing one’s duty and respecting authority.
They think of the consequences if EVERYONE behaved in
this way
L 3. Postconventional morality
Stage 5 - Social Contract and
Individual Rights
►
►
►
►
►
Yes, Heinz’s wife’s right to live outweighs the
pharmacist’s right.
No, The life of one individual should not cause you
to act in ways that threatens social order.
At this stage, people begin to consider HUMAN RIGHTS
and SOCIAL CONTRACTS
Rules of law are important for society, but members of
the society should agree upon these standards.
They consider the differing values, opinions and beliefs of
other people.
Stage 6 - Universal Principles
Yes, he should have stolen because the principle of
life is more important than a law about not stealing.
Even the pharmacist would be better off because he
would not be party to your wife’s death. The case
might bring attention to the problem of expensive
drugs.
► No, Your feelings for your wife should not take
precedence over the well-being of others. If you steal
the drug, the pharmacist may raise the price of the
drug making it even harder to get.
►
►
►
►
Very few people reach this level of reasoning.
People make decisions based upon their personal principles.
They follow most laws (as they are based universally held
values) but if laws violate them, they believe they must act
according to their principles.
Interested in this? Check out these
clips
► http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuhgBuj
kD10&feature=related
► http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY4etX
WYS84
► http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7pQJ0
ptjk0