LESSON 2:

REASON AND IMPARTIALITY

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 REASON AND IMPARTIALITY

The ultimate basis for ethics is clear:

human behavior has consequences for
the welfare of others

We are capable of acting toward

others in such a way as to increase
or decrease the quality of their
lives.
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 REASON AND IMPARTIALITY

Reason and impartiality are not absolute to any particular

group of people, while morality is absolute

Whatever is considered wrong morally within a certain

group cannot be debated through reason. Morality decides
the outcomes first and then employs reason to justify it

For impartiality, fairness is given more importance where

people are supposed to be treated equally before the law

While morality may apply generally to a particular group of

people, the same cannot be said of reason and impartiality
because the two take a more individualized approach.
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 REASON
▰ Reason is the capacity for consciously making sense
of things, establishing and verifying facts, applying
logic, and changing or justifying practices, institutions,
and beliefs based on new existing information.
▰ Reason is sometimes referred to as rationality.
▰ Reasoning is associated with thinking, cognition, and
intellect.
▰ The philosophical field of logic studies ways in which
humans reason formally through argument
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 REASON
▰ Reason is the basis or motive for an action, decision, or
conviction. It is the capacity for logical, rational, and
analytic thought; for consciously making sense of things
▰ Since human beings are rational, they have ‘freewill to
strive for perfection”
▰ Fulfillment and well-rounded development bring happiness
to humans. In order to be ethical, humans must do actions
that express rationality
▰ Moral judgment must be backed by the best arguments
and reasons for us to arrive with the best decision in a
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situation
 IMPARTIALITY
▰ Morality requires impartiality with regard to the moral
factors affected by a violation of a moral rule. Morality
requires the impartial consideration of each individual’s
interest.
▰ Evenhandedness or fair-mindedness is a principle of
justice holding that decisions should be based on
objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias, self-
interest prejudice, or preferring the benefit of one person
over another for improper reasons.
▰ Impartiality makes no discrimination as to nationality, race,
religious beliefs, class, or political opinions. 6
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 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF IMPARTIALITY

▰ In the Euthyphro, Socrates expresses

astonishment that a young man would
prosecute his own father for murder.
▰ The conventional assumption he seems to
be making is that filial relationships
impose special constraints that may
override other considerations, even in the
gravest matter.
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 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF IMPARTIALITY

▰ For Euthyphro, by contrast, a murder is a

murder, the fact it was committed by his
father has no bearing upon what he is
required to do about it. He must prosecute
his father just as he would a stranger.
▰ This brief passage can serve as an
emblem of a perplexing range of problems
that bedevil ethical theory.
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 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF IMPARTIALITY

1. We grant the powerful and persistent force of self-

interest in our lives, and yet, morality must
somehow give us reasons for constraining such
motives;
2. We grant that rules and principles of conduct will be
useless or counter-productive in purely local or short-
range terms, and yet morality must give us
reasons for acting in principle in spite of it;
3. We grant that our favorites and friends have special
claims on our attention and yet, morality must give
us reasons for occasionally denying such claims.
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CONSEQUENCES OF THE FUNDAMENTAL
PRINCIPLE OF IMPARTIALITY

CHAPTER 4 – LESSON 2
 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF IMPARTIALITY

It establishes one of its key

values: non-discrimination, which
is one of the most important
elements of all aspects of the
protection of the human being:
human rights law, humanitarian
law, and refugee law.
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 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF IMPARTIALITY

▰ Impartiality is one of the more commonly

recognized aspects of the role of the
Mediator.
▰ This does not mean that the mediator
should somehow become inhuman and
not have a feeling of bias towards one
party or another, but that/he or she
practices in a way that minimizes any
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manifestation of this bias. 12
 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF IMPARTIALITY

▰ Impartiality serves a purpose in

supporting conflict resolution whether
we are a mediator or not.
▰ The mediator creates a channel for
communication and not an obstacle to
it and remaining impartial allows for
the channel to be as unimpeded as
possible. 13
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 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF IMPARTIALITY

MORALITY, thus, requires that

we should NOT play favorites,
manipulate rules to our personal
advantage, or make ad hoc
exceptions for ourselves. In that
sense it requires us to be
Impartial.
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LESSON 3:
FEELINGS AND MORAL DECISION
MAKING
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 FEELINGS AND MORAL DECISION MAKING

▰ Broadly stated that ethics is “concerned with

making sense of intuitions” about what is right
and good. We do this by reasoning our
feelings.
▰ Biologists verify that ‘Emotion is never truly
divorced from decision-making, even when it
is channeled aside by an effort of the will.”
▰ Moral philosopher Mary Midgley writes
“Sensitivity requires rationality to complete it,
and vice versa”.
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ETHICS VS FEELINGS

CHAPTER 4 – LESSON 3
 ETHICS VS FEELINGS

▰ Many times, there’s a conflict between what we naturally feels and what
is considered to be ethical.
▰ The problem is most of our feelings in today’s world are unethical,
politically incorrect, or even outright harmful.

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 1. GROUPISM

Natural Feeling I am part of a group. I am supposed to help this group become

better. I am also supposed to compete with other groups

Reasoning Being part of a herd made it easier for our ancestors to survive
in the wild. There were so many survival benefits that
belonging to a group brought. Naturally, our ancestors started
developing good feelings about belonging to a group
Ethical Help the group. Help other groups too,
viewpoint there is no compelling reason to compete in today’s times of
peace

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 2. PATRIOTISM

Natural Feeling I was born in a place. I am supposed to help people in the

geographical vicinity around me. Those outside the border
don’t deserve that much attention as those inside the border
do.
Reasoning Patriotism is Groupism on a higher scale. There have been
countless stories of propaganda by governments to motivate
people to join their wars to fight people over borders. We,
humans, tends to justify these efforts as noble
Ethical Wars are always bad. There is no reason to be proud of your
viewpoint country just because you were born in it

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 3. DUNBAR’S NUMBER

Natural Feeling I cannot maintain more than 150 stable relationships

Reasoning Our brains have limited capacity and it becomes mentally hard
to maintain more relationships.

Ethical Acceding to the Dunbar’s number promotes groupism. Just as

viewpoint we push ourselves to become better human’s we should also
try to push the Dunbar number further.

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 4. NEGATIVE FEELINGS TO CONTENT ON SOCIAL
NETWORKS

Natural Feeling I hate what’s being posted on Facebook. They are just stupid
selfies, people gloating their achievement or just distracting,
unproductive content
Reasoning Any of us have been taught to compete with others since our
childhood. We tend to compare ourselves with other

Ethical We don’t have to compete with our friends, we can applaud

viewpoint their life achievements without comparing our lives with theirs.

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STEPS IN MORAL
REASONING MODEL

CHAPTER 4 – LESSON 3
 STEPS IN MORAL REASONING MODEL

Identify the problem. What facts make this an ethical

situation?

Identify the potential issues involved. What level of ethical

issues are we dealing with: systematic, corporate, or
individual?
Review relevant ethical guidelines. Given the facts and the
ethical issues, what alternative actions are possible in
this situation?

Know relevant laws and regulations. Who will be

affected by the alternatives and to what degree?
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 STEPS IN MORAL REASONING MODEL
Obtain consultation. Use ethical principles to decide on the
best alternative. The ethics of each of the most plausible
alternatives are assessed using ethical principles or rules
Consider possible and probable courses of action. Can the
best alternative be put into effect? Having decided on one
alternative, we need to see whether there are any practical
constraints that might prevent that alternative from being
acted upon
List the consequences of the probable courses of action

Decide on what appears to be the best course of action.

Implementing the best alternative
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 SCENARIO:

Ana has a brother who is unemployed and

no longer enrolled in school. She observed
that her brother consistently goes home late
after midnight. He frequently locks himself in
his room when he's at home. When Ana
decided to check on him once, she
discovered his brother using illegal drugs in
his room. What will Ana have to do?
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 SCENARIO:

STEP 1: Identify the problem. Gather the facts.

▰ Ana has an unemployed brother

▰ Ana’s brother always comes home late after
midnight
▰ Ana’s brother often locks himself in his room
▰ Ana’s brother is using illicit drugs

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 SCENARIO:

STEP 2: Determine the ethical issues

▰ Ana will report his brother to the authorities because

what he is doing is illegal, and very detrimental to
his health.
▰ Ana will not report his brother to the authorities
because they are siblings, and it is better to keep
the entire family together

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 SCENARIO:

STEP 3: What alternative actions are possible in

this situation?

▰ Ana can talk to his brother directly

▰ Ana can tell her parents
▰ Ana can report it to the authorities
▰ Ana will pretend that she hasn’t seen anything.

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 SCENARIO:

STEP 4: Know relevant laws and regulations.

Comprehensive Dangerous Act of 2002

(Protector/Coddler) – Any person who knowingly and
willfully consents to the unlawful acts provided for in this
act and uses his/her influence, power, or position in
shielding, harboring, screening, or facilitating the escape
of any person he/she knows, nor has reasonable
grounds to believe on or suspects, has violated the
provisions of this act in order to prevent arrest,
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prosecution, and conviction of the violator.
 SCENARIO:

STEP 5: Use ethical principles to decide on the

best alternative.
▰ Ana cannot confront her brother directly.

▰ More than Ana, her parents have the authority to

make decisions about his brother.

▰ Ana can advise her parents to speak with her

brother and counsel him to complete his

education or look for a job, in order to steer her
brother’s attention away from drugs.
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 SCENARIO:

STEP 6: Can the best alternative be put

into effect?

Yes, since Ana knows her parents love them,

and they will listen to her.

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 SCENARIO:
STEP 7: List the consequences

▰ If Ana directly confronts her brother, he might threaten

him.
▰ If Ana informs her parents that her brother is doing drugs:
▻ her parents can accuse her of lying about his brother
▻ her parents report it to the authorities and allow his
brother to be put in jail/ rehabilitation
▻ her parents shall counsel his brother to stop doing
drugs, continue his study or look for a job. 33
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 SCENARIO:

STEP 8: Make a decision. Implement the best

alternative

▰ What would be Ana’s decision? Or the better

question would be, if you were Ana, what
would you do?

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