Virtue Ethics & Empirical Psychology - The Virtue of Integrity · PDF file09/01/2015 · TheSituationistChallenge(Recap) Thesis&Terminology Attitudesinacognitive-aﬀectivepersonalitysystem

Virtue Ethics & Empirical Psychology

Virtue Ethics & Empirical PsychologyThe Virtue of Integrity

Dr. Clea F. Rees

[email protected]

Canolfan Addysg Gydol Oes Centre for Lifelong LearningPrifysgol Caerdydd Cardiff University

Y Gwanwyn/Spring 2015

mailto:[email protected]

[email protected]


Outline

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The Situationist Challenge (Recap)

Thesis & Terminology

Attitudes in a cognitive-affective personality system

Attitudes

A cognitive-affective personality system (CAPS)

Attitude strength and accessibility

Argumentation & Evaluation

Integrity as Integration

Integrity Can Require Disintegration

Integrity as Commitment to Getting it Right



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Image credit: Senovan, 2011

. . . thinking productively

about ethics requires thinking

realistically about humanity.

(2002, 1)

Trying to construct a

serviceable moral theory without

recourse to human psychology

and biology must be considered

as fruitless as trying to build a

fish-friendly aquarium without

taking notice of the biology of

fish. (2000, 56)



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The Situationist Challenge (Recap)Very roughly, the situationist argues that

1. Ethical theory should provide guidance suitable for us.

2. Virtue ethics recommends developing virtues.

3. Virtues = character traits of a particular kind.

4. In particular, if somebody possesses such a trait, it will

substantially predict behaviour in appropriate situations.

5. Empirical psychology shows that numerous arbitrary, morally

irrelevant situational features determine human behaviour —

not character traits.

——

6. (Very few) humans have (or can develop) virtues. (3–5)

——

7. Virtue ethics must be rejected. (1, 2, 6)



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Thesis

Question 1:



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Thesis

Rees and Webber: Main Claims

I Integrity 6= Integration.

I Integrity consists of:

1. a commitment to maintaining your commitments;2. a commitment to acting on your commitments;3. a commitment to having the right commitments;4. a commitment to striking the right balance between 1–3.

I These 4 commitments consist of psychological attitudes.

I Integrity is a virtue.

ConstancyFidelity 1

Fidelity 2

Balance



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Terminology

Questions 2–3:

Image credit: BBC, Highlights Kids, Aardman Animations and Yi



Attitudes

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Attitudes in a cognitive-affective personality systemAttitudes

Psychological attitudes:

I are complex, structured evaluations of

objects;

I play a functional role in a person’s

psychology;

I differ in strength;

I differ in accessibility and stability;

I have contents which are a function of

their cognitive, affective and

behavioural components (Maio and

Haddock 2010).




Attitudes

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objects;


psychology;






Haddock 2010).




Attitudes

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objects;


psychology;






Haddock 2010).




Attitudes

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objects;


psychology;






Haddock 2010).

Image credit:Mischel and Shoda (1995)




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Attitudes in a cognitive-affective personality systemAttitude strength and accessibility

Attitude strengthAn attitude’s strength is a matter of the strength of the

connections between its components and with other elements in

the cognitive-affective personality system, situational features,

behaviours and so on.

Image credit: pngimg.com, Phillip Island Nature Parks, Plan, Clancy and Aardman Animations




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Cognitive-affective units in CAPSMischel and Shoda postulate five types (1995, 253):

1. categories;

2. beliefs;

3. affect;

4. values;

5. plans.





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1. categories;

2. beliefs;

3. affect;

4. values;

5. plans.





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1. categories;

2. beliefs;

3. affect;

4. values;

5. plans.





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1. categories;

2. beliefs;

3. affect;

4. values;

5. plans.





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1. categories;

2. beliefs;

3. affect;

4. values;

5. plans.




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Attitude accessibility

I Stronger attitudes are more accessible in the sense that they

are more likely to affect cognitive-affective processing and

behaviour.

I The more often an attitude is activated, the stronger it

becomes.

Practise makes perfect. . . ?




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Attitude accessibility

I ‘Accessibility’ 6= conscious accessibility.

I Attitudes etc. can be activated automatically.

e.g. A goal to knit penguins woolly jumpers may be activatedwithout conscious awareness.(Perhaps you see oil-soaked penguins on TV but are thinkingabout what colour to paint your nose.)

I Even automatic responses may be shaped by conscious

deliberation and consciously endorsed commitments.



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Questions 5–6:



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I Many accounts understand integration as essential tointegrity.

I Integrity is a matter of integrating your commitmentsharmoniously.

I According to such accounts, acting with integrity requires:I recognising your commitments;I acting in accordance with your deepest, most important

commitments.



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I What if you have good reason to revise a commitment?

I Abandoning a deep, life-shaping commitment can be an act ofgreat integrity.

e.g. A nun who lost her faith would show integrity in leaving herconvent, despite the central role of this commitment in her life.

e.g. If you learn that your scientific research is based on fraudulentdata, integrity would require retracting your findings howevercentral the project’s role in your life.

I Integrity can require an abandonment, which leaves you less

integrated.



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Integrity as Commitment to Getting it RightJim’s Dilemma1

Jim is committed to not killing innocent

people.

I 20 Indians are to be shot as collective

punishment for some minor offence.

I As an honoured guest, Jim is invited toshoot one of them.

I If he does, the other 19 will be freed tomark the occasion.

I If not, all 20 will be shot.

I The Indians beg Jim to accept the offer.

What should Jim do? Image credit:PadreAdventurero (2013)

1Williams 1973.

Image credit:Padre Adventurero (2013)



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I Integrity is a matter of aiming to get it right.

I This aim requires balancing:I respect for existing commitments as

products of prior reasoning;I reasons to act in violation of those

commitments.

I Integrity requires Jim to seriously weigh up:I his commitment to not killing;I the reasons the Indians have for urging him

to kill.

I Either action could manifest Jim’s integrity.I This motive exerts pressure towards

integration, but this pressure is defeasible.


References

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References IAardman Animations (2015a). Shaun the Sheep. url:

http://www.aardman.com/ (visited on 18/02/2015).

– (2015b). Shaun the Sheep Supports the Campaign for Wool 2011! url:

http://shaunthesheep.com/ (visited on 18/02/2015).

Clancy, Diane (2011). Value & Abstract. 16th Oct. 2011. url:

http://www.dianeclancy.com/blog/2011/10/two-things-challenge-value-

abstract/ (visited on 20/02/2015).

Doris, John Michael (2002). Lack of Character: Personality and Moral

Behavior. References are to the paperback edition (2005). Cambridge and

New York: Cambridge University Press.

Grenoble, Ryan (2015). The Huffington Post (12th Feb. 2015). url:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/11/australias-oldest-man-

sweaters-penguins-oil_n_6660962.html (visited on 18/02/2015).

Highlights Kids (2015). Why Do Clothes Sometimes Shrink in the Wash? url:

http://www.highlightskids.com/science-questions/why-do-clothes-

sometimes-shrink-wash (visited on 18/02/2015).

http://www.aardman.com/

http://www.aardman.com/

http://shaunthesheep.com/

http://shaunthesheep.com/

http://www.dianeclancy.com/blog/2011/10/two-things-challenge-value-abstract/




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/11/australias-oldest-man-sweaters-penguins-oil_n_6660962.html




http://www.highlightskids.com/science-questions/why-do-clothes-sometimes-shrink-wash





References

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References IIKristjánsson, Kristján (2000). ‘Utilitarian Naturalism and the Moral

Justification of Emotions’. International Journal of Applied Philosophy

14.1, 43–58.

Maio, Gregory R. and Geoffrey Haddock (2010). The Psychology of Attitudes

and Attitude Change. Los Angeles et al.: SAGE.

Mischel, Walter and Yuichi Shoda (1995). ‘A Cognitive-Affective System

Theory of Personality: Reconceptualizing Situations, Dispositions, Dynamics,

and Invariance in Personality Structure’. Psychological Review 102.2 (Apr.

1995), 246–268.

Padre Adventurero (2013). Dale Tiempo al Juego, 6th Mar. 2013. url:

http://blog.daletiempoaljuego.com/tag/aire-libre/ (visited on

12/10/2014).

Phillip Island Nature Parks (2015). url:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/11/australias-oldest-man-

sweaters-penguins-oil_n_6660962.html (visited on 18/02/2015). From

Grenoble (2015).

http://blog.daletiempoaljuego.com/tag/aire-libre/

http://blog.daletiempoaljuego.com/tag/aire-libre/






References

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References IIIPlan, Mark (2014). url:

http://www.ccjfan.com/coloring-page-kindness-kindness-printable/

(visited on 11/10/2014).

pngimg.com (2015). Imperator Penguin PNG Image. url:

http://pngimg.com/download/4627 (visited on 20/02/2015).

Rees, Clea F. and Jonathan Webber (2013). ‘Constancy, Fidelity, and Integrity’.

In The Handbook of Virtue Ethics. Ed. by Stan van Hooft. In collab. with

Nafiska Athanassoulis et al. Durham, U.K.: Acumen. Chap. 35, 399–408.

Senovan (2011). City in a Fishbowl Wallpaper. 4th Sept. 2011. url:

http://senovan.deviantart.com/art/City-in-a-Fishbowl-Wallpaper-

256793811 (visited on 15/03/2015).

Williams, Bernard Arthur Owen (1973). ‘A Critique of Utilitarianism’. In

Utilitarianism: For and Against. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 77–150.

Yi, Agnés (2015). url: http://www.agnesillustration.com/portfolio.php

(visited on 18/02/2015).



http://pngimg.com/download/4627

http://pngimg.com/download/4627

http://senovan.deviantart.com/art/City-in-a-Fishbowl-Wallpaper-256793811




http://www.agnesillustration.com/portfolio.php

http://www.agnesillustration.com/portfolio.php

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Virtue Ethics & Empirical Psychology - The Virtue of Integrity · PDF file09/01/2015 · TheSituationistChallenge(Recap) Thesis&Terminology Attitudesinacognitive-aﬀectivepersonalitysystem