Moral reasoning involves objectively deciding right and wrong actions, considering intent, consequences, and individual, economic, or ethical choices. It has four components: sensitivity, judgment, motivation, and character. Cultural and religious influences can affect moral reasoning. Rules provide premises for moral syllogisms, but exceptions must be considered. Understanding the environment and goals is crucial for effective moral reasoning.
Collectively or on an individual level, moral reasoning is the act of thinking objectively about which actions are considered right and which actions are considered wrong. As such, thinking is directed towards deciding what to do in a situation or what not to do in a given situation. Intention is part of this process and often relies on logic to arrive at a conclusion. Typically, the reasoning process deliberates on intent and action directed toward a given situation, then weighs possible choices against potential consequences to make a decision. The choices, however, can be individual, economic or ethical, depending on the circumstances surrounding the situation that poses the moral question.
Moral behavior is commonly cited as having four distinct components. Such components include moral sensitivity, moral judgment, moral motivation, and moral character. Morality sensitivity refers to a person’s ability to understand how one’s actions affect others, while morality judgment refers to the correct reasoning to arrive at a moral conclusion. Motivation refers to accepting responsibility for one’s actions, while character refers to acting regardless of extenuating circumstances or pressure from others. Thus, moral reasoning often depends on the logical constructs of these various moral components.
Moral reasoning is also culturally and religiously influenced and as a result can sometimes suffer from a misreading of the environment or the desired outcomes of actions. Primarily, the application of moral reasoning involves understanding the desired outcome and knowing one’s surroundings well enough to judge how best to achieve those outcomes. Equally important to the process, the individual or group involved in the moral reasoning process must also understand their place in relation to the environment. For example, if you want to determine whether abortion is an acceptable action, you must first understand what abortion is intended to accomplish. Next, one must then understand the different ways to achieve those set goals within a given environment before coming to a conclusion.
Rules are also inherent in moral reasoning and usually provide the premises from which morality is reasoned and conclusions drawn. Consider an argument: killing an innocent being is wrong. To kill an animal is to kill an innocent being. Therefore, killing an animal is wrong.
The general premise to arrive at the conclusion is that killing an innocent being is wrong. This is called a moral syllogism and serves to illustrate the important rules of moral reasoning. Exceptions to the rules, however, also apply and must be taken into account. It is this necessary consideration that illustrates the importance of understanding the environment, your relationship with the environment, and the anticipated goals you want to achieve in order to reason effectively about morality.
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