Ethics UNBOXED Session 9:

Virtue, are you being your best self?

We’ve all heard the common catchphrase (and insta hashtag) ‘living your best life’. Instead, virtue ethics asks us: are you being your best self?

https://youtu.be/qs9QiczZvdU

Ethics Unboxed Session 8:

Truth, Duty and Deontology

Of the various ethical rules we try to teach children, perhaps the most complicated is around truth telling. https://youtu.be/WoHJhwh4mVQ

Ethix Unboxed Session 7:

Do you believe the end justifies the means?

You’ve nailed the basics, learned what ethics is, and how to slow down your decision making. Give yourself a pat on the back (or better yet, high five yourself).  

The next few unbox sessions dive into ethical theories. These theories are some of the mainstream ways of talking about ethics within Western philosophy. 

Each of them captures something important we should consider when making ethical decisions. Our goal is to help you think about which one you gravitate towards naturally, and to raise some challenges for that particular style.  We’re going to kick off with consequentialism. 

It’s basically the pros-and-cons-list approach to morality and it does what it says on the box. It asks you to make ethical decisions by thinking about the consequences.

https://youtu.be/xJqO4nhmZWc

Ethics Unboxed Session 6:

Moral imagination and courage

How accurately and effectively we frame our choices comes down to our moral imagination.

So far in this series, we’ve explored ethics in the context of a specific decision: what choice should I make right now? In this session, we’re going to look at what bookends those choices. This is framing. 

On the one side, what shapes our sense of the choices we have? How good are we at canvassing the different possible choices available to us?  On the other side, we’re looking at how we actually put a choice in effect. There’s a long way between knowing what’s right and doing it.  

So how accurately and effectively we frame our choices comes down to our moral imagination – our ability to move past ordinary assumptions, false binaries and cultural norms to create new solutions to old problems. Our ability to actually bring that new solution into being is a question of moral courage. We’re going to look at both.  

In the kids film How to Train Your Dragon, we see an excellent example of both. Hiccup is a Viking and the son of the Chieftan of Berk, where the biggest pest they have is dragons. Vikings are trained from a young age to fight and kill dragons. Strength is prized over intelligence, and toughness is a way of life.  

Only Hiccup doesn’t fit the mould. Instead of fighting with swords and clubs like the other Vikings, he is an inventor. He devises complex machines to help fight the dragons. For this, he’s seen by his father as a coward and a source of shame. 

Until, during one raid, his weapon succeeds in shooting down the most fearsome dragon of all: the Night Fury. Hiccup sees it fall in the woods near town, and sets out to find and slay it, thus proving his worth. 

When Hiccup finds the dragon, wounded, he is unable to slay it. His eyes meet the dragons and for the first time in his life, he realises the creature he’s been raised to hate isn’t a monster. It is injured and can no longer fly. When Hiccup threatens it with a knife, it fears death. Hiccup then realises it has an inner life of its own.  

Already an imaginative person, Hiccup is able to recognise the flaws in what he’d been taught. Instead of fighting the dragon, he finds a way to work alongside it. He gains the trust of dragon – which he names Toothless – and designs a saddle that enables it to fly, but only with Hiccup riding as well. Human and dragon work together to achieve something neither could apart.  

This is the work of moral imagination. It’s a kind of ‘aliveness to the world’. Like an ethical seismograph, its able to sense the various tremors and ethical fault lines around us. 

The more well-calibrated, the more sensitive it is to what matters. Hiccup, for instance, is able to perceive that Toothless isn’t just a beast, but a complex creature whose needs and wants matter.  

However, Hiccup has trained this dragon in secret. He is still being trained to kill dragons back at Berk, and ultimately has to reveal his secret. When he does, his father rejects him once again, and decides to use Toothless’ power to kill even more dragons. 

It’s a friend, Astrid, who encourages Hiccup to see his care for Toothless as empathy and wisdom, not weakness. He and a group of friends all ride dragons to save Toothless and the day. In the end, his father recognises that he was wrong, and the whole of Berk embraces dragons.  

This is a case study in courage. Not only does Hiccup find the courage to challenge his father’s deeply-held beliefs about dragons (he believes a dragon killed his wife and Hiccup’s mother), he then continues to defend Toothless, despite the obvious risk it poses to him. Note though, that he doesn’t do this alone. He needs Astrid’s encouragement to remind him that his beliefs are worth defending.  

There’s a wonderful symmetry between Hiccup’s imagination and his courage. The potential for him to be imaginative and brave is there, but what brings it into being is his connection to other people. It’s in the face-to-face connection with those around him that he recognises and is able to act on the most morally important pieces of the picture.  

Of course, there are times when Hiccup’s imagination and courage fail him too – and that’s perfectly understandable because this stuff is hard. Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher who has his finger in a lot of ethical pies even today, had a concept he called ‘weakness of will’ (akrasia). 

Believe it or not, Aristotle actually drew an analogy here between slipping up ethically and incontinence. He believed most of us have an ethically leaky bladder at times – and that a lot of ethics work is basically like toilet training. We practice and prepare, so that we’re able to hold fast, just when we think everything’s going to burst. 

SELF-REFLECTION QUESTIONS

• Do you ever find yourself pretending a choice is really complex when actually, deep down inside, you know what the right thing to do is? We often use complexity as a way of avoiding uncomfortable choices. What discomforts are you most sensitive to? Is it fearing conflict? Admitting you made a mistake? Something else?  

• Are there some people in your life who help you to feel courage, or who help you see things more clearly? Who are they? What are they doing to help you?  

• So often, our interactions are now mediated by technology. It’s harder to actually engage with people in a face-to-face encounter. Do you think this is a challenge for our moral imagination? What could you do when you’re online to help remember the full humanity of the people you’re interacting with?

• It’s often easier to make decisions if we pretend they’re simpler than they are. Unfortunately, it’s also unimaginative. For instance, we might choose ‘not to know’ about the environmental issues involved in fast fashion. Or ignore the creatives who are losing money because we’re pirating their TV show because they’ll never meet us. What hard, uncomfortable realities are you choosing to look away from? (Don’t be too harsh on yourself – most of us do it) 

https://youtu.be/NW69KdnmRmY

Me too Dee. Some say that when these two are aligned well, the result is called 'wisdom'.

This one interest me greatly; aligning emotion and reason!

Great topic for discussion! (in fact, these all are, loving them, Aleks)

Ethics Unboxed Session 5:

Fine-tuning your intuition and judgement

If you want to seem really wise in the Star Wars universe, just say something about feelings.

“Feel, don’t think – use your instincts”, “search your feelings, you know this to be true”, “your eyes can deceive you, don’t trust them. Stretch out with your feelings.” … You get the gist.  

The thing is, all the people who spout these quotes came from the Jedi Order – a group of spiritual peacekeepers whose self-confidence ultimately led to their complete demise. Overconfidence and an unearned sense of self-righteousness by a group of wise, intuitive leaders condemned the galaxy.  

Alongside the battles between good and evil, the hero’s journey and a fandom that sometimes borders on madness, Star Wars gives us a nice metaphor for the complexities of moral judgement. The Jedi embrace our tendency to ‘sense’ a correct way through difficult situations and to ‘feel’ what’s right without needing to make a logical argument for why that’s the case.  

Still, when we rely exclusively on our instinct and intuition, we risk investing too heavily in something we don’t understand. After all, our intuitions can come from a basic, innate understanding of right and wrong. But they can also come from our personal history, unconscious bias (remember them from our last unboxing?) or fail to guide us in situations of ambiguity or complexity.  

This is why many philosophers have advised against instinct and intuition as a guide to decision making. We should think, not feel, and if our conclusions contradict our instincts, we should follow the argument wherever it leads. When it comes to choosing with our head or our heart, we should always listen to our head.  

But maybe these philosophers have missed something. We often criticise moral decisions because they are ‘heartless’, ‘cold’ or ‘calculating’. We shouldn’t be so preoccupied with logicking our way through difficult decisions that we become computers. In the battle of heads and hearts, perhaps the Old El Paso school of thought is best – ‘¿por que no los dos?’  

The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle painted a picture of an uber ethical decision-maker, which he called the phronimos. This person was a master of the virtue of practical wisdom. The phronimos doesn’t just make the right judgements, they also feel he appropriate emotions. In situations demanding mercy, they feel merciful. When anger is required, they get angry. For the phronimos, emotion and reason aren’t two rival forces, they co-operate to help inform and drive excellent decision making, quickly.  

From the outside, this person looks like they’ve got Jedi-like moral instincts. In reality, they’re so well-practised at ethical decision making that they can reason both quickly, and well.  

Most of us tend not to immediately have a healthy balance of head and heart. We tend to default either to ‘thinking’ or ‘feeling’ when time gets rough. And we look for our own tribe. If we’re feelers, we look for the support of fellow feelers – seeing thinkers as callous, cold-hearted and insensitive. If we’re ‘thinkers’, we see feelers as irrational, impulsive and in need of a cold shower.

Understanding that these two approaches aren’t competing to the One Right Source of Good Decisions, but are both tapping into different strengths, we can find ways of drawing on both instead of turning on each other. And we can seek to cultivate both tendencies within ourselves.  

SELF-REFLECTION QUESTIONS

• Do you tend to be a ‘thinker’ or a ‘feeler’ when it comes to big decisions? Can you think of some situation where that tendency has gone well for you? What about a time it went badly?

• Think of someone who irritates you with how much they feel (if you’re a thinker) or how much they think (if you’re a feeler). What does this style of theirs help them accomplish? Which parts of your life can their style help you with?

• What do you think you would do if thinking about a problem led you to a conclusion that conflicted with what you felt was right? What about the reverse, if logical analysis led you to conclude that something that disgusted or offended you was actually fine?

• Practical wisdom is a virtue that develops over time. Think about some choices you remember struggling with from a long time ago. Looking at them now, do they seem more or less difficult to you? Do you feel differently about them? What does that tell you? 

• When you’re not sure what’s going on, does your imagination run wild, telling you stories about what someone is thinking or what they might have done? How helpful do you think those stories you tell yourself are? Should you act on them?

• If tomorrow you felt a flood of immediate, strong judgement about something that happened, what’s one thing you could do to put that judgement under the microscope and double-check its accuracy?  

https://youtu.be/BbuI3U2Wx0o

Session # 4 from Ethics.org.au

Biases. The sneaky foxes that can lead you astray.

Remember the internet dress saga of 2015? Black and blue or black and gold? Everyone saw it differently and each was adamant that their way was the only way to see.  

You’d be surprised how many judgements we make that work just the same way. Our unconscious brain grabs the wheel and primes our judgements before we’ve had a second to think about it. That’s why we need to know about unconscious bias. 

https://youtu.be/zJh20Wi2dMg

Ethics Unboxed Session #3

Ethical Decision Making

Think about the last time you made a big decision. What made you make that choice? Why did you pick one way rather than any of the other options available to you?

Writing in the wake of the Holocaust, Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt spent a large portion of her career devoted to the idea of thinking, and what constitutes genuine thinking. For Arendt, this was a crucial question because she believed an inability to think could sit at the heart of humanity’s deepest evils.  

Arendt witnessed first-hand the testimony of Nazi war criminals being tried for their crimes. What she found remarkable was that far from being monstrous or demonic, the most notable feature of these men was a striking inability to think. She wrote: 

“However monstrous the deeds were, the doer was neither monstrous nor demonic, and the only specific characteristic… was something entirely negative: it was not stupidity but a curious, quite authentic inability to think.” 

Arendt argued that most of what passes for thinking today really isn’t. Lots of what we think is actually the result of intellectual laziness. We rely on ‘common sense’, or ‘what’s always been done’. We inherit the values, politics and opinions of our nearest and dearest. We’re outraged by whatever our peers online are outraged by. We feel strongly what’s right without doing the harder, less sexy work of thinking those matters through.  

That’s precisely what ethics requires us to do though. We don’t just follow rules or do what we’re told (remember what happened when people “followed orders”). We have to look at the choices that face us and understand the underlying issues and concepts and how they apply to the situation we’re in.  

It is entirely possible for all of us to do this well. But it’s also thoroughly normal to do it poorly. That should worry us. Arendt famously coined the term ‘the banality of evil’ to explain how unspeakable evil could be facilitated by thoroughly boring deeds by thoroughly normal people. When we think today about growing wealth inequality, climate change and the other challenges of our time, it’s hard to disagree.

https://youtu.be/n0uwTBrgqxI

Hi everyone,

Session # 2 from the Ethics Centre:

Breaking down the difference: ethics, morality and the law.

The Christian philosopher and theologian Augustine of Hippo famously wrote that an unjust law is no law. These words have echoed through the centuries – from Thomas Aquinas to Martin Luther King Jr – and with good reason!   

It’s because they ring true. Laws that are unethical, unjust or unfair don’t deserve to be seen in the same way as just laws. That means we can’t rely on the law as a way of determining what our ethical beliefs should be. 

Too often, our ideas about justice come from inherited moral beliefs about right and wrong – from culture, religion or outdated norms. The challenge is that we need to work out what is just and what’s unjust. For that, we can’t just be told what’s right, we have to figure it out for ourselves. That’s where ethics comes in.

https://youtu.be/Xki2fRA0bY8

Hi everyone, Mic, Jason and I attended the Jedlet last Friday. We refined the original purpose statement for the Jedlet:

• To develop an Ethical Framework for the organisation by developing an Ethics Policy – Ethics at Jeder.

• Our Medium-Long term ambition: All areas of Jeder will have access to the necessary tools and pathways for handling matters requiring ethical consideration!

Here's the link to the harvest: 20220729 Ethical Considerations (Culture) Jedlet 4.docx

Hope to see the regular members and others at the next one on 02//09/2022.

Just getting in the swing off things, after a few months of illness. Id love to join tomorrow, but the Jedi falls at the time of a Participant Meeting, that was initiated by the participant and there is an interpreter engaged. Next time and I await the harvest notes. 🙂

Thanks Aleks, really appreciate that, as discussed yesterday I think it is the word everyone, when I hear myself say 'everyone', 'all the time', I know that I am in a heightened emotional state, so I find the word triggering. I would suggest - what would happen if others did this? Then it doesn't make it 'everyone'

Hi @Michaela Kennedy, I'm sorry that you didn't feel heard. Personally, I'm not reliant on that question alone and therefore thought about taking it out altogether. Then I thought others might find it useful, so I've changed that question to an "(OPTIONAL QUESTION)". Does that sit better for you? Can anyone help me to choose a suitable location for this resource and our Ethics Toolbox? UPDATE Final version (includes reference to the Ethics Centre -ethics.org.au

Great YouTube, Purpose to drive the decision making. Love it!

Still disappointed the 'if we did this for everyone' question made it into the final, doesn't make me feel heard.

Looking forward to further conversations.

@Cherish Page-Brooks was this done? Is it on the website?

Hi Cherish, FYI, I've just updated the 2 page poster (FINAL Version) to include a reference to ethics.org.au.

Hi Cherish, the most recently '2 pager' is ready to go. I agree that it could sit under the resources tab.

Thanks 🙂

Let me know when it's good to go :D

Could sit under our Resources tab - Tools ?

Great idea Dee. @Cherish Page-Brooks

I wonder if we can find/create a space for these to be on the website? I love the ethics toolbox! Well done, Aleks and all others involved!

Hey Mic, thanks for sharing. I agree 🙂. Let's bring them great ideas to the next Jedlet. @Michelle Dunscombe has also shared a great introduction to ethics video https://youtu.be/u399XmkjeXo and some additional questions to ponder on before making the 'right decision':

SELF-REFLECTION QUESTIONS

• Do you have an overall goal or purpose for your life? Some people want to leave the world better than they found it, create a legacy for themselves or be a good ancestor… what about you?   

• What values do you hold most dear? Try to build a complete list, but don’t make it impossibly long.   

• Are there any basic principles you try to live by and which can help orient your decisions?   

• If the people around you had to guess what your values, principles and/or purpose are, based solely on your day-to-day behaviour, what kinds of things might they think you care about?   

• Try to think of a time you disagreed with someone about something that mattered, ethically speaking. What do you think was the source of the disagreement?   

Just had a thought today. I think it would be a good idea to get feedback from people we support e.g. clients, participants, family members - people who use our services. I'de be keen to see what they think and I know a couple of people that teach ethics at their kids schools.

Hi Mereedith, no worries. Yes it was recorded. I'll post the link soon. I also have a few actions to follow up on after that session. Stay tuned 🙂

Hi @Aleks Jovanovic Im sorry i missed the final session. I had a friday afternoon crisis to resolve, stat! Was it recorded?

https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ag5JHBE6r5MDgdIJf7FxvvnCD-QDTA?e=B9IOpd Hi @Kaeleen Hunter and everyone else. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post this last recording and respond to some of your comments and questions. I look forward to seeing lots of you at the next Jedlet on the last Friday of this month.🙂Aleks

hey alek sorry didnt get back to this sooner. fully jiggy with the response and I had NO expectations of resolving concerns - i understood the brief for sure and have nothing personal to put on the table - I really appreciated the yarn.

I just thought this conversation was actually quite relative to some of the new jedlets and I found it a really valuable & would have loved to have seen it embraced in the main culture jedi over a month or two - seeing as everyone is to attend monthly then it would see some air across the membership. Great work Alek and sorry I missed it.

Thanks Kaeleen, We'll miss your contributions today. So far we have only met twice. The intention of these first three meetings is to familiarise ourselves with principles of ethical decision making and to invite the members to contribute. I had no expectations that we would be resolving dillemas at this forum - not during the first three meetings anyway. I'm hoping that in the near future we can agree to embrace a set of questions (some suggested in this thread) across the entire membership. Once the members start using the questions to guide their ethical decision making, we will identify teams and individuals that can be approached with any disagreements and challenges.

sorry to say I wont be able to attend tomorrow though I feel a 'lot' about this chat so far and some of the deep dive it provoked in me to explore the ethical dance both in myself and around me.

I feel this focus group has yet to explore the ethical dance we face within jeder as no 'specifics' have been explored so I see value in ongoing HOWEVER........

Currently with quite a few new jedlets I wonder if we are missing a wider view with members time and energy being dispersed.......just a thought.

Sorry I've missed these! I look forward to hearing what's next and unfortunately, I'm already committed to a full day of training tomorrow!

Hi everyone, in preparation for this Friday's third and last Ethical Consideration Session (we will then decide where to take this forum: a Jedlet, Gov Jedi etc.) here is the recorded session from last month. I want to give a big thanks to @Meredith Baylis, @Michaela Kennedy, @Kaeleen Hunter and @Jason Emmins for contributing their views with such an open heart and mind during the last session. Please have a look at the recording, add comments here and/or join us again this Friday.

https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ag5JHBE6r5MDgdAz6tQa5hKnTaI0xg?e=sgSGzR

Medium-Long term ambition: All areas of Jeder will have access to the necessary tools and pathways for handling matters requiring ethical consideration!

Hi Michelle, Thanks for the question. I had to Google the difference between the two 🙂. This is what I found:

What is the difference between ethical and unethical practices?

Unethical behaviour can be defined as actions that are against social norms or acts that are considered unacceptable to the public. Ethical behaviour is the complete opposite of unethical behaviour. Ethical behaviour follows the majority of social norms and such actions are acceptable to the public.

I would love for us to discuss this further. Please join us if you can.

@Aleks Jovanovic Thank you for holding this space. I wonder if you are discussing unethical conduct as well as unethical practice.

Hi @Meredith Baylis I see your point. On the flip side of the coin, within the context of our work, including person centerdness, its essential that our personal views of what's right, good and fair are used to bind us. What do you think?

@Aleks Jovanovic , @Jason Emmins , @Jason Emmins , @Kaeleen Hunter as per our zoom meeting today here are the 5 questions.

Im not sure about the S = Self as i also feel that it could stand for Subjective. I dont expect others to share the same views about what i think is right, good & fair.

When is the next discussion?

Thank you Bernie 🙂. Here are the details of the next meeting:

Ethical considerations for unorthodox practice:

When we reflect on our engagement practice(s) as CoS, BIS, COBU practitioners, can we think about the things that we do that stretch the boundaries, practice which might be seen as unorthodox or that might raise eyebrows with agencies such as the NDIA?

These unorthodox practices are not written into our role descriptions and some of these are sensitive issues, sometimes presenting as dilemmas to us around the familiar topic of boundaries.

Come and join the discussions! Check out the Loomio thread for more info!

When: Last Friday of each month

Time: 3pm – 4:30pm

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81476028545?pwd=ZzEzNStOS3g0Z2dEWWdMOEdoVGNkZz09

Meeting ID: 814 7602 8545

Passcode: 802774

I love this and wish to be involved it is difficult as I don't work on Friday's and I really am trying to stick with this due to being so mentally unwell over the past 12 months.

You are amazing Aleks, honestly I really appreciate your work.

Thanks Aleks- I like a good framework :-) This will assist us in our decision making especially when there are some tricky situations that arise.

I am also thinking this is something we could add to our Decision Making Framework @Dee Brooks

Thanks Dee, it can serve as our 'checklist' for the time being?

I absolutely love this, Aleks!

PLUS always think, PLUS!!!

Thanks so much for sharing!

While we wait for the next 'Ethical Consideration' meeting please consider the following 5 questions [courtesy of ethics.org] prior to making decisions requiring ethical consideration:

• P = Policies Is it consistent with The Jeder Institute policies, procedures and guidelines?

• L= Legal Is it acceptable under the applicable laws and regulations (ie. NDIS Code of Conduct, and Law)?

• U = Universal Does it conform to the universal principles/values The Jeder Institute has adopted?

• S= Self Does it satisfy my personal definition of right, good and fair?

Check in with someone (A fellow member, a coach, the Directors or a Jedi). You don't have to make big decisions on your own.

Hi everyone,

It was great to see so many members turn up for the first conversation. Here is a link to the recorded session: 202203 Ethical Considerations at Jeder 1.mp4

It was agreed that the 'Ethical Considerations Jedlet' will sit underneath the Governance Jedi. Jody, Chontelle, Jason, Drew and Dee (from afar 🙂) have volunteered to be regular contributors to the Jedlet. Let me know if you are also interested, after watching the recording. Stay tuned for details of the next meeting.

sounds really interesting, i would try to check it out when i can :)

Hi Aleks. I can see this being a massive conversation! ... and a valid one to have with all Jeder members. It reminds me a little of the Culture JEDI that Rob and I did late last year, where we only skimmed the surface of some of these issues around boundaries in place in a flexible organisation such as Jeder - moreover, who should measure them? where do they originate? who pays when something does go wrong? OMG ... I could go on!! I'll try and be there!

Great topic @Aleks Jovanovic the court decision in South Australia this week has got me thinking what does Jeder do to ensure that support workers (in fact any worker) are being ethical, doing what they say they do, and not putting our participants at risk? Not being in the NDIS team I have no idea what processes are in place and what else is needed. Whilst I can't make the conversation next week I particularly love the question regarding tomorrows newspaper headline. Whilst something might seem like a minor indiscretion to you, would it pass the pub test or how would it be perceived if it was tomorrow's headline.

Hi @Aleks Jovanovic i think its great that you are inviting Members to explore this important topic. ill be there. 🙂

I feel this is more focused than a reflective practice deep dive! I think it WILL be a deep dive although not just about the topic - about our organisational practices, responses and purpose - I feel this is more aligned to our P&P's and our responsibilities than merely reflection... hope you can join, Fran!

Hi Fran this topic can easily fit into any Jedi. Feel free to attend this session or use the contents to extend the conversation in other places.

Hi Aleks, I hope this message finds you well. Thanks for bringing up the topics of ethics. Some of the themes that came up for me - empathy- Carl Rogers came to mind as I was reading- reflective practices - is there space for discuss some of this topic in the wellbeing Jedi? It seems to me that this topic would fit well for a "conversation that matter or an open space conversation? Is the topic a call to a deep dive reflection into our practices?

No, just the Jedis, Teams, Pods - I set up my own for anything else! (& assume others do, too)

I'm sure she didn't mind and I'm glad to have it in my calendar now - thanks!

Hi Dee, I've asked Cherish to send an invite. I hope she doesn't mind. Thought all calendar invites are sent from one centralised location?

Aleks, can I suggested you send a calendar invite to anyone who is interested in attending? I know that if something is not in my diary, I'll miss it!

Morning Alex after reading the document, I am definitely interested in having the conversation.

Who's interested in joining me in our first conversation? Date set: Friday 25th of March 3-5 pm. Zoom details:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5683916691?pwd=TnJNZGRyT2htV1Y4NjJ6MC95RlFqZz09

Meeting ID: 568 391 6691

Passcode: uei42f