Moral distress: Ethically appropriate actions

Andrew Jameton in 1984 coined the concept of moral distress as: “knowing what to do in an ethical situation, but not being allowed to do it” This original description presupposes that the right moral act can be identified and precludes situations of doubt and uncertainty. The 1984 definition emphasizes barriers that make it impossible for someone to do what they ought to do. Whereas Jameton in a revision in 2013 of his original concept emphasized reduction of the psychological dimensions, Peter& Liaschenko stress the element of moral agency. Moral distress then is a threat to the moral integrity of the professional. This requires three-step ananlysis: first, what is the moral question?; two, what are morally adeguate answers to this question?; three, what ethically appropriate actions are under pressure in the given situation? This will be illustrated with examples from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impossible Ethics

The proper practice of psychoanalysis repudiates a rule-based code of ethical conduct. A conflict exists, however, between Freud’s rejection of the Biblical commandment to love one’s neighbor as oneself and his development of psychoanalytic techniques that demand something very much of this ilk. Other essential conflicts in analytic practice include the impossibility of removing the analyst’s desire from the analytic relationship, the unruly nature of unconscious processes in both analyst and analysand, and the après-coup nature of ethical recognition. A discourse of ethics is recommended in which analysts are called on to consider the ethical demands of each clinical moment. Ethical demands on the analysand, as well as the analyst, bring to light the way in which analysis rests on the foundational ethical situation into which humankind is born.

Human’s Experience at Turning-point in Vytautas Martinkus’s Novel “Simonija”: the Aspect of Literary Ethics

The author of the thesis uses Literary Ethics as a theoretical instrument and analyses the portrait of human dealing with turning-point in Vytautas Martinkus’s novel Simonija. The novel corresponds to the features of the turning-point literature marked in the dissertation of V. Katinienė: the thematic level emphasizes a change of historical (political) order and its existential problems; in thoughts, dreams, memories characters go back to the period of totalitarianism; the contrast between “homo sovieticus” and individuals of the free world is emphasized. The analysis of ethical conflicts in Simonija is presented, having in mind specific cultural context during the Soviet period and emphasizing the process of writing as a particular ethical situation and a way to reflect human’s experience. Vytautas Martinkus offers appropriate “snoumenizm” notion for summarizing human’s experience during the Soviet periodperiod. In essence, dehumanizing, painful experience of the Soviet era does not abandon human even in the period of freedom and forces him to go back to the past – physical presence in the world of restored independence does not free him from inner stagnation. In this paper, it is shown that Literary Ethics is asuitable theoretical instrument in order to analyze text about human’s experience at turning-point.

Ethical competence expressed in students’ written texts

Teaching ethics in compulsory school regained urgency some years ago in Sweden when National Tests in ethics were introduced. Students were evaluated as having or not having the ethics knowledge required. The aim of this study is to investigate what aspects of ethical competence students express in texts from National Tests, and to investigate what cultural tools 12- and 15-year-old students use in their texts about a given ethical situation. A qualitative content analysis was performed in three steps. In the first step, four aspects of ethical competence were identified: to verbalise, to take a stand, to take responsibility for one’s actions and an understanding of life. In the second step, the identified ethical competence was interpreted through four ethical voices building on the theories of Nussbaum, Løgstrup, Benhabib and Singer, showing that the students’ texts contain varying aspects of ethics. In the third step, cultural tools used by the students were identified. The conclusions were that (1) some ethical perspectives, such as the societal and global perspectives, are disadvantaged in the analysed texts, and accordingly in the tasks; (2), ethics is a difficult subject to assess in a fair way; and (3) since cultural tools are dependent on the social, cultural and historical context, the school has a responsibility to teach ethics in a way that gives all students the power and authority to live good lives.

The Morality of Reporting Safety Concerns in Aviation

A previous investigation into the morality of actions suggested that individuals' levels of cognitive moral development strongly influence their decisions regarding what is right or wrong, and focused upon the rights, duties, and obligations involved in a particular ethical situation. Using the cognitive moral development framework, this chapter sought to explore the moral reasoning behind aviation employees' intentions to report wrongdoing in the aviation context. Findings indicated that a significant association between participants' intentions to intervene in a wrongdoing situation and their level of moral reasoning exists. Specifically, the modal level of participants' moral reasoning was consistent with the conventional level of moral theories and was higher for participants who stated that they would intervene than for participants who stated they would not intervene in a wrongdoing situation.

The Morality of Reporting Safety Concerns in Aviation

Previous investigation into the morality of actions suggested that individuals' level of cognitive moral development, strongly influences their decisions regarding what is right or wrong, and focuses upon the rights, duties and obligations involved in a particular ethical situation. Using the cognitive moral development framework, this research sought to explore the moral reasoning behind aviation employees' intentions to report wrongdoing in the aviation context. Findings indicated that a significant association between participants' intentions to intervene in a wrongdoing situation, and their level of moral reasoning exists. Specifically, the modal level of participants' moral reasoning was consistent with the Conventional level of moral theories, and was higher for participants who stated that they would intervene, than for participants who stated they would not intervene in a wrongdoing situation.

Dialogiczność jako warunek konstytuowania się podmiotu. Refleksje wokół Sporu o podmiotowość

The aim of the paper is to show the conditions of subjectivity constitution in terms of dialogue and the figure of the Other. The analytical and hermeneutical approach I hold is the foundation of interdisciplinary attempt to describe possible concepts of shared relation of the terms: consciousness, subjectivity and identity. The three appear to be recognized only in the ethical situation. It requires taking responsibility for the Other, for giving him the identity which mirrors one’s subjectivity. In this way the subject learns the limits and chances for gaining self-knowledge. The paper also presents a new approach towards redefining the definition of subjectivity, which includes artificially and medically enhanced entities.

Anthropogenic Mass Extinction

We explore the science of mass extinction, link it to industrial civilization, use the concept of the banality of evil to explain the ethical situation, and then explain the various ways in which mass extinction poses further ethical problems within that situation, especially of environmental justice and the loss of value. Overall, humankind risks a profound failure of autonomy, perhaps our greatest achievement. For those who want to take action, we recommend the project of anthroponomy and large-unit/deep-branching conservation.