The role of rationales for and criticisms of ethical decisions in the development of meta-moral cognitive skills

ABSTRACT

Meta-moral cognitive skills consist of identifying reasons behind ethical decisions, potential criticisms for such reasons, and constructing counterarguments for these criticisms. We assessed the relationship among these three elements of ethical judgment justification using ethical dilemmas. A mixed-methods research design was used to investigate university students from India and Japan. Critical thinking skills, knowledge of professional ethics, discipline, perspective-taking, common sense, and culture influenced the respondents’ meta-moral cognitive skills. There was a correlation between the number/strength of reasons and criticisms and between criticisms and counterarguments. The respondents had difficulty connecting the reasons for their decisions and their counterarguments. The results imply that incorporating personal and professional cases as part of the ethics curriculum can improve meta-moral cognitive skills.

KEYWORDS:

• Multiple perspectives
• instruction
• ethical decision-making process
• logical reasoning
• professional ethics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported partially by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), India