Framework for Intellectual and
Ethical Maturity
From: Dimensions of Ethical
Decision Making
Anna Witter-Merithew & Kellie
Mills Stewart
For Ethics of Interpreting, SCCC
B. Aron
Models of Intellectual and Ethical Maturity
Terminology:
• Critical Reflection: the ability to reflect on life
experiences and analyze them for the purpose of
isolating important principles and learning that
emerges and continues to unfold over time.
• Ethics: derived from the Greek word ethos, meaning
custom, usage, or character. Ethics is the science of
ideal human character or the science of moral duty.
• Ethical Fitness: “the capacity to recognize the nature
of moral challenges and respond with a well-tuned
conscience, a lively perception of the difference
between right and wrong and an ability to choose
the right and live by it.” ~Kidder
• Ethical and Intellectual Maturity: a state of
understanding and knowledge that enables an
individual to consistently and responsibly function in
a n ethically fit manner.
Case Study: “Creating a Life to Save a Life”
• In England, the Whitaker family faced a terrible situation: their
son, Charlie, suffered from a rare disorder that prevented his
body from producing red blood cells. Without daily medications
and frequent transfusions, Charlie would simply die. With them,
he continues to live, but under close medical care. For a while,
it looked as though Charlie’s parents had figured out an answer
to this dilemma. They proposed to use in vitro fertilization to
have another child, but with an added twist. They would, as is
usual in this procedure, have the eggs fertilized outside the
womb in a laboratory dish, but they would then include an
additional step. Using new screening techniques, they would
screen the embryos to see which would be most able to donate
blood-making cells to Charlie. That would be the one that they
would choose to implant and bring to term. In contrast to the
United States and many other countries, in England someone
proposing such a procedure must obtain government
permission- In this case, from the Human Fertilization and
Embryology Authority. The Authority rejected the request by
the Whitaker family, saying that it was not right to create a
human life with the express intent of saving another life.
• Contributed by Lawrence Hinman, University of San Diego
@http://ethics.acusd.edu/
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you agree with the Authority’s
decision, why or why not?
2. What are the significant moral
considerations in this case? What
consideration is decisive for you?
3. Who should make these decisions?
Who should have the right to make
the final decision in such cases?
4. What personal values and beliefs
contribute to your thinking?
4 Stages of Intellectual and Ethical
Development ~William Graves Perry Jr. 1970, 1999
• William Graves Perry Jr. , a psychology
professor & advisor to college students
and researcher at Harvard University
etc developed and outlined four distinct
stages of intellectual and ethical
development of college students, which
we can build to understand ethical
development within the field of
interpreting. In the following slide is a
description of the 4 stages.
4 Stages of Ethical and Intellectual Maturity
1. Basic Dualism
2. Multiplicity
3. Relativism Subordinate
4. Relativism
First Stage:
• Basic Dualism: The student views the
world in polarities. The student is
dependent on authorities to hand down
the truth and to teach him right from
wrong. Students or learners in this
stage of ethical development look
toward teachers, friends, rules, or
colleagues to provide the direction for
decision-making…”tell me the right
answer.”
Second Stage:
• Multiplicity: The student begins to
carve out his or her own opinions and
desires. He or she develops the
personal freedom due to recognition of
diversity of opinion and multiple
perspectives that exist in society.
Students begin to test the beliefs and
values taught to them by parents and
family. In a college or educational
environment, the student’s acquired
beliefs are challenged and begin to
cement or reform.
Third Stage:
• Relativism Subordinate: The student
begins to develop an analytical and
evaluative approach to ethical choices
because the teacher insists on evidence
and support of the student’s opinions.
Students begin to develop the skills to
answer the question, “Why do you
believe that?” They begin to develop
the necessary analytical skills to
determine ethical choices based on a
rationale supported by evidence and
reasoning.
Fourth Stage:
• Relativism: The student comprehends that
“truth” is relative. Students recognize that
the meaning of an event depends on the
context in which the event occurs and the
framework the “knower” uses to understand
that event. The individual has learned and
developed the skills to look beyond his or her
own “truth” to determine the available
ethical choices appropriate for the people
involved in a particular setting and context.
The individual now realizes there is no “one
rule fits all” approach to ethical decisionmaking. Individuals learn to take
responsibility for the way situations are
viewed and interpreted which leads to
different choices.
Can You apply “ethical maturity”?
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
How would an individual in each of
Perry’s four phases respond to the
situation in the case of the ?
Basic Dualism
Multiplicity
Relativism Subordinate
Relativism
Intellectual and Ethical Maturity Continuum
HIGH
Stage Four
Full Relativism/
State of Constructed
Knowledge
Stage Three
Relativism
Subordinate
Stage Two
Multiplicity
LOW
Stage One
Basic Dualism’
State of Received
Knowledge
Factors Impacting Ethical Reasoning
~Csongradi, 2004~
Moral/ Ethical Problem
Data
Economy
Information
SOCIETY
Media
Facts
VALUES
School
Data
Family
Facts
Friends
Economy
Religion
Media
Information
Ethical Theories
Others
Perspective
Facts
Media
Economy
Institutions Data
Information
SELF
PRINCIPLES
Laws
Rules
Codes
Obligations
Moral/ Ethical Action
MORAL/ETHICAL KNOWLEDGE
Ethical Fitness: A Part of Competent Autonomy
• Competent Autonomy vs. Default
Autonomy
– The difference between competent
autonomy which is based on professional
merit and
– default autonomy which is without merit
and results from isolation, insufficient
training, and market trends and conditions.
Competent Autonomy
• Autonomy: “an individual’s ability to
independently carry out the responsibilities
of the position without close supervision.”
~Blanchfield & Biordi, 1996
• Autonomy means the “freedom to act on
what you know” ~Kramer and Schmalenberg,
1993
• Autonomy is linked to competence because
competence involves not only knowing, but
also “knowing that you know.”
Awareness of Five Factors
1. Complexity of communication
demands
2. Predictability of outcome
3. Cognitive requirements necessary to
provide the tasks
4. Technical requirements associated
with the tasks
5. Level of risk/liability and potential for
a negative outcome
Ethical Fitness
• “Ethical Fitness is the capacity to
recognize the nature of moral
challenges and respond with a welltuned conscience, a lively perception of
the difference between right and
wrong, and an ability to choose the
right and live by it.” ~Kidder, 1990
Right vs. Right Dilemmas (6 scenarios)
1. It is right for D/deaf people to have the
highest skilled interpreters available and it
is right for novice/student interpreters to
have opportunities to get “real-world”
interpreting experience in an effort to
become highly skilled one day.
2. It is right for the privacy of consumers to be
protected and it is right for interpreting
practitioners to learn from our professional
experiences by discussing situations from
time to time in an attempt to avoid future
conflicts.
Right vs. Right Dilemmas
3. It is right for D/deaf people to have access
to interpreters 24 hours a day and it is right
for interpreters to take time off from work
or have a personal life.
4. It is right for D/deaf children to be among
their D/deaf peers and to develop a
common identity with other D/deaf
children and it is right for parents to want
their children to be educated in local public
schools and live at home.
Right vs. Right Dilemmas
5. It is right for interpreters to prepare
for assignments well in advance and it
is right for D/deaf people to have the
choice to participate in events
spontaneously on short notice.
6. It is right for interpreters to charge a
fee commensurate with their training,
experience and national certification
and it is right for those hiring
interpreting services to seek the most
cost effective option available.
Right vs. Wrong
1. It is right for interpreters to desire financial
success and work hard to achieve it, but it
would be wrong for interpreters to take
advantage of consumers for financial gain.
2. It is right for interpreters to want to
advance themselves personally or
professionally, but it would be wrong to
personally benefit from or use information
obtained from an interpreting assignment
for self-interest.
Right vs. Wrong
3. It is right for interpreters to seek
opportunities for growth and to further
develop their interpreting skills, but it
would be wrong to take an assignment
without being qualified to handle it.
4. It is right for interpreters to attempt
to maximize their time and billable
hours during a workday, but it would
be wrong to schedule assignments so
close together that consumers were not
well-served.
Right vs. Wrong
5. It is right for interpreters to want to
work certain types of highly desirable
assignments, but it would be wrong for
interpreters to undercut colleagues or
referral services when soliciting these
high profile assignments.
6. It is right for interpreters to believe
they are qualified for certain
assignments, but it would be wrong for
interpreters to misrepresent his or her
credentials in order to be hired.
4 Right Vs. Right Paradigms ~ Kidder
1.
2.
3.
4.
Individual vs. Community
Short-term vs. Long-term
Justice vs. Mercy
Truth vs. Loyalty
Individual versus Community
1. This paradigm refers to those
situations in which the interests of an
individual are in conflict with the
interests of a community.
• Example: the rights of a criminal in the
justice system vs. the rights of the
community to be informed about the
actions of criminals within the
community.
Short-term vs. Long-term
2. This paradigm refers to those
situations when the short-term goal is
inn conflict with the long-term goal.
• Example: interpreters who choose to
begin working before completing an
ITP because the “job is available now”,
vs. completing their training in order to
enter the field as a more qualified
practitioner. The immediate goal of
employment is in conflict with the longterm goal of a qualified workforce.
Justice versus Mercy
3. This paradigm refers to those
situations when the desire to be fair
and judicious is in conflict with the
human capacity for forgiveness and
mercy.
• Example: a journalist who plagiarizes
someone’s work and whether that
person should lose the ability to work
as a journalist forever, or does he
deserve a second chance to do the right
thing?
Truth versus Loyalty
4. This paradigm refers to those
situations where the importance of
telling the truth may conflict with the
desire to remain loyal to someone or
something.
Example: an employee who knows their
employer is acting unethically about an
important matter and the struggle with
whether to tell the truth to the
authorities or to remain loyal to their
employer.
Summary on Ethical Maturity
• Ethical maturity comes from experience in
reflecting and evaluating various
perspectives related to what constitutes
appropriate and ethical behavior.
• Ethical fitness is a pre-requisite for
competent autonomy.
• Individuals move from basic duality which
focuses on right vs. wrong paradigms to
constructed relativism which involves
consideration of a broad range of factors
when deciding what is the most appropriate
response to a situation.
~FINI~