Ethical Imagination and Literacy

My own journey towards developing an ethical imagination and becoming ethically literate has led me to propose, upon critical reflection, the following four underlying principles and four competencies for acquiring ethical literacy:

Four Underlying Principles:

1. Knowledge is provisional and contextual
2. Moral judgement is provisional and contextual
3. The mind is filled with the conceptual furniture of unchallenged assumptions
4. Respectful dialogue (extrospection) is teachable and learnable (dialectic), and is superior in its interactivity to passive ICT and social media

Four Competencies for Acquiring Ethical Literacy:

1. Need to break (de-construct) and re-frame (synthesise) implicit and explicit paradigms in use
2. Tolerate the untidy (fluid border paradigms) while respecting the integrity of efficacious systems
3. Attenuate doubt and be prepared to jettison, or at least park, conventional paradigms
4. Develop cognitive tools to analyse public opinion and a cogent language to critique it

Possible Lines of Enquiry to Pursue:

1. Accept the challenge to find a common trans-disciplinary vocabulary. This will require an appreciative setting in research institutes that reward paradigm promiscuity.
2. Consider the prospects for diffusion of ethical literacy and will, to find ways of making it more pervasive, at least in the public sector, rather than restricted to an intellectual elite.
3. In addition to instances of unethical behaviour described as ‘dirty hands’, there is value in also exploring ‘washed hands’ (Pontius Pilate’s defence) as breaches of ethical conduct.
4. Consider developing an ethical discourse around ‘ethical fitness’ as a companion to ethical imagination. The use of the word eunoia may prove fruitful as its denotation as ‘good will’ by Aristotle seems to have become ‘beautiful thinking’ or a ‘well mind’.
5. Develop a framework for ethical auditing as an adjunct to existing ‘Social Responsibility Index’ processes.
6. Monitor the progress of the Ethics Curriculum introduced into NSW schools (partnering with The Ethics Centre).