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kinds of morality
November 2008 
Kinds of morality
Posted on Dec 13th, 2006
by 
Vivek
Vivek
Let me try to construct a more solid foundation for my rather meandering previous post.
I feel that there are 4 levels of moral action:
One example of deep morality might be the actions of the allies in WWII. At first glance it seems deeply immoral. Many people in Germanyand Japan were killed(often in terrible ways). But I do feel it served a long term good. Of course wars to serve a larger good can often go horribly awry, but that is another debate and this post is already long enough imho.
To wrap things up (and re-connect with the previous post) my feeling at the moment is that patience with certain parts of new medical technology though it may seem morally counter-intuitive does serve a deeper and more crucial sense of morality.
I feel that there are 4 levels of moral action:
- Instinctive: Simply doing what feels correct at any given moment.
- Intellectual: Considering why you do these things and if they are actually right or rather just what society has told you is correct (and I think we can all agree that societies are not always right about these things)
- Note: this is not the same as coming up with some rationalized justification for doing what you want to do, and dressing it up with logical tricks(!).
- Thoughtful: Seeking to deal with root causes rather than symptoms.
- Deep Morality: Deep morality is often counterintuitive and can seem aggressively contrary to type 1, 2, and even 3 morality if the broad sweep is not seen. It is also of course the trickiest form of moral action.
One example of deep morality might be the actions of the allies in WWII. At first glance it seems deeply immoral. Many people in Germanyand Japan were killed(often in terrible ways). But I do feel it served a long term good. Of course wars to serve a larger good can often go horribly awry, but that is another debate and this post is already long enough imho.
To wrap things up (and re-connect with the previous post) my feeling at the moment is that patience with certain parts of new medical technology though it may seem morally counter-intuitive does serve a deeper and more crucial sense of morality.
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