ethical dynamics -overview

A Framework for Understanding and

Transforming Ethical Dynamics

Premises - 1

Our contemporary world needs:

A comprehensive approach to ‘understanding and

transforming’ human / social relationship dynamics –

involving us all in everything we do -;

Incorporates all aspects of our human / social potentialities;

Transcends the specifics of our historical ‘ethical’ disciplines

e.g., related to philosophy, religion and morality; and,

That is capable of universal application i.e., inclusive of all

peoples and their aspirations.

January 2012 © Abraham Chiasson 2

Premises - 2

All relationship dynamics have 3 dimensions:

What is viewed as important – values or overall, ethical

aspirations – those embedded in our social goods and

social qualities -;

The manner of achieving them – action related principles

and norms – (or, policies and practices); and,

The needed individual, institutional or societal behaviors –

relationship commitments as to the what and, relationship

qualities as to the how.

This will be described as the 3 dimensions of ‘ethics’.


Premises – 2... The world of ethics

Values

‘Relationship’

Principles & Norms(ethics and morality)

‘Relationship’

Commitments & Qualities


Social

Goods

Social

Qualities

Premises - 3

Overall, ethics have their origins in our human nature, not in

religion or ideology.

Individual, institutional and societal realities – social goods

and social qualities - are the product of ‘ethical

dynamics’, not ethics per se.

Ethics and ethical dynamics are driven by our socio-political

instincts for survival and growth and, are shaped by the

dynamics of authority and power (defined later).

The approach is not a framework of values accompanied by

principles and norms to guide our behavior in one or

another situation.


Purpose (overall) -

The approach aims to provide a multi-dimensional

template capable of addressing ethical issues –

dynamics - for an individual, an institution or a social

(societal) context as a whole .

Each of its separate frameworks can be used to

address specific ethical, and we could also say,

social and performance, issues.

In summary, the approach aims to give us the ‘ethical’

wherewithal to be vital actors in the building of our

world as individuals, institutions and societies.


Overview -

1. Recent developments that make this approach

timely;

2. An analytical and transformational focus;

3. The connection with ‘morality’;

4. Some steps in the ‘journey’; and,

5. A glossary of key concepts.


1) Recent developments that make this approach

timely - (a)

Desire (and need) for more transparency,

accountability and participation in ‘political’

decision-making in both private and public

institutions alike, here and around the world.

Planetary goals of sustainability, peace, and

human development... are challenging the

nature of institutional and societal debates.


1) Recent developments that make this approach

timely - (b)

Nonetheless -

○ Connection between societal, institutional or individual realities and ethics, is tenuous at best.

○ Few ethical or managerial approaches available to connect the dynamic contribution of ethics to the goals of institutions and their organizations or, to individual development.

○ The result: many remain confused as to where ethics come from and how they evolve to bring about an ever-changing world.


2) An analytical and transformational focus – (a)

Specifically –

Facilitate an understanding of ethics as integral to ‘all

that we are and all that we do’, via ‘analytical

frameworks’ aimed at:

○ Giving us insights into the development and

formation of both our more informal ethics, and

society’s more formal ethics such as those

codified in religious injunctions e.g., the Ten

Commandments or government policy…


2) An analytical and transformational focus – (b)

And, –

Articulate an approach for their transformation – a ‘transformational framework’ – aimed at:

○ Creating congruent ethical synergies e.g., by giving us the wherewithal to broker our many ethical challenges, and

○ Achieving a greater sense of ethical congruency for ourselves, for our institutions and society.


3) The connection with 'morality' –

Ethics as the expression of our ‘socio-political instincts for survival and growth’ also reflect our -

○ Moral instincts - what Marc D. Hauser (in Moral Minds) describes as a moral grammar – ‘a way of dealing with right or wrong’-.

○ Moral instincts have taken shape in a number of ‘moral’ approaches and philosophies aimed at helping us deal with our human and social challenges.

○ The approach, by its universal nature, will shed light on their potential contributions.


4) The journey -

The journey is comprised of-

A multi-dimensional template of conceptual

frameworks,

Applicable to any human / social situation, to help

us to both understand ethical issues and to offer

us avenues for their successful resolution, and

Help us grow an increasing ecology of mind and

community as the ultimate goal.


A Multi-Dimensional Template: The Steps to the Journey ...


Part I

1.Human Potentialities

2. Cognitive (Social) Structures and Potentialities

3.Socio - Political Structures:

Domains, Institutions & Socio-policial landscapes

4.Socio-Political Dynamics

Living Systems Dynamics

Part II

5. Social Functions: Stewardship, Governance and

Management

6. Social Potentialities / Institutional Framework

7. Social Qualities / Social Goods

8. Socio-Political Energies

Part I - Ethics and our Human Potentialities,

Social Structures and Dynamics–

1- ‘Human Potentialities’

‘Core’ human potentialities: those forces that ‘compel us – individuals,

institutions and societies - and give us the opportunity’ to become who

we are capable of becoming.


Human

Potentialities

Vision /

Hope

Personal

Identity

Consciousness /

Conscious Will

Sense of

Self


Social Structures and Dynamics –

Ethics are in synergy

with our core

Human Potentialities.


Vision / Hope

Personal

Identity

Consciousness

/

Conscious will

Sense of Self Ethics



2- Cognitive (Social) Structures and Potentialities

Core human potentialities – for individuals, institutions

and societies - grow via our cognitive (social)

structures and potentialities:

Those that make it possible to bring about a

‘specifically’ human world.

Cognitive potentialities apply to us as ‘individuals,

institutions and societies’ e.g., all are driven by our

core human potentialities.




‘Cognitive (Social) Structures’

Human

NatureSelf

Domains

of endeavour

Individual

/

Institutions

/

Society

Collective

Psyche





Cognitive

Structures

Social

StructuresCognitive

Potentialies

Cognitive & Social Structures live

in the world of our Cognitive

Potentialities



‘Cognitive Dimensions’

Core

Human Cognitive

Potentialities

Symbolism

Behaviors

Explanations

InventionFaith

Reason

Technique





Cognitive (Social) Structures Cognitive Potentialities – Ex.

Collective Human Psyche

Individual / Institution / Society

Domains

Self

Human “Species”

Cognitive

(Social)

Structures

Symbols

Universe

Qualities

Energies

Symbolism

Cognitive

Potentialities



‘Cognitive Dimensions’

Institutional Cognitive

Potentialities

Universe

Order

Ethos

AestheticsEthics

Ideology

Knowledge




Ethics and our Cognitive (Social) Structures and Potentialities

In summary:

“Our cognitive potentialities must grow together or they don’t grow at all e.g.

“Ethics must contribute to knowledge and vice versa”

Our cognitive potentialities must grow our ‘core human potentialities’.




3- Socio-Political Structures (driven by our core human potentialities)

Domains – Express and give social relevance to our cognitive potentialities;

Institutions (Individuals and Societies) – Our socio-political ‘relational’ structures; and,

Socio-political landscapes – our ‘playing field’ for the creation of ‘landscape realities’.




Socio-Political Structures

Institutions

(Individuals &

Societies)

Socio-Political

Landscapes

Domains




4- ‘Socio-Political Dynamics’

“Authority and power” – the capacity to inspire and control other individuals and institutions.

Authority – lanscape legitimacy to decide what is ‘right’; and

Power – ability to control the behavior or

contribution of others.




Socio-Political Dynamics

• Domains

Authority / Power

(Ethics)

• Institutions

Authority / Power

(Ethics) • Socio-Political Landscapes

Authority / Power

(Ethics)


Part I - Ethics and our Human Potentialities,Social Structures and Dynamics – Summary


“Ethics”

Synergy

Human

& Social

Potentialities

Socio-Political

Dynamics

Cognitive

(Social)

Structures and

Potentialities

Socio-Political

Structures

“Ethics are the ultimate expression and driver of our search for

‘harmony’ within our individual self and between us.” (‘social potentialities’

will be addressed in Part II)

‘Living Systems’

Key Characteristics

‘Mind and body are and act together’

Cognition - a continual bringing forth of a worldthrough the process of living.

Living - a network of production processes aimed at the maintenance of its own structural integrity -‘autopoiesis’.

In the context of autopoiesis, living systems interact via structural coupling.

Life takes place in a world of ‘dissipative structures’ where we must “shift our perception from being to becoming”.



Living

Systems

Cognition

Structural

Coupling

Dissipative

Structures

Autopoiesis




Ethics /

Synergy

Cognition

Structural

Coupling

Dissipative

Structures

Autopoiesis

‘Ethics are also the expression and driver of our search for ‘harmony’ within the universe of living

systems.”

Part II - Ethics in Practice: Towards an ecology

of mind and community

“Where our ‘human and social potentialities’ – forces -,

as individuals, institutions and societies,

are increasingly in

synergy with our social realities

via

our cognitive (social) structures and potentialities.”

January 2012© Abraham Chiasson

32

Part II - Ethics in Practice: Towards an ecology of mind

and community – In summary: (‘social potentialities’ will be addressed in

the following)

Social Realities

Human & Social

Potentialities

Socio-Political

Dynamics

Cognitive (Social)

Structures &

Potentialities

Socio-political

Structures


Part II - Ethics in Practice: Towards an ecology of

mind and community


Part II

5. Social Functions: Stewardship,

Governance and

Management

6. Social Potentialities /

Institutional Framework

7. Social Qualities / Social Goods

8. Socio-Politial Energies


and community

5- ‘Stewardship, Governance and Management’

Ethical dynamics do not ‘stand alone’ –

Embedded in and give life to – our core social

functions: stewardship, governance, and

management.

Ethics ‘live’ through these core social functions.



and community


Stewardship

ManagementGovernance

Ethics


and community –

6- Social Potentialities / Institutional Dimensions & “Social Qualities”

Social potentialities - ‘forces’ e.g., for empathy,

belonging, and accountability… give a specific

direction and substance to our ‘institutional’

relationships.

Core institutional dimensions e.g., family, community

and nation – give each institution its specific social

purpose as an institution.



and community –

‘Social potentialities / Institutional dimensions’

Social Potentialities

Empathy /Belonging

Capacity /

Contribution

Connection /Synergy

Accountability /Destiny

Institutional Dimensions

Family /

Community

‘Professional’ / Production

Civil Society / State

Nation / Planet



and community –

Social Potentialities / Institutional Dimensions &

“Social Qualities”

Social qualities – A set of ‘individual / institutional /

societal’ relational qualities. Examples:

Social qualities such as ‘fairness, loyalty and honesty’

may result from our social potentialities e.g., for

belonging, contribution and synergy, in the context

of institutional dimensions such as community,

production and state.

January 2012 39© Abraham Chiasson


and community –

Social Potentialities / Institutional Dimensions &

“Social Qualities”


Empathy /Belonging

Capacity /

Contribution

Connection /Synergy



Family /

Community



Nation / Planet


Social Qualities


mind and community

Social Potentialities / Institutional Dimensions +

Institutional Domain Contributions = “Social Qualities”

Social potentialities and institutional dimensions come to

life via our ‘institutional’ domain contributions.

Social qualities result from the institutional mediation (via

e.g., institutional ethics) of domain contributions.

Resulting social qualities may be in synergy or not, with

our ‘ethical aspirations’ or ‘overall institutional values’.



and community –




Institutional

Mediation

‘Ethics’

Social

Qualities

(Values)Domain

Contribution

Institutional

Dimensions

Social

Potentialities


mind and community –



In summary:

‘Mediated’ social qualities – values – become the basis for

‘specific’ institutional domain contributions.

Social qualities can be viewed as the social energies that

underpin ‘individual, institutional and societal’ domain

contributions.

Social qualities – as ‘values’ - bond us together, and give us the

potential for effective – collective – domain contributions.



mind and community

7- Social Potentialities / Institutional Dimensions +

Institutional Domain Contributions = “Social Goods”

Social goods –

As with social qualities, come to life via the institutional mediation of domain contributions. (Graphic 1)

Are driven by the social qualities – the social energy - mediating institutional domain contributions. (Graphic 2)

Are only ‘social goods’ inasmuch as they are associated with institutional values. The richer the link to ‘desired’ values, the ‘richer’ the social goods. (Graphic 2)



and community –


Institutional Domain Contributions = “Social Goods” (1)


Institutional

Mediation

‘Ethics’

Social

Qualities /

Social

Goods

Domain

Contribution

Institutional

Dimensions

Social

Potentialities

Part II - Ethics in Practice: Towards an ecology of mind and community

Institutional Domain Contributions + Social Qualities = “Social Goods” (2)


Empathy /Belonging

Capacity /

Contribution

Connection /Synergy



Family /

Community



Nation / Planet


Social Qualities

Inst. Domain Contributions / Inst. Values

Social Goods


mind and community

Social qualities + Institutional Domain contributions =

“Social Goods”

In summary,

Social goods along with social qualities are the:

Substance of ethics or, what ethics aim to achieve,

Springoard – the necessary realities – for ever more

sophisticated ethical manifestations, and

The basis for our social functions: stewardship, governance

and management.



mind and community

Social Qualities and Social Goods –Core Values / Ethical Structure

Social goods in synergy with social qualities are driven by our‘overall’ core values / ethical structure – ethics - those

Embedded in our social functions – stewardship, governance and management,

In the context of:

On one hand, our human potentialities, cognitive (social) structures and potentialities, socio-political structures and, socio-political dynamics and,

On the other, our social potentialities, institutional dimensions and institutional framework.



mind and community

Social Goods / Social qualities –

Core values / Ethical Structure “Ethics”

In summary:


Human

Potentialities

Social Goods

/

Social

Qualities

Social

Potentialities

Cognitive

(Social)

Structures &

Potentialities

Socio-

Political

Structures

Socio-

Political

Dynamics

Institutional

Dimensions

/

Institutional

Framework

Ethics

Stewardship / Governance / Management


mind and community

“Growing an ecology of mind and community will be

dependent of the landscape’s socio-political dynamics

i.e., those authority and power dynamics – ethical

dynamics - that give life to our socio-political

energies…”



mind and community

Harnessing our Socio-Political Energies Towards More

‘Open, Shared and Responsible Ethical Dynamics’

… Socio-political energies – ethical energies - give us the

ability to bring about ‘social qualities and social goods’

that will grow –

○ Our human potentialities e.g., degree of

consciousness, personal identity and sense of

hope… and,

○ Our social potentialities e.g., for contribution...”



and community

Harnessing our Socio-Political Energies Towards More

‘Open, Shared and Responsible Ethical Dynamics’

… Context


Social

Qualitie

s

Socio–Political

‘Ethical’

Energies

Social

Goods

Socio-Political

‘Ethical’

Dynamics

Ecology of Mind

and Community


and community

1. Addressing the conditions for socio-political energies

leading to an ecology of mind and community:

Do my ‘ethics’ – values, principles… and relationship

commitments and qualities - give me authority and power on

my landscape - the possibility of shaping a congruent ethical

framework for my contributions?

Are the landscape’s socio-political dynamics – ethical

dynamics - amenable to ‘open, shared and responsible

ethical dynamics’?



and community

Harnessing our Socio-Political Energies Towards More ‘Open,

Shared and Responsible Ethical Dynamics’ … Issues -

2. Addressing the conditions for an ecology of social qualities

and social goods (per se) – some questions -:

Do institutional social qualities help or hinder the enactment

of those social qualities reflective of our ethical aspirations

and those of relevant others?

To what extent does a particular social good e.g.,

automobiles, impact on other social goods e.g., clean air,

which one drives the other?


Conclusion – Towards an ecology of mind and

community

The approach has aimed to give us the wherewithal

to be vital actors in the building of our world as

individuals, institutions and societies.

In efffect, permitting us to bring about -

Metaphorically – a ‘progressive’ spiral of social qualities and

social goods driven by a similar progressive synergy of

socio-political energies – ethical energies – those

capable of giving us all more satisfying and congruent

ethical manifestations.


6) Glossary - Some definitions

Ethics (in general):

Refers to the world of values e.g., of compassion, solidarity,

and competitiveness, to principles and norms and, to

relationship commitments and qualities.

Ethic (an ethic):

An overarching social quality e.g., love, compassion, and

justice, or social good e.g., sustainability, and prosperity,

bringing about a – context specific - ethical aspiration e.g., what

compassion ‘means’ for the institution in its network of

relationships.


6) Glossary - Some definitions…

Ethical structure:

A specific institutional ethic, say of social justice, is usually a

component of a mediated ethical structure – more specifically of

a hierarchy of ethical aspirations (core values) - for the

institution in its network of institutional relationships.

Ethical framework:

An individual, an institution or society’s specific ethical structure

or, core values, along with its principles and norms, and

relationship commitments and qualities.



Ethical principles:

Behavioural / action principles bringing about a set of

relationship commitments and qualities capable of growing a

relevant individual, institutional or societal ethical structure.

Ethical norms:

Formalized expectations regarding the application of ethical

principles to related relationship commitments and qualities

e.g., applicable to questions such as: to who, when, where,

how...



Ethical:

Generally, will refer to the world of ethics: core values, their principles and norms and, to relationship commitments and qualities.

From a normative perspective, ‘ethical’ will refer to ethical dynamics that are open, shared and responsible.

Ethical dynamics:

Refer to the synergy, or lack thereof, of relationship commitments and qualities per se or with their associated ethical principles and norms, or with their overarching core values and vice versa.


ethical dynamics -overview

Government & Nonprofit