How and why we make ethical decisions has been debated for millennia. The Greek philosopher Aristotle devised the idea of practical wisdom in this regard. The concept is widely adopted in modern-day academia when it comes to ethical decisionmaking. When it is, it generally takes a deliberative form, which could be captured like this: “Here is a situation. There are three possible solutions. The cost-benefit analysis of these solutions is x, y, z. This is the best solution. Problem solved.” As simple as that. But is this how we deal with ethical conflicts in practice? Do we step back and use rules or a master principle to solve ethics? What does it mean to ‘step back’? What does it even mean to ‘solve’ it? The deliberative approach assumes that people make decontextualised rational decisions by simply referring to abstract rules or codes, almost in a scientific way. A certain emotional detachment is demanded in the act of coldly stepping back to generate solutions to everyday ethical problems. This seems contrary to the way we experience and deal with ethically tense situations. In real life, we are deeply, emotionally, and bodily invested in our choices. Our values, desires, interests, aspirations, and goals have an effect. Our memories and past experiences come into play. And all these aspects are influenced by our unique cultures. We do not stand outside of the situation looking in, but rather look in from the inside. We never think with detachment or calculation that ‘this is an ethical problem, and I will maximise all options.’ Indeed, whether we conceive of something as an ‘ethical problem’ at all depends on who we are in terms of all the elements that go into the making of us as embodied rather than transcendental beings. PUTTING THE PRACTICAL IN ‘PRACTICAL WISDOM’ Aristotle’s position on ethics is that it is not about what it is right to do, but rather what it is good to be. This is captured by Will Durant, paraphrasing Aristotle, saying that “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” The idea here is that our disposition is formed through habit or experience in a specific social world that informs how we act. We cannot act well if we are not a person who is predisposed towards acting well. We say ‘well’ and not ‘right’ because the word ‘right’ suggests there is one correct way of acting. Aristotle’s position is more nuanced. In practical life situations, solutions – if they can be called that – are never neat, fixed, nor black and white. The key point Aristotle’s ideas invoke, and that is usually lost in the discussion 40 |
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