oa Het ‘praktisch’ geweten: over de nood tot en voorwaarden voor morele intervisie

‘Practical’ Moral Conscience: on the necessity of and conditions for moral intervention

This article seeks to connect insights from moral psychology to methodologies of moral learning. This is done by way of the notion of ‘practical’ moral conscience. Our moral conscience warns us when we are (potentially) bound to make a moral mistake. While a capacity possessed by all, the contents of our moral conscience are largely bound by our social-cultural upbringing. Add to that the findings of moral psychology that our moral judgments are 1) largely intuitive and 2) that these intuitions are heavily influenced by our cognitive limitations and emotional triggers, and a need for interventions on our moral conscience emerges. This need is particularly obvious within (governmental) organizations, which for their integrity are dependent on morally conscious employees. Without specifying a specific method by which to undertake such interventions, this article stipulates four preconditions for the needed critical engagement with our moral conscience.