Making sense of the self: an integrative framework for moral agency

Udo Pesch

doi:10.1111/jtsb.12230

Abstract

AbstractThe self is conceptualized in a multitude of ways in different scholarly fields; at the same time moral agency appears to presuppose a unitary conception of the self. This paper explores this tension by introducing ‘moral senses’ which inform the normative evaluations of a person. The moral senses are featured as innate dispositions, but they inevitably recruit discursive categorizations in order to function. These senses forward both an ‘individual self’, by experiencing a unitary body, mind and character, and a ‘social self’, that is similarly experienced as a body, a mind, and a character. This social self is enabled by the capacity to internalize other people's feelings and intentions and the need to have otherworldly explanations for observable reality. This integrative framework of moral senses provides an understanding that helps to address the challenge of moral heterogeneity and plurality.

Highlights

Not many people will doubt the presence of a self that defines the core of their being, this self forwards the idea of a unified and persistent personhood and it provides the moral orientations that guide one along in action
The self is conceptualized in a multitude of ways in different scholarly fields; at the same time moral agency appears to presuppose a unitary conception of the self
This paper explores this tension by introducing ‘moral senses’ which inform the normative evaluations of a person

Summary

Introduction

Not many people will doubt the presence of a self that defines the core of their being, this self forwards the idea of a unified and persistent personhood and it provides the moral orientations that guide one along in action. The point of departure for that framework is that humans have ‘moral senses’ that allow normative evaluations.† Such moral senses can be seen as capacities which every person naturally possesses, while their actual working recruits socially transferred linguistic categorizations.

Results

Conclusion