Moral Intuition, Social Sin, and Moral Vision: Attending to the Unconscious Dimensions of Morality and Igniting the Moral Imagination

Elizabeth Sweeny Block

doi:10.3390/rel12050292

Abstract

This paper argues that the unconscious dimensions of the moral life—for example, moral vision, moral imagination, and distorted consciousness—are some of the most urgent provinces of moral theology today. Historically, moral theology was concerned with moral quandaries and observable actions, and moral agents were understood to be rational, deliberate, self-aware decision makers. Cultures of sin, such as racism and sexual violence, require that moral theologians reconceive of moral agency. Confronting these unconscious dimensions of the moral life requires integrating research in disciplines such as science, sociology, history, and anthropology with Christian ethics, pushing the boundaries of what has traditionally been understood to be the domain of moral theology. As an example, this paper draws upon the mutually reinforcing theories of moral intuition, developed by social and moral psychologists, and recent theories of social sin in Christian ethics, arguing that attention to the unconscious province of the moral life is necessary for developing an accurate conception of moral agency and for future work in moral formation. This paper concludes with a modest proposal for how stories might enable awareness of our distorted consciousness.

Highlights

Pockets of scholarship in recent decades have called attention to the need to alter existing conceptions of moral agency
This paper draws upon the mutually reinforcing theories of moral intuition, developed by social and moral psychologists, and recent theories of social sin in Christian ethics, arguing that attention to the unconscious province of the moral life is necessary for developing an accurate conception of moral agency and for future work in moral formation
This paper claims that moral theology must be engaged in the task of revising conceptions of moral agency to account for the unconscious dimensions of the moral life, including moral intuitions

Summary

Introduction

Pockets of scholarship in recent decades have called attention to the need to alter existing conceptions of moral agency. Religious ethicists have good reason to believe that our model of the human being as an entirely rational, self-aware decision maker is neither entirely accurate nor advisable Both the magnitude of the moral challenges we face today and the contributions of disciplines outside of religious ethics point to the need to reconceive of moral agency and the related project of moral formation. Bryan Massingale observes that conscience formation in the Catholic church is inadequate because it does not account for “our captivity to value systems contrary to the gospel” and is “dependent upon the conscious awareness and intentions of the moral agent”.1 Joining with those scholars who take seriously the need for accurate description, I argue that Christian ethics must account for the work of moral psychology in order to see that Christian ethicists must turn their attention to shaping moral intuitions in response to the problem of captivity to cultures of sin. All too briefly, I will suggest that the immediate work of teachers and practitioners of Christian ethics is, to expand moral imaginations in order to form persons’ moral vision and that one avenue for this is story

Moral Intuitionism

Igniting the Moral Imagination with Story

Conclusions