1. The Four Ethical Experiences

2. Four Types of Ethical Experiences:
#1 The Experience of Personal Response
(The Scream) There is a spontaneous decision to help – it is not a decision that you make
There is an automatic response which urges you to you not to think but to ACT
You are aware of your responsibility to the “other”

3. 4 Types of Ethical Experiences: #2 The Experience of the Other
All face to face encounters are ethical because they remind us of our responsibility for others.
The other person takes you hostage as they evoke a response from you (it can be guilt) and make you responsible
The face stays with you even
after you decide what to do
– he or she is inside you while
you are busy defending your
decision to give or not to give.

4. 4 Types of Ethical Experiences: #3 The Experience of Obligation
This experience of feeling obliged to obey a rule or law has everything to do with your ethical side. You are forced to respond.
You feel an intrinsic duty to oblige (i.e. To follow parent’s rules). The “right thing to do.”
The order or wish from an authority figure can invade our consciousness, change our ethical framework and demand a response.
If you choose to ignore the ethical response, the unrest stays with you.

5. 4 Types of Ethical Experiences: #4 The Experience of Contrast
This experience occurs when you feel outraged by something blatantly unjust or unfair happening to yourself or to others. In contrast to what we expect of fellow human beings.
When you feel overwhelmed by the unjust suffering of others, the indignation you feel is an experience of contrast with what the world should look like.
These experiences lead us to thoughts of “That is not fair!” or “This must be stopped!” or “This is intolerable!”
How we believe things not “ought to be”.
Can cause a change that opposes this destruction.

6. 4 Types of Ethical Experiences - Summary
We all have an ethical core – We are called to react in one way or another when confronted with a dilemma. Whether this desire to react is
- embedded in our genes (innate) or
- programmed in our psyche after years of listening to
moral authorities (learned) or
- is evidence of the divine within us, its up to you to decide.
What one person believes is duty, guilt, intolerable contrast, etc. will be different for every person in every circumstance and cannot be translated into ethical position that applies to everyone at all times.
Early philosophers noted such experiences and reflected on them. From them we have inherited different theories that seek to explain ethical experiences and to translate them into a practical wisdom of living.