MORAL AUTONOMY

This is viewed as the skill and habit of thinking rationally about ethical issues on the basis of moral concerns independently or by self-determination.

Autonomous individuals think for themselves and do not assume that customs are always right.

They seek to reason and live by general principles.

Their motivation is to do what is morally reasonable for its own sake, maintaining integrity, self-respect, and respect for others.

“One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and willingly accepts the penalty… is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.” Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963.

A person becomes morally autonomous by improving various practical skills listed below:

i)        Proficiency is recognizing moral problems and issues in engineering.

ii)        Skill in comprehending, clarifying and critically assessing arguments on opposing sides of moral issues.

iii)     The ability to form consistent and comprehensive viewpoints based upon consideration of relevant facts.

iv)     Awareness of alternate responses to issues and creative solutions for practical difficulties.

v)       Sensitivity to genuine difficulties and subtleties

vi)      Increased precision in the use  of a common ethical language necessary to express and also defend one’s views adequately.

vii)      Appreciation of possibilities of  using rational dialogue in resolving moral conflicts and the need for tolerance of differences in perspective among orally reasonable people.

viii)   A sense of importance of integrating one’s professional life and personal convictions i.e. maintaining one’s moral integrity.