Moral Disengagement in the Perpetration of Inhumanities

Moral Disengagement in the Perpetration of Inhumanities

Summary

This essay begins by talking about moral conduct and the different

varieties of sanctions and self regulatory mechanisms that control

human behavior. One way moral conduct is controlled is through social

sanctions, which outlines the moral standards of society. Moral agency

is said to have two aspects: inhibitive and proactive. The inhibitive

factor expresses the will not to behave inhumanely whilst the

proactive factor conveys the will to behave in a humane manner. People

do not ordinarily engage in harmful conduct unless they somehow

justify their actions to themselves. In this case, the only was

immoral conduct becomes morally acceptable is through the process of

moral justification. An example of this could be the many decent

people in history who have perpetrated destructive conduct in the name

of righteous ideologies and religions. Euphemistic labeling is one

method in which inhumane acts are made to seem less hideous. An

example of this would be when civilians are killed by a bomb it is

known as collateral damage which is in essence, a weak attempt to

sanitize the action and make it seem less repugnant. Advantageous

comparison is another way of making harmful conduct look good. In

essence, how an act is perceived can be explained by what it is

compared to. By using this tool, guilty actions can be made to look

more innocent or less harsh that they really are. There is another

type of advantageous comparison called exonerating comparison. This

type of comparison seeks validity and moral justification based on

utilitarianism. This is facilitated by two types of...

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...self any self-censure for contributing to human atrocities,

he actively avoided knowledge of the purposes to which his weapons

would be put. "I don't ever want to know that," he said. When asked

whether he was ever haunted by any thoughts about the human suffering

his deathly wares might cause, he explained that a weapons dealer

cannot afford to think about human consequences, "If I really thought

about the consequences all the time, I certainly wouldn't have been in

this business. You have to blank it off." Lastly, moral development is

typically studied in terms of abstract principles of morality. Adults

who differ in conduct do not necessarily differ in moral values. At a

general level, almost everyone has the same moral principles.

Differences lie in the way in which individuals choose to commit moral

disengagement.