Empirical Ethics Research

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Contact:

Prof. Dr. Erich H. Witte
Dipl.-Psych. Imke Heitkamp (imke.heitkamp@public.uni-hamburg.de)

Brief Description:

Besides the observable level of an action, its justification is important. The justification is significant in our society with its pluralistic values, but also in intercultural comparisons, which are increasing with continuing globalization.
This justification in a moral sense has to refer to ethical positions. Thereby, four classical positions can also empirically be identified: hedonism, utilitarianism, intuitionism, and deontology. These justifications vary with the type of action (individual, inter-individual, social), with the professional socialization, with culture, the social role, and the level of publicity.
Hence, several consequences can occur:
1. Actions of other people are not understood;
2. conflicts escalate because of misunderstandings;
3. argumentations become one-sided;
4. values for aggressive actions (terrorism, war) are unilaterally chosen;
5. revaluation can lead to higher morality (tax-morality).

It is the task of the empirical ethics research to analyze justifications and recommendations comparable with value research. But justifications should also be seen as prescriptive attributions, meaning justification of an action on the basis of ethical positions. Prescriptive attribution is therefore an amendment to descriptive attribution with its link of cause and effect.
Because the value level highly motivates actions, the decoding of that level is especially crucial for our living together. It represents also an important possibility to justify decisions adequately in the public sector. To find such justifications, ethics commissions are constituted in economy, science, and politics. These commissions form groups which should be instructed to increase the quality of their decisions.

Start:

Already in the 1990s we started our research concerning the four ethical positions.

Planned Term:

Open-end so far (the latest research project refers to the instruction of ethics commissions, see also dissertations)

Research Funding:

Funding by Stiftung Wertevolle Zukunft

References:

Heitkamp, I., Borchardt, H. & Witte, E. H. (2005). Zur simulierten Rechtfertigung wirtschaftlicher und medizinischer Entscheidungen in Ethikkommissionen: Eine empirische Analyse des Einflusses verschiedener Rollen. Hamburger Forschungsberichte aus dem Arbeitsbereich Sozialpsychologie (HaFoS 55). Universität Hamburg.