Browsing by Author "Luoto, Minna"

The question of essential capacity provided the backgrounds for this study. What can real capacity mean in contemporary society characterized by the crisis of ethics. The aim of the study was searching for moral intelligence – to discuss morality in relation to intelligence. A further aim was to understand certain changes related to both of these conceptions, which was supposed to open some possibilities to reflect on moral intelligence. The view of the study was eclectic and multiscientific. Morality was represented through the views of Z. Bauman's Postmodern Ethics (1993) and S. Hellsten's In defence of Moral Individualism (1997). The synthesized concept was the possible current morality. Intelligence was more closely understood as emotional intelligence in D. Goleman's Emotional Intelligence: why it can matter more than IQ. The method of the study was constructed to meet the needs of the aims. The method applied was philosophical approach, which included systematic analysis. The argumentation was summarized in six theses. Theses five and six discuss the special justification of moral intelligence from two directions: moral (I part) and intelligence (II part). The questions were: 1.1 What is the meaning of individual moral capacity in Bauman's postmodern ethics? 1.2 What is the meaning of individual moral capacity in Hellsten's moral individualism? And 2 What is the meaning of emotions concerned with decision making and sensible behaviour in Goleman's emotional intelligence? From the perspective of postmodern ethics, individual moral capacity was proved to be central, since it actually is the basis of the morality found in responsibility. From the perspective of the moral individualism, individual moral capacity was proved to be central to society, since its existence and development are connected with liberal democracy and its legitimation. Both of these views on the possible current morality emphasized that human moral capacity is not only rational but consists of emotions and moral impulses, too. From the perspective of the emotional intelligence, emotions were proved to be part of every human action, which thus questions pure rational intelligence. Since the concept of intelligence expresses individual sensible behaviour, the moral based on responsibility and the central meaning of individual moral capacity were considered to be the justification for regarding individual essential capacity as moral capacity too. Since moral was proved to be linked to individual capacity rather than universal rules, it was presented that moral has in this sense come closer to intelligence. Correspondingly, since intelligence as emotional intelligence expressed the change in understanding rational and irrational elements, and since it can, in a certain way, be a conceptual link between moral and intelligence, it was interpreted that, in this way, intelligence approaches the concept of moral. Essential capacity was summarized as sensible bahaviour, in which moral responsibility is realised and which consists of an impact of both reason and emotion. This study clarifies the argument that essential capacity is, in addition to intelligence and its implementation with emotional intelligence, actually individual moral intelligence and its fulfillment. Thus, in a changing information-society, education meets again one of its original challenges – the difficult task of moral education.