Session #4: Framing The Moral Life Ethics, Religious Faith and the Psychotherapeutic Psychologies :Session #4: Framing The Moral Life Ethics, Religious Faith and the Psychotherapeutic Psychologies Frankena, Ethics, pp. 1-11; Browning, Religious Thought, pp. vii-20


A. Three Types of Ethics Useful in Framing the Moral Life :A. Three Types of Ethics Useful in Framing the Moral Life These 3 create a framework in the clinical setting.


Three Types of Ethics :Three Types of Ethics Descriptive Ethics As opposed to Prescriptive Ethics Describe well, stop there Phenomenological Describe the moral dilemma or reality and hand it off … Listen for the emotional and moral aspects How does the client use moral language? What does the client do to create a connection? Is there moral tension or conflict? KEY QUESTION: What does observation uncover?


Three Types of Ethics :Descriptive Ethics - Objective Observer Competencies Moral / Emotional Competencies Listen to language Doesn’t ‘reduce’ moral material to the emotional Listen for frames with an ear to moral backdrop without being judgmental Neutral engagement with an understanding of: Moral Language Categories of content Three Types of Ethics


Three Types of Ethics :Descriptive Ethics - Benefits When moral language is given equality, it is granted legitimacy Moral experience is integrated into lived reality Cognitive realities of consciousness are granted their just due Values shape our lives When we live incongruently, it causes us pain VALUE: Gives structure Three Types of Ethics


Three Types of Ethics :Normative Ethics Asking what is right, good, or obligatory A standard of conduct we live by Asserting a normative judgment: good/bad; right/wrong Giving reasons for this judgment Debating with self or other about what is good, right KEY QUESTION: What is the right or the good? or What ought I to do? Who ought I to be? Three Types of Ethics Prescriptive


Three Types of Ethics :Meta-ethics – Key Questions How are the normative ethics justified? How did you arrive at that ethical decision? Where did my normative ethics come from? Three Types of Ethics


B. Ethics, Religious Faith and the Psychotherapeutic Psychologies :B. Ethics, Religious Faith and the Psychotherapeutic Psychologies Browning & Cooper’s Main Thesis The Influence of Postmodernism The Primary Cultures of the Psychotherapeutic Psychologies How faith correlates to the key questions that we as individuals and as a society ask


C. The Hermeneutical Perspective and Its Relevance for Psychotherapy :C. The Hermeneutical Perspective and Its Relevance for Psychotherapy Every engagement is a hermeneutic engagement The “interpretive turn” guides the therapeutic dialogue


D. Browning’s Five Levels of Practical Moral Rationality :D. Browning’s Five Levels of Practical Moral Rationality *Metaphorical Level *Obligation Level *Tendency-Need Level Contextual-Predictive Level Rule-Role Level What kind of world do we live in? What is most ultimate? What are we obligated to do? What fundamental needs & tendencies should be satisfied? *To change value base, go to these levels


E. A “Revised” Critical Correlational Method: The Significant Yet Different Roles of Theology and the Psychotherapeutic Psychologies :E. A “Revised” Critical Correlational Method: The Significant Yet Different Roles of Theology and the Psychotherapeutic Psychologies Explanatory Psychology Scientific Data Clinical Psychology Individual Life Theology Life Both are highly Interpretive in Nature