Intentional Ethics Explained

As a Heretic, I spend a lot of time dismantling orthodox ideas that don't work. Essentially, I'm a pragmatist, but that gets lost in the furor created by discrediting orthodox positions that don't pass muster.

From my perspective, if an idea, concept or theory doesn't work, it should be jettisoned in favor of something that does.

The motivation for creating intentional ethics was my desire to provide ethical concepts that work. This evolved into formulating a system that can be applied to any situation by anybody. Like any new idea, it will take time and testing to be used effectively.

The saying "the path to hell is paved with good intentions" was a starting point. What is a good intention? What is a bad intention? I felt these terms needed to be redefined. So I redefined them.

Adopting the more neutral language of mathematics was the first step. The next step was listing from highest to lowest four possible intentions. The highest intention would be to understand. The lowest intention would be the desire to eliminate.

The next highest intention would the intention to desire and the second lowest would be the intention to use force.

In order from highest to lowest, the intentions are:

4) To understand

3) To desire

2) To force

1) To eliminate

In my first year at seminary, I shared these intentions with classmates and professors, hoping for critical feedback. A Harvard-trained professor with a PhD in Psychology was fascinated by the intentions and suggested I look into motivations and their connections to intentions.

This led to the second phase of intentional ethics, combining motivations and intentions. I described three possible motivations.

3) For others

2) For self and others

1) For self

Good discussions followed. Several people pointed out that a motivation for others may always contain selfish aspects. They may be right. Altruism is rare, and may not exist in any pure form, the discussion went. I included it as the highest motivation based on my theory it is easier to attain if one has the intention to understand beforehand.

The result of the interactions between intentions and motivations produce results that can either be constructive or destructive. Assigning the higher value to constructive results creates the following table.

INTENTIONS/MOTIVATIONS/RESULTS

4) To understand

3) To desire; 3) For others

2) To force; 2) For self, others; 2) Constructive

1) To eliminate; 1) For self; 1) Destructive

There are 24 possible results (4x3x2x1). Twelve of the results would be ethically acceptable and twelve would unacceptable.

To illustrate the intention to understand for others to produce a constructive result, I suggest we look at Robert Kennedy's speech in Indianapolis the night Martin Luther King Jr. was killed.

You can find it on YouTube or follow the link to my Facebook page. Discussion will follow.