Chapter 9: Moral Imagining: Toward Using Cognitive Science in Teaching Business Ethics

In this chapter we briefly describe and criticize traditional philosophical approaches to teaching moral reasoning and propose developing moral imagination as a way to enrich traditional ethics instruction. Because our minds are embodied in and constrained by our physical properties and because human reasoning is linguistically structured, we rely on devices such as prototype, metaphor, frames, and narrative. We consider the role and implications of these devices on moral reasoning. Next, we look at how business faculty have begun to introduce the concept of moral imagination and how this undertaking might be advanced. While we do not offer specific pedagogical recommendations, we argue that the insights gained from cognitive science can make ethics education more powerful and relevant.