Teaching Ethics: Expanding Ethical Perspectives By Cultivating Moral Imagination

Abstract

Moral imagination (MI) is described as the ability to challenge operative worldviews in order to discover new ways of framing ethical problems and moral perspective taking. Because operative worldviews can contain implicit bias, MI helps individuals reach beyond their own "ways of knowing" to seek alternative perspectives and find innovative ways to solve ethical problems. This article describes a graduate level ethics curriculum designed to develop moral imagination in leadership students, and ultimately help them make ethical decisions within the context of their organizations. The article also reports results of a concurrent, evaluative qualitative study designed to gather student reflections as they attempt to learn and apply moral imagination in practice.