Writing Arguments in STEM Student Resource

Moral Agency

Introduction

The concept of moral agency defines the stakeholders in a situation through the categorical use of agents, patients, advocates, and figures absolved of moral consideration. Moral agency is important for ethical discussions, proper evaluation of sources, and enhanced student writing. As discussed further below, the moral position of an author affects the biases and impact of their writings. Additionally, understanding moral agency principles enhances learning arguments of definition. Moral agency is a nuanced topic that is commonly misunderstood due to the convoluted definition. This web page describes moral agency by rigorously explaining the intricacies about the topic, and enables students to concretely define the principles and impact in our world.

Types of Moral Figures

Moral Agents

Moral agents are best described as figures that possess the power to make moral decisions on behalf of others. These agents must have accountability in their actions, as moral agents’ purpose is primarily protecting the interests of other entities. In order to best serve moral patients, agents must cause no unjustified harm. One clear example of a moral agent is a government representative, as their purpose is providing policy that aligns with the interests of their constituents. When citizens delegate a moral agent to serve them in a governmental capacity, they entrust this moral figure by providing them with higher authority to determine local law.

Moral Patients

Contrary to agents, moral patients are figures that lack the autonomy to make moral decisions on their own behalf. Instead, patients’ well beings rely solely on the actions and judgements of their moral agents. Agents serve as a proxy for their patients by representing them and making informed moral decisions in order to best provide for the patients. Children are a strong example of moral patients, as children do not have the ability to act for themselves and make moral decisions given their lack of moral and emotional understanding. The responsibility of caring for children belongs to their parents, who are expected to provide and cast judgement for the ultimate well-being of their child.

Moral Advocates

Moral Advocates can be defined as figures that “support or promote moral considerations … of moral patients” (Hamilton). Considering moral patients do not have the ability to make moral decisions, moral advocates must bolster the values of patients. When comparing moral agency to moral advocacy “moral agency connotes understanding and action and advocacy advocates support” (Kaplow pg. 65). An example of a moral advocate is a nurse or doctor advising relatives on the decisions of a sick patient. There are instances when the future of a patient is entrusted to a relative, and moral decisions have to be made with the best intentions of the sick. A nurse or doctor who considers the values and well-being of their moral patient while also having useful information about the condition of a patient represents a moral advocate.

Neither

This is the category for when a subject is "absolved of moral consideration" (Hamilton 7). This is when a figure can not make moral decisions, moral decisions do not affect them, and the figure cannot support or advocate for moral patients. This category includes certain inanimate objects and figures unrelated to a situation. For example, in a conversation about the ethics and responsibility of abortion, trees, Jupitor, and ice cream would all be in the neither category because no moral consideration can be made for these objects regarding abortion. Those figures are all unrelated. Depending on the context, figures move in and out of the neither category. While trees are in the neither category for a conversation regarding abortion, trees could be placed in the patient category for a discussion regarding deforestation.

The Significance of Moral Agency

How the learning of Moral Agency Improves Student Writing

Knowledge of the different moral agents make student writing more convincing to audiences. Students will be able to identify their role as an author as well as the position of the audience to effectively convey their views. Students in the position of agents or advocate should recognize the power they have to create change while also recognizing not everyone has the same opportunities. In papers with a call to action, this is important. Contrastingly, authors in a position of patient who are asking for help or informing of a certain situation should appeal to possible ways an agent or advocate could help.

Recognizing Roles and Bias of Authors

When considering academic writing, it is essential to recognize the significance of an author and the role they play within the argument presented. Most academic authors possess the role of a moral agent as they introduce their ideas, intending to persuade and convince their audience while also emphasizing their ideals. While a moral agent is supposed to make morally sound decisions, it is crucial to understand that, innately, humans have biases. To avoid including bias in academic writing, students should utilize sources that contain perspectives from moral agents, patients, and advocates. Finding sources with differing opinions will strengthen an essay and promote academic writing.

Examples of Moral Agency

Moral Agency in Artificial Intelligence

As artificial intelligence continues to blossom, regulations must be set for how capable computers are to resolve ethical dilemmas as moral agents. If humans give computational intelligence the power to, "make thousands of information-driven, cognitive decisions on their own," researchers argue that, "they should also be able to make ethical decisions" (Etzioni 3). In order to accomplish this goal, humans must decide on a universal moral code that these machines should follow. Given the capability for computers to make life or death decisions like in the context of using autonomous vehicles, humans must carefully deliberate the moral circumstances that arise by creating computers that think like humans.

Ambiguity of Moral Agency

Moral agency is an ambiguous topic, and as such, the category of a figure in a situation is debatable. The debatable quality of moral agency was prominently seen through a class discussion in which groups of 4 sorted various pictures into the different categories of moral agency. The pictures included a dead body, a car, zombies, a soldier, a protest,a leader, and other figures to group. The class could not definitively decide on the category of almost every picture. While at first it might seem obvious that a leader would be a moral agent, a group argued that a leader was in fact a moral patient, fully under the influence of the people. Additionally, the car, while first decided to be in the neither category, was later switched to the advocate category as the car could be used to support the actions of the agent. Due to different perspectives within the class, figure placement can be extensively argued. This discussion additionally emphasized the unclearness that can arise from convoluted definitions.

Works Cited

Etzioni, Amitai and Etzioni, Oren. "Incorporating Ethics into Artificial Intelligence." Journal of Ethics, vol. 21, iss. 1,

pp 3, 2017.

Hamilton, Scott. “Arguments of Definition: Moral Agency & Identifying Stakeholders.” 4 Oct. 2022, Writing

Arguments About STEM, College of Liberal Arts, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo,

Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.

Haridn, Sonya R., and Roberta Kaplow. Synergy for Clinical Excellence: The AACN Synergy Model for Patient

Care. Jones & Bartlett, 2004.

Ulbert, Cornelia, et al. editors. Moral Agency and the Politics of Responsibility. Routledge 2017.

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