Environmental Ethics Decision-making Matrix for Oral Presentations
Analysis (see)1. / Personal factors: Is there anything in your personal experience that affects how you view the case?
2. / Power dynamics: Among all the stakeholders in the case, do all have relatively equal power in terms of making a decision?
3. / Factual & scientific information: What are the key facts in the case? Is there any dispute about what those facts are? What is the most plausible account of the facts? Is there indication that scientific data is being presented in a biased way?
4. / Complicating factors: Is there anything particularly unusual or complicated about the case? In terms of science? Or of law?
5. / Relationships: Do any of the key stakeholders have crucial issues of personal relationships that may affect how they view the case?
6. / Ethical issues: What is the primary ethical issue in the case? What are one or two secondary ethical issues?
Question for the audience to which you are presenting: do you agree that this ethical issue should be the primary one? (Y/N; discuss why)
7. / Alternatives and consequences: What are the key alternatives to address the primary ethical issue in the case? What are the likely positive and negative consequences of these alternatives?
Assessment (judge)
8. / Ethical vision: What would be a just resolution to these issues? Remember: Ethics is not only about what we shouldn't do; it's also about how we imagine things should be.
9. / Coping with imperfect environmental knowledge: how do you evaluate the certainty with which alternatives are presented? How great are the risks of uncertain environmental impacts, and who bears the burden of risk?
10. / Ethical reasoning: Which mode appears most appropriate? (commands, consequences, character)
For the audience: vote for which ethical principle
(justice, sufficiency, sustainability, solidarity, participation or precaution) that you think should be understood as the most important criteria for the decision making process. Discuss.
11. / Moral principles:Whichkey ethical principle is most relevant to this case? (Examples: justice, sufficiency, sustainability, solidarity, participation or precaution) / (the team presents its own selection, and justifies this; is it persuasive to the class?)
12. / Virtues: What kind of character traits do you want to be reflected in your decisions? (Examples: prudence, precaution, courage)
Action (act)
13. / Decision: Which alternative is morally preferable?
14. / Justification: how do you justify it in terms of the moral principles and the moral reasoning above?
Question for the audience: is the decision consistent with the ethical principle selected above? (Y/N; if no, which principle was actually used to justify?)
15. / Communication: How will you communicate this information to diverse audiences so it is morally reasonable?
16. / Reflection: Looking back on the case, are there any aspects of it that were especially enlightening or troubling? What new information might cause you to reconsider your decision?
This matrix is derivative from Martin-Schramm & Stivers (2003) Christian Environmental Ethics: A Case Method Approach (Orbis Press).