An Ethical Indicator in the Decision-Making Process. Transcendent Motives

Abstract

The conceptualization of transcendent motives - together with the extrinsic and intrinsic motives - opens a channel to unite theory and practice in the realm of moral education. The conceptual axis of the analysis is the decision-making process framed in a context where there are "others" that receive the impact of our actions. Transcendent motives clarify the real value we assign to those others, if we treat them like persons, or rather "in function of, or "as a means to" further our personal interests. Rational motivation based on these motives makes us prudent and develops in us the valuative knowledge that serves us to discover in an experiential (rather than theoretical) manner personal realities. Via the case method students are taught the three types of criteria needed to learn how to internalize persons as a value in and of themselves.