Reason and Impartiality as

Requirements for Ethics

 Introduction
In this module, students will learn the concepts
of reason, morality, and impartiality. It will help
them to think rationally what is good and what
is bad; and to be just and fair to benefit not
themselves but to benefit the majority. This
module gives emphasis on the principle that
every person is equally important and to give
equal consideration to the interests of
majority. Lastly, it will help students to develop
their logical, rational and analytical thinking.
 • Reason is the ability of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments—a process of logic. It is an innate
and exclusive human ability that utilizes new or existing information as bases to consciously make sense
out of thing while applying logic. It is also associated with thinking, cognition, and intellect
• In the case of moral judgments, they require backing by reasons. In the absence of sensible rationale, they
Reason and are merely capricious and ignorable. Moral deliberation is a matter of weighing reasons and being guided by
them. In understanding the nature of morality, considering reasons is indispensable.
Impartiality • We cannot make an act moral or immoral just by wishing it to be so, because we cannot merely will that
the weight of reason be on its side or against it.
• Reason commends what it commends, regardless of our feelings, attitudes, opinions, and desires. Since the
connection between moral judgments and reasons is necessary important, then a proposed theory on the
nature of moral judgment should be able to give an account for the relation
 • Impartiality is the quality of being unbiased and objective in
creating moral decision – underscoring that a (morally)
impartial person makes moral decisions relative to the
welfare of the majority and not for specific people alone.
• Impartiality involves the idea that each individual’s interest
and point of view are equally important—a principle of
Reason and justice holding that decisions ought to be based on
objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias,
prejudice, or preferring the benefits to one person over
Impartiality another for improper reasons.
• Impartiality in morality requires that we give equal and/or
adequate consideration to the interests of all concerned
parties. The principles of impartiality assumes that every
person, generally speaking, is equally important; that is, no
one is seen as intrinsically more significant than anyone
else.
Why are Reason and
Impartiality the Minimum
Requirements for Morality?
• If someone tells us that a certain action is immoral, we may ask
why it is so, and if there is reasonable answer, we may discard
the proposition as absurd. Clearly, thus reason is a necessary
requirement for morality.
• Morality requires impartiality is with respect to violating
moral rules—for example, those rules prohibiting killing,
causing pain, deceiving, and breaking promises. It is only with
regard to these kinds of moral rules—those that can be
formulated as prohibitions—that it is humanly possible to act
impartially with regard to a group large enough to be an
appropriate group.
• Reason and impartiality become the basic prerequisite for
morality as one is excepted to be able to deliver clear, concise,
rightful, and appropriate judgments made out of logic and
understanding in an unbiased and unprejudiced manner while
considering the general welfare to accurately concoct moral
decisions.