Practice Flow

Engage with philosophical texts and ethical frameworks to build a foundation of knowledge that informs your discernment practice.

• •Select a text from the reading list that relates to your current ethical question
• •Read actively, noting passages that challenge or affirm your intuitions
• •Identify the core argument and its underlying assumptions

Turn inward to examine your motivations, biases, and emotional responses before making ethical judgments about a situation.

• •Sit with the ethical question without rushing to a conclusion
• •Journal about your initial emotional response and what drives it
• •Identify which cognitive biases might be influencing your perspective
• •Consider the question from the viewpoint of each affected party

Put the framework into practice by systematically working through the 8 pillars as they relate to your specific ethical question.

• •State your ethical question clearly and specifically
• •Work through each relevant pillar, documenting your analysis
• •Identify which pillars create tension or conflict with each other
• •Synthesize your findings into a preliminary position
• •Note areas of remaining uncertainty

Stress-test your conclusions through adversarial reasoning, seeking counterarguments and edge cases that might reveal weaknesses.

• •Construct the strongest possible argument against your conclusion
• •Identify edge cases where your reasoning might break down
• •Discuss your position with someone who disagrees and listen carefully

Revisit and update your ethical conclusions over time as new information, experience, and perspective reveal gaps in prior reasoning.

• •Schedule a future review of your current conclusion
• •Document what new evidence would change your mind
• •Record lessons learned from the process itself