Thinking With, Not Through, AI: Philosophical Counseling and Ethical Self-Authorship in Teacher Education

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence is increasingly used to interpret professional situations, formulate arguments, and consider responses to ethical dilemmas. Although these systems can broaden reflection, their persuasive outputs may encourage moral outsourcing, defined as transferring substantive elements of ethical interpretation, justification, or judgment to an external system without adequate examination, endorsement, or responsibility. This conceptual article asks how generative AI can be integrated into philosophical counseling and ethical reflection in teacher education without undermining ethical self-authorship. Drawing on philosophical counseling, moral development, relational autonomy, professional ethics, and AI literacy, it develops the Ethical Self-Authorship Cycle. The model comprises five iterative stages: articulating the dilemma, pluralizing perspectives, interrogating assumptions, testing reasons and consequences, and reclaiming moral authorship. Its contribution is threefold. First, it distributes deliberative functions between the human participant and AI by specifying what the system may contribute and what it cannot establish at each stage. Second, it requires the process to conclude with a human-formulated justification rather than an AI-generated recommendation. Third, it treats ethical self-authorship as a developing capacity requiring pedagogical scaffolding and ethically and digitally prepared teacher educators. An illustrative case demonstrates the model’s application to a dilemma involving student use of AI in assessment. The article argues that AI may generate material for ethical inquiry, but it cannot represent affected people, determine which values should prevail, or assume professional responsibility. Moral authorship and answerability must remain human.