Ethical Responsibility and Cognitive Awareness: A Bi-Axial Typology of Human Morality

This paper presents a conceptual model for a typology of human morality based on two fundamental axes: moral intention (good or bad) and cognitive awareness (low or high). The framework proposes that moral responsibility scales with the level of awareness an individual has regarding their actions and their consequences. It argues that while intention is necessary for moral evaluation, awareness plays a decisive role in the attribution of responsibility. The model identifies four moral types: Naive Goodness, Harmful Ignorance, Conscious Goodness, and Conscious Evil. The framework is positioned as a tool for evaluating human actions, decisions, and roles within social contexts, emphasizing that cognitive awareness often outweighs intention in determining moral responsibility. The paper further explores the implications of this typology in fields like politics, education, leadership, and collective institutional awareness. Preprint – not peer-reviewed. English version. Version 1.0 - January 2026. A Greek version of this paper is also available.