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Introduction to Ethics
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JASHORE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
COURSE TITLE : Bangladesh Studies and Ethics
DEPARTMENT : BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
COURSE CODE : HUM 1103
An Assignment On “Assignment on Ethics”
Submitted by
NAME :MD. ASHADUZZAMAN CHOWDHURY
ROLL :191901
Session:2019-2020
Submitted to
Md. Sadid Hossain;
Lab Assistant;
Environmental science and technology;
Jashore University of Science and Technology
1.What is Ethics? Write down the types of Ethics with a brief
description.
Definition of Ethics: At its simplest, Ethics is a system of moral principles or Ethics
involves learning what is right or wrong, and then doing the right thing -but "the right
thing" is not nearly as straightforward as conveyed. They affect how people make
decisions and lead their lives. Ethics is concerned with what is good for individuals and
society and is also described as moral philosophy. By implication, in ethics there is no
scope for proof and demonstration as there is in science and mathematics; ethical
‘argument’ is a matter of rhetoric,which is to say, a matter of persuading people to
believe rather than proving to them that the beliefs you hold are true.
Or,
The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines ethics as: “Relating to morals, treating of
moral questions; morally correct, honourable”.
Definition of Ethics from the Dictionary of Psychology: “A branch of philosophy
concerned with that which is deemed acceptable in human behaviour, with what is
good or bad, right or wrong in human conduct in pursuit of goals and aims.”
Ethics explores the nature of rights, of moral responsibilities, and of how to go about
addressing an ethical problem. Engineering ethics is the field of applied ethics which
examines and sets standards for engineers' obligations to the public, their clients,
employers and the profession and is appropriate in all aspects of professional practice
Or,
Study Ethics is a systematic approach to under-standing, analyzing, and distinguishing
matters of right and wrong, good and bad, and admirable and deplorable as they relate
to the well-being of and the relation-ships among sentient beings. Ethical
determinations are applied through the use of formal theories, approaches, and codes
of conduct, such as codes that are developed for professions and religions. Ethics is an
active process rather than a static condition, so some ethicists use the expression
doing ethics. When people are doing ethics, they need to support their beliefs and
assertions with sound reasoning; in other words, even if people believe that ethics is
totally subjective, they must be able to justify their positions through logical,
theoretically based arguments. Feelings and emotions are a normal part of everyday
life and can play a legitimate role in doing ethics. However, people sometimes allow
their emotions to overtake good reasoning, and when this happens, it does not provide
a good foundation for ethics-related decisions. Evaluations generated through the
practice of ethics require a balance of emotion and reason. Throughout history, people,
based on their culture, have engaged in actions that they believed were justifiable only
to have the light of reason later show otherwise. Following a charismatic, but
ego-centric, leader, such as Adolph Hitler, is an example of such a practice.
Or,
Ethics is the discipline that studies the moral life. It studies not only what is the right
and good thing to do, but also the character and values of a person and the standards
to use for judging the rightness or wrongness of society’s policies. Morality refers
primarily to behavior and character, and ethics is the discipline that tries to provide
guidance and perspective for moral evaluation of decisions and policies, and for
forming character. Often the words ethics and morals are used interchangeably. Ethics
can also be understood as the systematic study of moral standards of right and wrong,
justice and injustice, virtue and vice, with a view to applying those standards to the
realities of our lives. It is a normative discipline about what ought to be, rather than just
being descriptive of the way things happen. The descriptive fields of study are those
that attempt to recount human and institutional behavior in various spheres, such as
psychology, sociology, anthropology, history and so on. By contrast, ethics is normative
or prescriptive, in that it attempts to establish norms, standards and perspectives that
ought to guide individual and institutional behavior and character. Not only do we talk of
what is but also what we ought to do or be.
Etymologically, the word ethics goes back to the ancient Greek “ethos”. This originally
referred to a place of dwelling, location, but also habit, custom, convention. It was
Cicero who translated the Greek term into Latin with “mores” (ethos, customs), from
which the modern concept of morality is derived (Cicero 44BC). The German
philosopher Immanuel Kant characterised ethics as dealing with the question “What
should I do?” (Kant 1788).
It is important to point out that ethics is more than an individual’s own appraisal
of a situation; it is also cultural—whether that culture is an organization, an industry, a
community, a nation, or a fundamentally human consideration. Ethics is about how
one should live as an individual as well as how to live with others—who may
be significantly different. Ethics assumes that people are accountable for their actions.
Every day, managers make decisions that can affect customers, employees, financiers,
partners, the community, and the world in powerful ways. Since managers are
accountable to these groups, they must have morally defensible reasons for their
actions that go beyond mere intuition.
At last, Ethics is the process of determining right and wrong conduct.The discipline
dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligations
Types of Ethics:
1. Personal Ethics: The term “personal” is used in a number of ways, which
makes it impossible to set out one definition. It seems that at least three senses
can be distinguished. Firstly, personal ethics is any ethical system or doctrine that
has been chosen in some way as a moral guide in the particular life of an agent.
Personal ethics in this sense is built upon an individual commitment to a moral
life and contrasts with any ethics, no matter how much it is recognized or
justified, that is not the object of such a choice. Personal ethics means, in this
case, “committed ethics” or “active ethics.” In the second sense, personal ethics
is any situationist ethics opposing the universal and impartial ethics embraced in
the principle of universalization. Personal is in this case tantamount to “particular”
or “contextual.” In the third sense, a personal ethics is any ethical system that
focuses on the role of agents and their moral dispositions, in opposition to any
ethics centered on impersonal values, God, rules, principles, rights, etc. Although
in practice all three senses of ethics can intertwine in one and the same doctrine,
they are perfectly distinguishable logically and historically.
2. Social Ethics: Social ethics, is the largest sense dealing with what is right
(good) and wrong (bad) behavior in a social unit. The social body can be broken
down into simpler social units such as a person, a group, an institution, a country
or the global community as a whole. Perhaps, then comes the Universe. Then
the issue becomes the dealings of personal ethics, family or friendship ethics,
work or company ethics, international ethics and finally global ethics,
respectively. This and further breakdown of above mentioned ethics provide the
examples of social ethics as a whole
3. Religious Ethics: Religious ethics are the moral principles that guide religions
and that set the standard for what is and isn’t acceptable behavior. Surprisingly
similar from one religion to the next, these fundamental principles flow from the
core beliefs and ancient wisdom of religion, as well as its teachers and traditions.
Most religions have an ethical component, often derived from purported
supernatural revelation or guidance.According to Simon Blackburn, "For many
people, ethics is not only tied up with religion, but is completely settled by it. Such
people do not need to think too much about ethics, because there is an
authoritative code of instructions, a handbook of how to live. " Ethics, which is a
major branch of philosophy, encompasses right conduct and good life. It is
significantly broader than the common conception of analyzing right and wrong.
A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is
simply satisfying, which is held by many philosophers to be more important than
traditional moral conduct. Some assert that religion is necessary to live ethically
Blackburn states that, there are those who "would say that we can only flourish
under the umbrella of a strong social order, cemented by common adherence to
a particular religious tradition"
4. Business Ethics:Business ethics is the study of business situations, activities,
and decisions where issues of right and wrong are addressed. It is worth
stressing that by 'right' and 'wrong' we mean morally right and wrong as opposed
to, for example, commercially, strategically, or financially right or wrong.
Moreover, by 'business' ethics, we do not mean only commercial businesses, but
also government organizations, pressure groups, not-for-profit businesses,
charities, and other organizations. For example, questions of how to manage
employees fairly, or what constitutes deception in advertising, are equally as
important for organizations such as Greenpeace, the University of Stockholm, or
the German Christian Democrat Party as they are for Shell, Volvo, or Deutsche
Bank.
5. Professional Ethics: Professional ethics are principles that govern the
behaviour of a person or group in a business environment. Like values,
professional ethics provide rules on how a person should act towards other
people and institutions in such an environment. Professionals are a group of
people who earn a living by undertaking a common activity and who regulate
most of this themselves. Firstly they must form a constitution. and secondly they
must publish a professional code of rules or an ethical code of conduct. This
code must be in line with the law and is often more restrictive than the law.
2.What are the basic differences among Ethics, values and
morals? Describe the application of Ethics.
Values: Values are the foundation of an individual person’s ability to judge between
right and wrong. Values include a deep-rooted system of beliefs that guide a person’s
decisions. They form a personal, individual foundation that influences a particular
person’s behavior. There are examples of values everywhere in our daily life. For
example, if our value system is founded upon honesty, we would probably choose to
study for a difficult test rather than cheating for a passing grade. However, if we have to
value an achievement and success over honesty, we may decide to cheat on the
exam instead. This relates to which value is “worth more” to the individual. Other
examples of values include: a person who values integrity admits that they stole a
piece of candy, someone who values friendship drops everything to help a friend,
people who value a healthy lifestyle make sure they have time to work out in the
morning, a person who values success works late nights to achieve a promotion,
someone who values commitment may be more willing to go to marriage therapy than
to file for divorce. These values form our personality types. They also help us make
decisions that affect the course of our lives. When these values are shared by others in
our community, they are known as morals.
Morals: Morals, also known as moral values, are the system of beliefs that emerge out
of core values. Morals are specific and context-driven rules that govern a person’s
desire to be good. They can be shared by a larger population, but a person's moral
code may differ from others' depending on their personal values.We make moral
decisions based on personal values all the time. An example of a moral in the example
above is determined by a person's value of honesty: cheating is bad. Someone who
values success more than honesty may behave by another moral: cheating is fine.
Additional examples of morals include: It is bad to steal candy (based on a value of
honesty).Helping a friend is a good thing to do (based on a value of friendship). It is
bad to skip a workout (based on a value of a healthy lifestyle). Working late at night is a
good thing to do (based on a value of success). Saving your marriage is a good way to
move forward (based on a value of commitment).
Ethics: Ethics and morals are very similar. In fact, many ethicists consider the terms to
be interchangeable. However, there are slight differences in how they affect our lives.
While morals are concerned with individuals feeling "good" or "bad," ethics determine
what behaviors are "right" or "wrong." Ethics dictate what practical behaviors are
allowed, while morals reflect our intentions. Consider morals as the rulebook and ethics
as the motivator that leads to proper or improper action.For example: Doctors are held
to a strict code of ethics when they swear the Hippocratic Oath. They are bound to the
rule "do no harm," and can be held accountable if they do cause harm to their patients;
An organization like PETA, which stands for “People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals," pursues legal action against those who do not treat animals in an ethical
way; Employees often sign a code of ethics, which includes keeping important matters
confidential and not stealing from the workplace — both of which would be fireable
offenses; Defense lawyers are ethically bound to defend their clients to the best of their
ability, even if they are morally opposed to their clients' crimes. Breaking this ethical
code could result in a mistrial or disbarment; A student who helps another student
cheat on a test is breaking their school's ethics. Even though they are doing it for a
moral reason (helping a friend), they are committing an ethical violation and can be
punished; Ethics are basically an institution's attempt to regulate behavior with rules
based on a shared moral code. Violating ethics has the same consequence as breaking
a rule, while violating one's morals results in personal guilt and shame instead of a
societal consequence. Ethical dilemmas occur when an institutional set of ethics
conflicts with one's personal moral code.
Application of Ethics:
Applied ethics refers to the practical application of moral
considerations. It is ethics with respect to real-world actions and their moral
considerations in the areas of private and public life, the professions, health,
technology, law, and leadership. There are basically two approaches in applied ethics:
one is to approach ethical issues by applying the principles of ethical theories, and the
other is to develop situation based discourses without presupposing the validity of any
ethical theory. The first approach is to find ways to apply the principles of ethical
theories. Philosophers attempt to revise classic formulations of ethical principles in
order to apply them to current ethical questions. Two major ethical theories that are
used today are utilitarianism and deontological ethics; other ethical theories include
virtue ethics, such as Aristotelianism, Confucianism, and religion based ethical
theories.
This approach, however, has its own difficulty. Each ethical theory is established upon
distinct principles and has a certain plausibility, yet no one theory can comprehensively
cover all aspects of a problem; at the same time, combining different theories requires
a tremendous mind and is nearly impossible. Applied ethics can be found in almost all
kinds of professional fields or social practices. While medical ethics, environmental
ethics, business ethics, and legal ethics are major subfields, applied ethics is found in
human rights, war, media, communication, sports, academic research, publication, and
other areas.
ETHICS IN PARTICULAR SUBFIELD OF APPLICATION
1.BIOETHICS
2.GEOETHICS
3.BUSINESSETHICS
4.RELATIONAL ETHICS
5.MACHINE ETHICS
6.MILITARY ETHICS
7.POLITICAL ETHICS
8.PUBLIC SECTOR ETHICS
1. Bioethics is the study of controversial ethics bought about by advances in
biology and medicine. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that
arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics,
low, and philosophy.
2. GEOETHICS is an interdisciplinary field between Geosciences and Ethics which
involves Earth and planetary Sciences as well as applied ethics. It deals with the
way of human thinking and acting in relation to the significance of the Earth as a
system and as a model.
3. Business ethics is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines
ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business
environment. It applied to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the
conduct of individuals and entire organization.
4. Relational Ethics are related to an ethics of care researchers who employ
relational ethics value and respect the connection between themselves and the
people they study and "between researchers and the communities in which they
live and work".
5. Machine ethics will likely drive advancement in understanding of human ethics
by forcing us to address gaps in modern normative theory and by providing a
platform for experimental investigation.
6. Military ethics are intended to guide members of the armed forces to act in a
manner consistent with the requirements of combat and military organization.
7. Political ethics is the practice of making moral judgments about political action
and political agents.
8. Public sector ethics is a set of principles that guide public officials in their
service to their constitutes, including their decision-making on behalf of their
constituents.
3.Define Code of Ethics. Explain code of ethics with examples.
The Code of Ethics expresses the set of duties and ethical responsibilities involved in
conducting business and business activities in general (collectively the "Business
Activities") of the Company. Those who are subject to the Code of Ethics include
Corporate Executives, External Collaborators, Partners, and in any case, all those who
operate under the direction and supervision of the Company, as well as the
shareholders of the Company itself. The principles and codes of conduct included in
the Code of Ethics enrich decision-making processes and vocational training and guide
the Company's types of behaviour. These standards and principles are binding on
recipients within the scope of the Business Activities and are likewise required for
External Interlocutors.
The Code of Ethics consists of:
• General principles regarding relations between the Company and the Recipients,
between the Recipients, and in relations with the External Interlocutors. These
principles define the reference values in Company Activities;
• Policies that specifically set the guidelines and rules with which the Company and the
Recipients must comply to respect the general principles and to prevent the risk of
non-ethical conduct;
• Mechanisms needed to implement, monitor and disseminate compliance with the
Code of Ethics and that are indispensable to ensure its continuous improvement.
A code of ethics is designed to ensure employees are behaving in a manner that is
socially acceptable and respectful of one another. It establishes the rules for behavior
and sends a message to every employee that universal compliance is expected. It also
provides the groundwork for a preemptive warning if employees break the code. A
code of ethics can be valuable not just internally as a professional guide but also
externally as a statement of a company’s values and commitments.
some examples of a code of ethics in different professions:
Lawyers: Lawyers are bound to a professional code of ethics that exists independently
of their employment.For example, Canon No. II— When Rule 4(2) of Order III in the
Bangladesh Bar Council Canons of Professional Conduct and Etiquette reads, “unless
the client itself determined the appointment of the learned Advocate with the leave of
the Court till then such appointment will remain valid and none other than the client can
seek for determination of the appointment of the learned Advocate and hence the
impugned order debarring the learned Advocate from conducting the hearing of the suit
on behalf of the defendants is liable to be set aside..”
Physicians: Like lawyers, physicians are held to a universal code of conduct because
of their chosen profession. The Bangladesh Medical Association addresses everything
from patient care to relationships with other staff members. For example:
1. A physician shall provide competent medical care, with compassion and respect
for human dignity and rights.
2. A physician shall uphold the standards of professionalism, be honest in all
professional interactions and strive to report physicians deficient in character or
competence, or engaging in fraud or deception, to appropriate entities.
3. A physician shall respect the law and recognize a responsibility to seek changes
in those requirements which are contrary to the best interests of the patient.
Engineer: Engineering is an important and learned profession. As members of this
profession, engineers are expected to exhibit the highest standards of honesty and
integrity. Engineering has a direct and vital impact on the quality of life for all people.
Accordingly, the services provided by engineers require honesty, impartiality, fairness,
and equity, and must be dedicated to the protection of the public health, safety, and
welfare. Engineers must perform under a standard of professional behavior that
requires adherence to the highest principles of ethical conduct.
1. Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public
2. Engineers shall perform services only in the areas of their competence.
3. Engineers shall issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner.
4. Engineers shall act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees.
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