Ch0 Ethical Foundations
THIS COURSE
“The goal of studying ‘ethics and computing’ must
be to cause you to become a more ethical person,
particularly in your career as a computing professional.”
Boyer
If we do a perfect job of developing the skills for
making perfect ethical decisions and we use these skills
to perfectly analyze all of the situations where ethics
plays a factor to arrive at a best course of action then
for this to not be another totally useless academic
exercise we need to ___________
Miller
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Ethics
Ethics are beliefs regarding right and wrong
behavior.
Ethical behavior refers to behavior that
conforms to generally accepted norms.
Source G. Reynolds “ETHICS in Information Technology
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Ethics
Ethics is the study of what it means to
"do the right thing." It is the study of ways
to distinguish right from wrong.
If ethical rules are followed and they are good
ones then they tend to make our lives better.
There are often very practical reasons for
behaving ethically.
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Ethics
Ethics has to do with making a principle-based
choice between competing alternatives. In the
simplest ethical dilemmas, this choice is
between right and wrong.
Choosing right from wrong usually is not very
difficult, but right from right is an entirely
different matter.
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Ethics
Ethical principles are basically ideas of
behavior that are commonly acceptable
to society.
We want to make decisions based upon
well-reasoned, defensible ethical principles
and avoid the problems associated with only
relying on intuition or personal preference.
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Ethics
“Ethics is about how we try to become good
people and shape for ourselves a life that is
worth living.”
“… helping others live good lives is a part of
what living the good life is.”
Lovin
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Ethics
“But ethics is also about how we understand
the results of all our choices--who we are as a
result of what we have done and what we
decide not to do, what we have given to others
over the course of our lives and what we have
made of the things we have kept for ourselves.”
Lovin
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Voluntary/Ethical Acts
When we talk about right or wrong
acts we are always talking about voluntary
acts. Here we define an act to be voluntary
if the person doing the act could have acted
differently if he had chosen to. (Note all
ethical theories deal with voluntary acts.)
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The Good Life?
Aristotle concluded that all our choices
were to achieve eudaimonia. Eudaimonia
is not a transient state but a character of
life that we would considered to be a
flourishing life. Happiness is the most
common translation of eudaimonia but
happiness is really a weaker word.
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Disclaimer/Framework
Time constraints are only going to allow
us to only introduce some of the directions
that have been significant in the study of
ethics, so we will dispatch relativism and then
introduce 4 major approaches to ethics with
commentary on strengths and weaknesses:
Deontologism
Consequentialism
Areteological
Social Contract Theory
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More Framework
Professor Kane’s approach to resolving
ethical conflicts.
Golden Rule
Informal guidelines
Formal guidelines
Key references
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Relativism
View all standards and judgments as relating
to a particular context with no general validity
outside that sphere. (When in Rome ..., Who's
to say?, It is all a matter of opinion, That may
be good for you but ..., If __ doesn't care it
shouldn't bother you. ) To the relativist all
moral evaluations are arbitrary preferences,
depending entirely upon the individual, the
situation, the culture, and the times.
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Relativism
In the past, there was little room for
relativism if you knew that the values you
possessed were universal and absolute
because your society or culture or religion
or local holy man had the absolute right
ones because they had obtained them from
the true God/god or gods. And then we
learned that there were other peoples,
religions and cultures.
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Sources for Relativism
1. Tolerance
There is a desire to practice tolerance, to
take an open-minded approach towards
other peoples ideas.
2. Freedom of choice
Maximize freedom of choice. If there are
no objective truths and/or correct moral
principles then our range of choices is
considerably larger.
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Sources for Relativism
3. Intellectual uncertainty
According to the scientific attitude we
should constantly analyze and criticize our
assumptions.
4. Awareness of diversity
We are acutely aware of the multiplicity of
societies in the world all with their own set
of beliefs.
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Looking at Relativism
“Vulgar Relativism” is the doctrine that
“no point of view about values is
objectively better than any other.” The
ancient Greeks refuted this position by
pointing out that claiming that the best
view about values was that there was no
best view was a contradiction.
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Looking at Relativism
The claim that whatever a person believes
to be true is true to him leads to absurdity
(a square has three sides).
The argument that an action is ethical or
moral or even acceptable, because the action
taker didn’t think he did anything wrong is
equally absurd.
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Looking at Relativism
We can't even argue that relativism promotes
tolerance because by advocating the value of
tolerance we give this value objective worth
and deny the relative position.
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But if
But if relativism of values is interpreted to
mean that all values are good merely for
particular persons are groups or from
particular points of view, (not for all persons
and all points of view) implying you can’t
find universal values because of an inability
to rise above all particular perspectives, then
judgments of good or evil, right or wrong,
really do reduce to reflections of personal view.
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The Search
In the past to refute real relativism, not the
vulgar kind, all that was needed was an appeal
to religious or other authorities. But now those
often conflict. What we will need to do is to
show how one can rise above limited points of
view to establish the validity of some universal
values and to say what those values might be.
(Back to this thought later when we meet Kane.)
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Universalism
Areteological
Virtue Ethics
Aristotle
Thomas Aquinas
David Hume
Deontologism
Formalism
Social Contract Theories
Hobbesian
Thomas Hobbes Ideal
John Rawls
Teleology
Consequentialism
Utilitarianism
Kantianism
Divine
Immanuel Kant Command Jeremy Bentham
John Stewart Mill
Theory
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Altruism
Egoism
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Deontologism
(Formalism)
Here we judge rightness by looking at the
behavior itself and not its consequences.
(Reason based ethics)
Deontology is the study of moral obligations.
The name Deontology is derived from the
Greek word deon which means duty.
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Deontologism
Formalism
Deontologism or Formalism can be defined as
the theory that we should live in accordance
with principles of right conduct. The rightness
or wrongness of actions is thought to lie outside
of ourselves and not in any subjective attitude
we might take. Certain acts are right to do,
others are wrong, and we are obliged to pursue
the one and avoid the other.
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Divine Command Theory
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam teach that a
single God is the creator of the universe and
has made revelations about how we should live.
The holy books contain God’s directions so
they can be used as moral-decision making
guides.
Good actions are aligned with the will of God
and bad are not.
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Problems Applying
Divine Command Theory
The “holy books” have significant differences.
There are problems we have to face that are
not directly addressed in the “holy books”
(Internet, spyware, viruses, etc.) so what
we have to do is create an analogy. Our answer
is now based not only on the sacred text but
on the skill/insight of the person making the
analogy.
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On the Other Hand
The recognition that there will be situations
that require the creation of an analogy and
that answers can be influenced by the skill or
insight of the person making the analogy is
often used as a weak excuse for not even
making the effort.
Many of the “commands” are really difficult
to not understand or to argue “don’t apply”.
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Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Kant exerted a profound influence on philosophic thinking throughout the nineteenth and
well into the twentieth century. He was very
ordinary in his personal life, living a precise,
methodical existence as a professor of logic and
metaphysics. He never married, never traveled
more than forty miles from Königsberg, never
varied his daily routine, and when the King of
Prussia asked him not to publish anymore
"alarming" thoughts on religion he stopped and
started publishing again only after the king died.
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Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Kant argued that for an action to have moral
content it had to be done out of an obligation
(duty) to follow moral principles. His original
works are serious, serious deep reading.
Practical reason was the tool Kant proposed
we use to gain insight in ethics and moral law.
Reason about what makes sense and act
accordingly.
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Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Kant believed that people’s actions should
be guided by moral laws and that these laws
were universal, and he believed that if a moral
law was going to be universal it had to be
based on reason. Many of Kant’s moral laws
duplicate those found in religious writings.
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Kant’s Categorical Imperative
Let any maxim by which you intend to act
be subject to the test of universalization:
whatever you would allow yourself, you must
allow to others; whatever you would forbid
to others, you must forbid to yourself.
Note: This can be viewed as a restatement
of the Golden Rule “Do unto others
as you would have them do unto you.”
Koterski “The Ethics of Aristotle” The Teaching Company
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Problems Applying Kantianism
1. Sometimes no single rule fully characterizes
an action.
2. There is no rule on how to resolve conflicts
between rules.
3. Kantianism allows no exceptions to moral
laws.
Michael Quinn “Ethics for the Information Age”
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Teleologism
Consequentialism
Here we judge the rightness of an action by the
outcomes.
Altruism: You sacrifice to benefit others.
Egoism: Maximize benefit or minimize harm
to yourself.
Utilitarianism: Seek maximum benefit for the
group.
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Altruism
An unselfish regard or devotion to the welfare
of others.
We will refer to altruistic acts or even altruistic
lives.
Putting others first with no expectation of
reward for the act.
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Psychological Egoism
Psychological Egoism argues that to pursue
ones' own advantage is a psychological law of
nature and because of this there is no choice
to be made. An interesting consequence of
this thought is that since moral actions are
motivated by concern for others (and we can't
do that) that moral judgments must be totally
irrelevant.
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Ethical Egoism
Ethical Egoism maintains that whether or not
people do act only for themselves nevertheless
they should. The best known proponents of this
position is Machiavelli who wrote a handbook
on manipulating people out of self interest
(The Prince).
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Utilitarianism
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Mill
(1806-1873) "the greatest amount of happiness
for the greatest number of persons." Everyone's
happiness is important including one's own.
Mill- "in the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth,
we read the complete spirit of the ethics of
utility. 'To do as you would be done by,' and
'To love your neighbor as yourself,' constitute
the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality."
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Bentham/Mill
Bentham worked for prison reform and
revising the crime-penalty structure.
Mill was politically active and helped take
power away from the landed gentry. He also
introduced legislation for women's voting
rights. "A sacrifice which does not increase
the sum total of happiness, is considered as
wasted."
Their aim was to reduce the amount of misery
for mankind and increase the sum of human
happiness.
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John Stewart Mill (1806-73)
Mill was Bentham's successor as the leader of
the Utilitarians. Introduced a broader view of
what is worthwhile in human existence and
thought that pleasures vary in quality. This
enabled him to say that it is better to be
Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. The
fool, he argued, would be of a different opinion
only because he has not experienced both kinds
of pleasures.
ethics. Retrieved June 3, 2008, from Encyclopdia Britannica
Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-252545
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Stakeholders
A stakeholder is any person or organization
with a stake in the decision and often includes
others beside those directly involved.
Utilitarian Ethical analysis should result in
a defensible ethical decision that on balance
does the best for all stakeholders. (note that
stakeholders are not guaranteed equal
outcomes or even positive outcomes.)
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Calculus of pleasures (Bentham)
hedon= unit of pleasure or pain.(Bentham def.)
hedonism = The doctrine that pleasure or
happiness is the sole or chief good in life.
hedonistic calculus = a method of determining
the rightness of an action by balancing the
pleasures and pains it would produce.
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Calculus of pleasures (Bentham)
The seven factors for measuring pleasure:
Intensity: Why not have pleasures as strong
as possible?
Duration: If it's good longer is better.
Certainty or Uncertainty: If you know you
are going to like it give more points than if
you are not sure.
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Calculus of pleasures (Bentham)
Propinquity or Remoteness: How long do I
have to wait?
Fruitfulness: Will the following sensation be
of the same kind?
Purity: Will the following sensation be of the
opposite kind?
Extent: How many people are affected?
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Act vs. Rule Utilitarianism
Act Utilitarianism (Bentham)
Every act should be evaluated in terms of
the greatest happiness principle.
Rule Utilitarianism (Mill)
The greatest happiness principle should be
used to establish general rules of behavior.
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Virtue Ethics
Aristotle’s “Nicomachean Ethics” - Viewed
virtue as a pattern of behavior learned
through practice. A virtuous action is the one
that finds the right middle point between an
excessive and a deficient response.
Thomas Aquinas used Aristotle’s work on
virtue as a starting point for his own work
which became a basic source for Roman
Catholic thought on theology and ethics.
Koterski “The Ethics of Aristotle” The Teaching Company
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Virtue Ethics
Hume talks of common human virtues, such as
sympathy, beneficence, friendliness, kindness,
integrity, honesty, gentleness, and cheerfulness,
and has no doubt that all right-thinking persons
would prefer these virtues and shun vices such
as cruelty, treachery, and dishonesty, because
virtues are socially beneficial and vices,
harmful.
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Virtue Ethics
A proponent of virtue ethics believes that a
disposition to do the right thing is a more
effective approach than following a set of
principles and rules.
Virtue ethics is less about how right or wrong
a particular action is and more about the
character of the person. Thus, in this test, the
action is judged in terms of what it says about
the person, rather than on any effects that
action may have.
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Social Contract Theories
We will look at only two examples of
social contract theories, Hobbesian which
comes from the work of Thomas Hobbes and
the more recent work of John Rawls. We will
dig deeper into John Rawls work when we
examine the article “How Good is Good
Enough?”
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Social Contract Theories
Hobbs (1588–1679) started with the thought
that what everyone wants is to satisfy their
own self interest. But this logically leads to a
world where everyone tries to get for themselves anything they want and by any means.
But that kind of world is not in anyone’s best
interest. Hobbs’ solution is a social contract
“in which each person agrees to give up his right
to attack others in return for the same concession
from everyone else.” http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-252545
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Social Contract Theories
Hobbesian social contract theories impose
only the requirement that the contractors
rationally seek their own enlightened selfinterest.
“Ideal” social contract theories impose certain
prior constraints upon the contractors
designed to ensure that the agreement will
be fair.
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Social Contract Theories
John Rawls (1921-2002) American philosopher and
professor at Harvard. Rawls claims that rational
people will unanimously adopt his principles
of justice if their reasoning is based on general
considerations, without knowing anything about their
own personal situation. This procedure of reasoning
without personal biases Rawls refers to as "The Veil
of Ignorance.” This would be an example of a “ideal”
contract theory because of the use of “The Veil of
Ignorance” to insure fairness.
http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~piccard/entropy/rawls.html
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We Got Problems
By now we have a number of good thoughts
by a number of outstanding thinkers but there
are problems with each approach. Kant’s
always follow the rules puts us in situations
where actions such as lying to save a life
would be viewed as wrong. With Utilitarianism
does it become right to take money forcibly
from someone who doesn’t need it as much?
Don’t we have to worry about “The tyranny
of the majority”?
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We Got Problems
Clearly virtue ethics is based on a moving
target in that what is considered virtuous
changes over time and I believe we can
argue that virtue is often culture based.
With the social contract theories they just
simply don’t work all the time and we get
things such as wars.
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Problems/Quest for wisdom
Professor Kane (University of Texas Austin)
offers us a promising approach to discerning
objective truths. He views the approach as a
means to solve a number of the problems we
have raised and while not an approach which
will yield final answers will move us closer to
final answers.
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Consider the Sciences
“In the sciences, openness and objectivity
require consideration of theories opposed
to one’s own and restricting undue bias in
favor of one’s own.” We use openness and
objectivity and to search “for the objective
truth about nature.”
Professor Kane proposes a way to use
“openness and objectivity” in order to limit
our “narrowness of vision” to address the
attraction/problem of relativism.
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Openness/Tolerance
After really being forced into a position of
realizing that you use your point of view on
what is right or wrong will be limited by your
culture and history and the only supporting
argument you can give for your point of view
uses your point of view and since everyone
else is in the same situation then a common
response is openness/tolerance to other points of
view. This thought can bring us back to vulgar
relativism and the concept of no objective truth.
Professor Kane argues this also can be used to
move us away from relativism.
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We can’t be open and tolerant of everyone.
You notice someone being attacked and you
can do something even if all that is is to go for
help. Then you can respect the views of the
attacker or the victim, but not both. This is a
break down of Kane’s “moral sphere” where
moral sphere is the sphere in which every way
of life can be respected. You can’t respect all
views but you can try to restore and preserve
conditions in which ideal respect for all can be
followed again. You choose. Openness has led
us to conclude some ways of life are not worthy
of
our
support
or
protection.
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Now What?
When there is a guilty party, ie. someone who
has broken the moral sphere you punish the
guilty (not the innocent) using minimal force.
When the moral sphere breaks down and
no one is at fault negotiate.
Openness has brought us to a way of finding
truth and value and brings us back to treat
other people as you would want to be treated.
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Fundamental Moral Principle?
Confucianism
--- Sixth Century B.C.
What you don't want done to yourself, don't do to others.
Buddhism
--- Fifth Century B.C.
Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would fine hurtful.
Jainism
--- Fifth Century B.C.
In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should
regard all creatures as we regard our own self, and should
refrain from inflicting upon others such injury as would appear
undesirable to us if inflicted upon ourselves.
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Fundamental Moral Principle?
Zoroastrianism
--- Fifth Century B.C.
Do not do unto others all that which is not well
for oneself. Or: That nature alone is good which
refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not
good for itself.
Classical Philosophy Plato --- Fourth Century B.C.
May I do to others as I would that they should
do unto me.
Hinduism
Mahabharata --- Third Century B.C.
Do naught to others which if done to thee would
cause thee pain.
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Fundamental Moral Principle?
Judaism
Rabbi Hillel --- First Century B.C.
What you don't want done to yourself, don't do
to others.
Christianity Jesus of Nazareth --- First Century A.D.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Sikhism
--- Sixteenth Century A.D.
Treat others as thou wouldst be treated thyself.
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Fundamental Moral Principle?
Islam
No one of you is a believer until he desires for
his brother that which he desires for himself.
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Two interpretations of the Golden
Rule
In the narrower interpretation you do
unto others as if they shared, or would
share your values.
The wider interpretation is that one
should allow others to pursue their
values, even if those values are
different from your own.
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Treat them like me
Bill Russell, Boston Celtic great and
former coach of the Seattle SuperSonics,
explaining why he had trouble applying
the golden rule to his players:
"I tried to treat them like me—
and some of them weren't.”
7/11/77
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Use It
Don’t let the Golden Rule be just a
historic detail. While it is not fool
proof, it can keep you from
doing some really dumb things.
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Informal Guidelines
1. The Mom test
2. Shushers
3. The TV test
4. The Market test
5. The Smell test
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Informal Guidelines
The informal guidelines such as the Mom
test are a form of Publicity Test. Any time
you find you are trying to avoid letting people
know about an action you are contemplating
it is time to use a publicity test.
[Make only those decisions you can defend
with honor before an informed public.]
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Publicity Test
“ a person’s actions manifest essential elements of
his or her character. What we do reveals who we
are. Under this test, when I contemplate an action,
I ask whether I would want to be known as the
kind of person who would do this.”
“This test encapsulates the approach known as
virtue ethics. Virtue ethics is less about how right
or wrong a particular action is and more about
the character of the person. Thus, in this test, the
action is judged in terms of what it says about the
person, rather than on any effects that action may
have.”
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Formal Guidelines
1. Corporate policy
2. Corporate or professional codes of ethics
3. The Golden Rule
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Too Little Time!
We have not “covered” the evolution of ethics.
What we have done is a very cursory (and
shallow) attempt at laying a foundation for
talking about ethical decisions. We will use
the papers you write as a means of expanding
our understanding of the evolution of ethical
thought and the people who have contributed
to this evolution. But there is really too little
time to do this right.
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Primary Sources
“Through the Moral Maze: Searching for
Absolute Values in a Pluralistic World” by
Professor Robert H. Kane of UT-Austin.
“A Gift of Fire” a text by Sara Baase
published by Prentice Hall.
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Caution
If you are going to read a book on topic “X”,
read at least three books on “X”. Books are
written for a variety of reasons: needing to pay
the rent, needing to fill that box on the resume,
having something to say, etc. “In print” is not
equated with “is true” and “is true” is not
equated with “helpful”.
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Observation
I have not in any of my readings on ethics
seen an argument that your decisions on what
should be done should be influenced by your
comfort level. Some decisions will take you
out of your comfort zone and put you in
difficult and awkward positions. Ethical
behavior is not about your comfort zone.
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Heads-Up
One theme you will see in this course is that
your best efforts don’t/can’t make you
perfect. There are going to be times when
it becomes apparent that you have messed
up. When that happens, it is time to take
responsibility and work to correct the
situation you have created.
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News of the Weird
La Familia members are strictly required to
attend regular prayer meeting, to never drink
alcohol or take drugs, and to attend classes in
“ethics” and “personal improvement.”
This Mexican drug cartel accused of murdering
12 federal agents following a 2007 debut in
Which it rolled five severed heads into a dance
hall in a show of intimidation.
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