Lecture 2
Introduction to Ethics
Reading Review – Ethics in the Information Age – Chapter 2
Community Life
North Korea – Leading the World in Energy Conservation
Definitions
A society is an association of people organized under a system of rules designed to advance the good of its members over
time.
Cooperation among individuals helps promote the common good. However, people in a society also compete with each
other; for example, when deciding how to divide limited benefits among themselves. Sometimes the competition is
relatively trivial, such as when many people vie for tickets to a movie premiere. At other times the competition is much
more significant, such as when two start-up companies seek control of an emerging market.
Every society has rules of conduct describing what people ought and ought not to do in various situations. We call these
rules morality.
Ethics is the philosophical study of morality, a rational examination into people’s moral beliefs and behavior.
Scenario 1
Alexis, a gifted high school student, wants to become a doctor. Because she comes from a poor family, she will need a scholarship in
order to attend college. Some of her classes require students to do extra research projects in order to get an A. Her high school has a
few older PCs, but there are always long lines of students waiting to use them during the school day. After school, she usually works at
a part-time job to help support her family.
One evening Alexis visits the library of a private college a few miles from her family’s apartment, and she finds plenty of unused PCs
connected to the Internet. She surreptitiously looks over the shoulder of another student to learn a valid login/password
combination. Alexis returns to the library several times a week, and by using its PCs and printers she efficiently completes the extra
research projects, graduates from high school with straight A’s, and gets a full ride scholarship to attend a prestigious university.
Questions
1. Did Alexis do anything wrong?
2. Who benefited from Alexis’s course of action?
3. Who was hurt by Alexis’s course of action?
4. Did Alexis have an unfair advantage over her high school classmates?
5. Would any of your answers change if it turns out Alexis did not win a college scholarship after all?
6. Are there better ways Alexis could have accomplished her objective?
7. What additional information, if any, would help you answer the previous questions?
My Questions
What responsibility to Alexis’s problems does the society’s adherence to capitalism over socialism play in this scenario?
If Internet access was provided to all students for free, how would this scenario change?
How much more does it benefit society if Alexis gets the chance to realize her potential as a doctor rather than being relegated to a career in
food service?
Scenario 2
An organization dedicated to reducing spam tries to get Internet service providers (ISPs) in an East Asian country to stop the spammers
by protecting their mail servers. When this effort is unsuccessful, the anti-spam organization puts the addresses of these ISPs on its
“black list.” Many ISPs in the United States consult the black list and refuse to accept email from the blacklisted ISPs. This action has
two results. First, the amount of spam received by the typical email user in the United States drops by 25 percent. Second, tens of
thousands of innocent computer users in the East Asian country are unable to send email to friends and business associates in the
United States.
Questions
1. Did the anti-spam organization do anything wrong?
2. Did the ISPs that refused to accept email from the blacklisted ISPs do anything wrong?
3. Who benefited from the organization’s action?
4. Who was hurt by the organization’s action?
5. Could the organization have achieved its goals through a better course of action?
6. What additional information, if any, would help you answer the previous questions?
Scenario 3
In an attempt to deter speeders, the East Dakota State Police (EDSP) installs video cameras on all of its freeway overpasses. The
cameras are connected to computers that can reliably detect cars traveling more than five miles per hour above the speed limit. These
computers have sophisticated image recognition software that enables them to read license plate numbers and capture high resolution
pictures of vehicle drivers. If the picture of the driver matches the driver’s license photo of one of the registered owners of the car, the
system issues a speeding ticket to the driver, complete with photo evidence. Six months after the system is put into operation, the
number of people speeding on East Dakota freeways is reduced by 90 percent.
The FBI asks the EDSP for real-time access to the information collected by the video cameras. The EDSP complies with this request.
Three months later, the FBI uses this information to arrest five members of a terrorist organization.
Questions
1. Did the East Dakota State Police do anything wrong?
2. Who benefited from the actions of the EDSP?
3. Who was harmed by the actions of the EDSP?
4. What other courses of action could the EDSP have taken to achieve its objectives? Examine the advantages and disadvantages of
these alternative courses of action.
5. What additional information, if any, would help you answer the previous questions?
Scenario 4
You are the senior software engineer at a start-up company developing an exciting new product that will allow salespeople to generate
and email sales quotes and customer invoices from their smartphones. Your company’s sales force has led a major corporation to believe
your product will be available next week. Unfortunately, at this point the package still contains quite a few bugs. The leader of the testing
group has reported that all of the known bugs appear to be minor, but it will take another month of testing for his team to be confident
the product contains no catastrophic errors. Because of the fierce competition in the smartphone software industry, it is critical that your
company be the “first to market.” To the best of your knowledge, a well-established company will release a similar product in a few
weeks. If its product appears first, your start-up company will probably go out of business.
Questions
1. Should you recommend release of the product next week?
2. Who will benefit if the company follows your recommendation?
3. Who will be harmed if the company follows your recommendation?
4. Do you have an obligation to any group of people that may be affected by your decision?
5. What additional information, if any, would help you answer the previous questions?
Ethical Theories
Subjective Relativism
Cultural Relativism
Divine Command Theory
Ethical Egoism
Kantianism
Act Utilitarianism
Rule Utilitarianism
Social Contract Theory
Virtue Theory
Subjective Relativism
Relativism is the theory that there are no universal moral norms of right and wrong. Subjective relativism holds that each
person decides right and wrong for himself or herself. This notion is captured in the popular expression, “What’s right for you
may not be right for me.”
1. Well-meaning and intelligent people can have totally
opposite opinions about moral issues.
2. Ethical debates are disagreeable and pointless.
1. With subjective relativism the line between doing what
you think is right and doing what you want to do is not
sharply drawn.
2. By allowing each person to decide right and wrong for
himself or herself, subjective relativism makes no moral
distinction between the actions of different people.
3. Subjective relativism and tolerance are two different
things.
4. We should not give legitimacy to an ethical theory that
allows people to make decisions based on something
other than reason.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his
not understanding it.”
- Upton Sinclair
Divine Command Theory
The divine command theory is based on the idea that good actions are those aligned with the will of God and bad actions are
those contrary to the will of God. Since the holy books contain God’s directions, we can use the holy books as moral decisionmaking guides.
1. We owe obedience to our Creator.
1. There are many holy books, and some of their
teachings disagree with each other.
2. God is all-good and all-knowing.
2. It is unrealistic to assume a multicultural society will
adopt a religion-based morality.
3. God is the ultimate authority.
3. Some moral problems are not addressed directly in
scripture.
4. It is fallacious to equate “the good” with “God.”
5. The divine command theory is based on obedience, not
reason.
Divine Commands of Christianity
The rules (commandments) of most religions are variations on two rules (1) the religion must protect itself and prosper; (2) The Golden Rule
1. I am the Lord thy God. You shall have no other gods before Me. (self preservation)
2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image (self preservation)
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. (self preservation)
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (self preservation)
5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you. (golden rule)
6. You shall not murder. . (golden rule)
7. You shall not commit adultery. . (golden rule)
8. You shall not steal. . (golden rule)
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. . (golden rule)
10. You shall not covet anything that is your neighbor’s. . (golden rule)
Deism
The belief that God has created the universe but remains apart from it and permits his creation to administer itself
through natural laws. Deism thus rejects the supernatural aspects of religion, such as belief in revelation (the
revealed word) as in the Bible and other religious books, but rather stresses the importance of ethical conduct.
Social Gospel
Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918) was a Christian theologian and Baptist pastor who was a key figure in the Social Gospel movement.
Rauschenbusch enumerates six sins of society that lead to the embodiment of evil in suprapersonal entities such as socio-economic and
political institutions:
Religious Bigotry
Graft and Political Power
The Corruption of Justice
The Mob Spirit and Mob Action
Militarism
Class Contempt
he further articulates four loci of good versus evil:
Pacifism
vs
Militarism
Collectivism
vs
Individualism
Socialism
vs
Capitalism
Internationalism vs
Nationalism
A Thanksgiving Prayer
O God, we thank you for this earth, our home;
For the wide sky and the blessed sun,
For the salt sea and the running water,
For the everlasting hills
And the never-resting winds,
For trees and the common grass underfoot.
We thank you for our senses
By which we hear the songs of birds,
And see the splendor of the summer fields,
And taste of the autumn fruits,
And rejoice in the feel of the snow,
And smell the breath of the spring.
Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty;
And save our souls from being so blind
That we pass unseeing
When even the common thorn bush
Is aflame with your glory,
O God our creator,
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
- by Walter Rauschenbusch
the Logic of Social Gospel
God is the creator of all.
God loves all.
God's love is perfect.
Perfect love does not choose.
We should not ask or thank God for preference.
Alphabet of WTF*?
Abuse of children
Nine-eleven
Blowing up girls schools
Oppression of women
Crusades
Prophylactic bans
Denial of science
Quashing convictions of pedophile priests
Ethnic cleansing
Repression of LGBTQ
Fatwas
Sacrifice
Genital mutilation
Tolerance of slavery
Honor rape
Underage arranged marriages
Inquisition
Vaccination refusal
Jihadi extremism
Witch burning
Killing of non-believers
Xenophobia
Lashings
Youth indoctrination
Most wars
Zionist extremism
* Why Tolerate Fanaticism
Ethical Egoism
Ethical Egoism is the philosophy that each person should focus exclusively on his or her self-interest. In other words, according
to ethical egoism, the morally right action for a person to take in a particular situation is the action that will provide that person
with the maximum long-term benefit.
1. Ethical egoism is a practical moral philosophy.
1. An easy moral philosophy may not be the best moral
philosophy.
2. It’s better to let other people take care of themselves.
2. We do, in fact, know a lot about what is good for
someone else.
3. The community can benefit when individuals put their
well-being first.
3. A self-interested focus can lead to blatantly immoral
behavior.
4. Other moral principles are rooted in the principle of selfinterest.
4. Other moral principles are superior to the principle of
self-interest.
5. People who take the good of others into account live
happier lives.
Kantianism
Kantianism is the name given to the ethical theory of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) who believed that
people’s actions ought to be guided by moral laws, and that these moral laws were universal. He held that in order to apply to
all rational beings, any supreme principle of morality must itself be based on reason.
1. Kantianism is rational
1. Sometimes no single rule fully characterizes an action.
2. Kantianism produces universal moral guidelines.
2. Sometimes there is no way to resolve a conflict
between rules.
3. All persons are treated as moral equals.
3. Kantianism allows no exceptions to perfect duties.
Act Utilitarianism
Act Utilitarianism (also called the Greatest Happiness Principle), contends that an action is right (or wrong) to the extent that it
increases (or decreases) the total happiness of the affected parties.
1. It focuses on happiness.
2. It is down-to-earth.
3. It is comprehensive.
1. When performing the utilitarian calculus, it is not clear
where to draw the line, yet where we draw the line can
change the outcome of our evaluation.
2. It is not practical to put so much energy into every
moral decision.
3. Act utilitarianism ignores our innate sense of duty.
4. We cannot predict with certainty the consequences of
an action.
5. Act utilitarianism is susceptible to the problem of
moral luck.
Rule Utilitarianism
Rule Utilitarianism is the ethical theory that holds that we ought to adopt those moral rules which, if followed by everyone,
will lead to the greatest increase in total happiness.
1. Not every moral decision requires performing the
utilitarian calculus.
2. Exceptional situations do not overthrow moral rules.
3. Rule utilitarianism solves the problem of moral luck.
4. Rule utilitarianism avoids the problem of egocentrism.
5. It appeals to a wide cross section of society.
1. Utilitarianism forces us to use a single scale or
measure to evaluate completely different kinds of
consequences.
2. Utilitarianism ignores the problem of an unjust
distribution of good consequences.
Rule Utilitarianism
Rule Utilitarianism is the ethical theory that holds that we ought to adopt those moral rules which, if followed by everyone,
will lead to the greatest increase in total happiness.
1. Not every moral decision requires performing the
utilitarian calculus.
2. Exceptional situations do not overthrow moral rules.
3. Rule utilitarianism solves the problem of moral luck.
4. Rule utilitarianism avoids the problem of egocentrism.
5. It appeals to a wide cross section of society.
1. Utilitarianism forces us to use a single scale or
measure to evaluate completely different kinds of
consequences.
2. Utilitarianism ignores the problem of an unjust
distribution of good consequences.
The Social Contract
Philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1603–1679) contends that without rules and a means of enforcing them, people would not bother
to create anything of value, because nobody could be sure of keeping what they created. Instead, people would be consumed
with taking what they needed and defending themselves against the attacks of others. To avoid this miserable condition, which
Hobbes calls the state of nature, rational people understand that cooperation is essential. He argues that everybody living in a
civilized society has implicitly agreed to two things: (1) the establishment of such a set of moral rules to govern relations among
citizens, and (2) a government capable of enforcing these rules. He calls this arrangement the social contract.
Social Contract Theory
“Morality consists in the set of rules, governing how people are to treat one
another, that rational people will agree to accept, for their mutual benefit,
on the condition that others follow those rules as well”
Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and many other philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries held that all morally
significant beings have certain rights, such as the right to life, liberty, and property. Some modern philosophers would add other
rights to this list, such as the right to privacy.
Revised Social Contract Theory
According to Rousseau, “the social state is advantageous to men only when all possess something and none has too much”
John Rawls proposed two principles of justice that extend the definition of the social contract to include a principle dealing with
unequal distributions of wealth and power.
John Rawls’s Principles of Justice
1. Each person may claim a “fully adequate” number of basic rights and liberties, such as freedom of
thought and speech, freedom of association, the right to be safe from harm, and the right to own
property, so long as these claims are consistent with everyone else having a claim to the same
rights and liberties.
2. Any social and economic inequalities must satisfy two conditions: first, they are associated with
positions in society that everyone has a fair and equal opportunity to assume; and second, they are
“to be to the greatest benefit of the least-advantaged members of society (the difference principle)”.
Social Contract Theory
1. It is framed in the language of rights.
1. None of us signed the social contract.
2. It explains why rational people act out of self-interest in
the absence of a common agreement.
2. Some actions can be characterized in multiple ways.
3. It provides a clear ethical analysis of some important
moral issues regarding the relationship between people
and government.
3. Social contract theory does not explain how to solve a
moral problem when the analysis reveals conflicting
rights.
4. Social contract theory may be unjust to those people
who are incapable of upholding their side of the contract.
American Government based on 18th Century Ethical Theories
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
-- American Declaration of Independence
1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of
the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
2. A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
3. No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. (privacy and property)
4. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall
issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. (privacy)
5. No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval
forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor
shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself (privacy), nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property
be taken for public use, without just compensation. (just by whose definition?)
6. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been
committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against
him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. (justice) (legal representation)
7. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. (equal to about $600 today) (justice)
8. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. (don’t be evil)
9. The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. (omissions are inclusive rather than exclusive)
10. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. (implied rights)
-- U.S. Constitution Bill of Rights
The Ethics of Reparations for Slavery
Anderson Cooper
A rule of thumb is: where there is old money, you will find some connection to slavery. So of course it wasn’t hard to determine
that Anderson Cooper was connected, in a familial way, to slavery. His bloodline is tied to the Vanderbilts, one of the richest
families in American history. Cooper’s great-great-grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt – who was also Cooper’s cousin through
inbreeding – was a tycoon who built his wealth from shipping and railroads. He also owned plantations: one in particular was in
Georgetown, S.C., where Michelle Robinson Obama’s ancestor Jim Robinson, who was born a slave in 1850, worked.
David Cameron
The family of the current Prime Minister of Britain, David Cameron, benefited from the enslavement of African people. According
to Dr. Nick Draper of University College London, as many as one-fifth of wealthy Victorian Britons inherited part or all of their
fortunes from the slave economy. As a result, there are now wealthy families all around the U.K. still indirectly enjoying the
proceeds of slavery they have inherited. In addition to benefiting from slavery while it was legal in the British empire, Cameron’s
ancestors were given £4,101, equal to more than £3 million today ($4.7 million dollars), for the 202 black people they enslaved
on the Grange Sugar Estate in Jamaica.
Paula Deen
On the season finale of NBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are?“, Paula Deen discovered that her ancestor, John Batts, was a slave
owner. Deen, who was born, raised and still lives in Georgia, found that Batts, a politician and plantation owner, was very wealthy
and a hefty portion of his assets were slaves. “I have said so many times that my family was never involved in slavery in any
way,” Deen said, adding, “It is horrific and it is sad.”
George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush
According to researchers, a notoriously vicious slave trader, who brought captive slaves from West Africa to colonial America, is
the same man whose descendants produced two U.S. presidents: George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush. Thomas
Walker, a direct ancestor of George W. and George H.W. Bush was part of a group active in the late 18th century along the coast
of West Africa that funded the shipping of slaves from Africa to America. Walker, George H.W. Bush’s great-great-great
grandfather, was the captain of, master of, or investor in at least 11 slaving voyages to West Africa between 1784 and 1792.” In
the late 18th and early 19th centuries, at least five Walker family households, George W. Bush’s ancestors by his father’s mother,
owned slaves in Maryland’s Cecil County.
Richard Dawkins
The outspoken atheist, who once branded the Catholic Church as “evil,” is the direct descendent of Henry Dawkins who owned
1,013 slaves in Jamaica until he died in 1744. According to the U.K.-based Daily Mail, Dawkins’ 400-acre family estate, Over
Norton Park near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, is believed to have been bought with money made through slave ownership
hundreds of years ago. Dawkins is best known as author of “The Selfish Gene.”
Reba McEntire
McEntire was able to trace her ancestral roots back several centuries in America and England. She discovered aspects of her
family background that pained her greatly from the NBC documentary series, “Who Do You Think You Are?”, including the
fact that one of her great-grandfathers was a slave owner.
John McCain
John McCain is perhaps most well known as President Obama’s opponent in the 2008 presidential election. What is not as
well known about McCain is that his ancestor owned about 120 slaves before the end of the Civil War. The story of McCain’s
family is significant, in that it teaches us about the ongoing legacy of slavery and racism in the U.S. A Wall Street Journal
article states that while descendants of McCain’s great-great-grandfather inherited and still own 1,500 acres of the original
plantation land, the descendants of the Africans who were enslaved on the same plantation, “built a four -room school
house with $1,750 they scraped together and $900 from philanthropy.” The black descendants also worked to save “enough
to buy a small parcel of farmland.”
President Obama
According to research by the Baltimore Sun, one of Obama’s ancestors, George Washington Overall, owned two slaves who
were recorded in the 1850 census in Nelson County, Ky. The same records indicate that another Obama’s ancestors, Mary
Duvall, also owned two slaves. Note that most instances of African-American’s with white ancestors who owned slaves
occurred as a result of sexual relations between the slave and the slave owner.
from Atlanta Blackstar, August 21, 2013