Is Ethics Possible

1. Is Ethics Possible The question of the day!!

2. Arguments that ethics is impossible • Since people disagree about ethical issues, there can be no truth about these issues • No one knows, or has ever know, the truth about morality and so there is no truth about morality • Argument from ignorance • Well, I really meant that there are no moral principles on which everyone agrees

3. Continued • But an objective good and bad, and absolute rules of morality, will rob me of my freedom and I won’t stand for that

4. Thoughtful defenses • Freud says that morality is a matter of feeling • Morality is like taste-is is in the taste-receptors of the beholder. Who is to say for anyone else that vanilla ice cream is better than pistachio? • Science has shown that we are all naturally and incurably selfish, and so we cannot help but go for what we think will make us feel good

5. Defenses continued • According to Hume’s doctrine of sympathy (empathy): morality exists only where there is a bond of sympathy between individuals • Cultural relativism: “all values are culturally based, and you can’t criticize other cultures. Anthropology has shown us that different cultures have different value systems. Each value system is correct for its culture.

6. Defenses continued • The law is the only basis for morality • Sociobiology: “ethics as we understand it is an illusion fobbed off on us by our genes to get us to cooperate. Our cooperation ensures the maintenance of our gene pool, DNA making more DNA, which is the only real purpose in this world.

7. Defenses continued • Logical positivism: “every meaningful statement is either true by definition or verifiable by empirical observation.

8. History of Computer Ethics • 1940s-MIS professor Norbert Wiener during WW2 • …Long before Nagasaki nd the public awareness of the atomic bomb, it had occurred to me that we were here in the presence of another social potentiality of unheard-of importance of good and evil. • Published in 1950 computer ethics book “The Human Use of Human Beings”

9. History continued • Integration of computer technology into society would constitute the remaking of society • 1960s – Donn Parker of SRI International began to examine unethical and illegal uses of computers by computer professionals • “It seemed that when people entered the computer center they left their ethics at the door” • Headed up the development of first Code of Professional Conduct for ACM (1973 adopted)

10. History continued • 1970s – Joseph Weizenbaum MIT CS created a program he called ELIZA – imitation of psychotherapist engaged in initial interview with patient • Outcry from psychotherapists – computers would replace them • Public began to see people as machines

11. History continued • 1970 continued – Walter Maner began using the term “computer ethics” • Created “starter kit in Computer Ethics” and gave workshops around country • 1980s – computer related crime, social and ethical consequences, computer failures, invations of privacy and major law suits

12. History continued • James Moor of Dartmouth College published article “What is Computer Ethics” • Deborah Johnson published book “Computer Ethics” – first textbook • Terrell Ward Bynam & Maner created the first international disciplinary conference on computer ethics

13. History continued • 1990s – many new university courses, research centers, conferences, journals, articles and textbooks came out • Dona Gotterbarn • Keith Miller • Simon Rogerson • Dianne Martin

14. History continued • 1990s continued – organizations • Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility • Electronic Frontier Foundation • ACM-SIGCAS • Conferences • ETHICOMP • CEPE

15. Web sites • www.eff.com • www.nevada.edu/~pernellj/quiz.html • www.cs.utexas.edu/users/ethics/comp_main.html • www.anu.edu/au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/ResPubEth.html • www.ccse.cse.dmu.ac.uk/index.html

16. Can Ethics Be Taught • Should we have ethics courses because ethics can’t be taught • Some research in moral development • Dramatic changes occur in young adults in their 20s and 30s in terms of the basic problem-solving strategies they use to deal with ethical issues • These changes are linked to fundamental changes in how a person perceives society and his/her role

17. Ethics continued • The extent to which change occurs is associated with the number of years of formal education (college or professional school) • Deliberate educational attempts (formal curriculum) to influence awareness of moral problems and to influence the reasoning or judgement process have been demonstrated to be effective

18. Ethics continued • Studies indicate that a person’s behavior is influenced by his/her moral perception and moral judgments

19. Kohlberg’s classification of moral development • Pre-conventional (child) • Stage 1 – obedience and punishment • Stage 2 – individualism, instrumentalism, and exchange (acting in one’s own interest) • Conventional (adolescent) • Stage 3 – good boy/girl (group loyalties – family, friends, nation) – approval of others • Stage 4 – law & order – obligations of duty

20. Kohlberg continued • Post-conventional (adult) • Stage 5 – social contract (universal point of view) • Stage 6 – principles conscience (respect for universal principle) • Kohlberg did not feel that most adults actually reach stages 5 & 6

21. Commentary on the 10 Commandents • Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people • Is it just people that we should not harm? What about the environment and animals? The environment is clearly harmed by the production and use of computers, and by the disposal of waste computers.

22. Commentary continued • Thou shalt not interfere with other people’s computer work • Thou shalt not snoop around in other people’s files • What is the other people are using the computer to do harm? Should we still refrain from interfering? Should computer files be provate even if they are being used as part of a criminal conspiracy?

23. Commentary continued • Thou shalt not use a computer to steal • Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness • What if stealing or bearing false witness is the only way to prevent someone from doing a much greater harm?

24. Commentary continued • Thou shalt not use or copy software for which you have not paid • This is too simplistic. Many of us use software on university or business computer systems where somebody else has paid for us to use the software. Beyond this, though, what if the software house that produced the software has used immoral methods to gain an excessively large share of the software market?

25. Commentary continued • This prevents competition, and enables it to over-charge for software? Under these circumstances is it wrong to use or copy software without paying the software house? • Thou shalt not use other people’s computer resources without authorization • What if it is an emergency, and the only way to stop a great harm is to use computer resources without authorization?

26. Commentary continued • Thou shalt not appropriate other people’s intellectual output • Even here, it is possible that somebody has a brilliant idea that can produce great social benefit, but which will not be taken seriously if the true author is known. By appropriating their intellectual output, society as a whole will gain substantially

27. Commentary continued • Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you write • Thought, unaccompanied by action, is pointless. They must act upon those thoughts. Further, it is not just in writing of software that thought of social consequences and action should follow: although both are necessary in the writing of software

28. Commentary continued • Thou shalt use a computer in ways that show consideration and respect • There may be situations in the world where more good can be done by not showing respect for all, and the possibility of doing such good should not be dismissed out of hand • N. Ben Fairweather