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Ethics and Ethical Theories

Ethics and Ethical Theories. Herman T. Tavani, Ethics and Technology, Chapter 2, Wiley, 2004. Morality and moral systems. Rules of conduct Rules for individuals Rules for social policies Principles of evaluation. Justifying rules for moral systems. Religion – teachings of religious leaders

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Ethics and Ethical Theories

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  1. Ethics and Ethical Theories Herman T. Tavani, Ethics and Technology, Chapter 2, Wiley, 2004.

  2. Morality and moral systems • Rules of conduct • Rules for individuals • Rules for social policies • Principles of evaluation

  3. Justifying rules for moral systems • Religion – teachings of religious leaders • Philosophical ethics – appeals to reason • Law – codes determined by constitutions and legislation

  4. Discussion stoppers • People disagree on solutions. • They also agree on many things. • Who am I to judge? • Sometimes we have to make judgments. • Ethics is a private matter. • Morality is essentially a public system. • Morality is a matter for individual cultures. • Do in Rome as the Romans do.

  5. Why ethical theories are needed • Follow the golden rule. • Doesn’t cover when others have different desires. • Follow your own conscience. • Some people think it all right to fly airplanes into towers.

  6. Consequence based ethical theories • Bentham (1748-1832) and Mill (1806-1873) • What results from an act • The ends justify the means • Principle of social utility measured by the resulting amount of happiness

  7. Utilitarianism • Act utilitarianism – Act is good if it results in the greatest good for the greatest number. • What happens to minority? • Rule utilitarianism – Act is good if it comes from following rules that bring good to greatest number. • Should we base ethics on happiness and pleasure?

  8. Duty-based ethical theories Deontological theories • Kant (1724-1804) – Duties and obligations that people have to one another. • People have rational natures • People should never be treated as means to the ends of others • Each individual has the same moral worth as every other.

  9. Rule deontology Kant’s categorical imperative • Rules that all individuals should be treated as ends in themselves and not means to an end. • Rules that can be universally binding for all people. • One person or group should not be privileged over all others.

  10. Act deontology • Ross (1930) - Problem if two conflicting moral duties • When conflict, consider individual situations • Prima facie (self-evident) duties. • Honesty, justice, helpfulness • Actual duty – What to do when have conflicts. • Use rational intuitionism. • Weigh evidence to decide course of action in particular case

  11. Contract-based ethical theories • Hobbes(1588-1679) – Premoral state • state of nature where all free to do as like • People establish formal legal code • In each person’s self-interest to develop system with rules • Objections – Depends only on formal legal rules • Difference between ‘doing no harm’ and ‘doing good’.

  12. Rights-based contract theories • Jefferson (1776) and Aquinas (1225-1274) • Natural rights or inalienable and self-evident rights • Legal rights – positive rights and negative rights • Negative rights • Privacy, no interference in right to vote • Positive rights • Education (in US through 12th grade)

  13. Character-based ethical theories • Virtue ethics - Plato (427?-327 BCE) and Aristotle (384-322 BCE) • Development of good character traits and habits • Be a moral person rather than just follow rules • Agent-oriented rather than action or rule-oriented • Develop character traits such as kindness, truthfulness, honesty, trustworthiness, helpfulness, generosity, and justice • More likely to work in homogeneous societies rather than our pluralistic one • Consequences often should be taken into account

  14. Single comprehensive theory • Rawls (1971) and Moor (1999) – Just-Consequentialist Theory • Start with core values – ‘Do no harm’ • Support justice, rights, and duties – ‘Do your duty’ • Settle conflicts – two steps • Consider situation impartially without regard to specific case – choice between ethical vs. unethical policies • Consider consequences of specific case – choice between better vs. worse policies • Consider whether problem is disagreement about facts rather than value differences

  15. Moor’s ethical framework • Deliberate from an impartial point of view • Does it cause any unnecessary harm? • Does it support individual rights, duties? • Select the best policy from the set • Weigh the good and bad consequences • Distinguish between disagreements about facts vs. disagreements about values

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