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This text explores the different categories of normative sciences, including ethics, aesthetics, and logic, and delves into the theories and approaches of influential figures like Aristotle, Kant, Perry, and Rawls. It also discusses the levels of ethical development and the importance of professionalism and ethical decision-making. The text further explores various ethical frameworks and stances, such as environmental ethics, feminism, hedonism, and virtue ethics. Additionally, it highlights the relevance of ethics in human-computer interaction (HCI) and the concept of usability as applied ethics. The text concludes with a discussion on justice, Aristotle's view on doing good for others, and Rawls' concept of creating a just world.
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Ethics Three “random” chats “knowing doing gap”
Categories of normative sciences • Logic — things that are true • Aesthetics — things that are admirable • Ethics — things that are good
Heroic figures in ethics • Aristotle — definitions • Kant — criteria • Perry — personal • versus communitarian • Rawls — operational • Professional — liability • Habermas — dialogue • Küng — empirical • Various schemes: environmental, feminist, power, etc
William Perry • Levels of intellectual sophistication • Ethical development
Dualism 1-3 • 1 Assumption of dualistic structure of world taken for granted, unexamined • 2 Truth exists, but not all authorities are knowledgeable • 3 Absolute truth has not been discovered, yet
Multiplicity 4-6 • 4 Knowledge is not secure but is any person’s • 5 Knowledge is always changing or subject to change
Commitment to realism 6-9 • 6 Knowledge is not something that is external and definite but something that each individual constructs
Initial commitment • 7 Knowledge is the world view one has constructed from learning and experience, along with the ethical implications of this view • 8 Knowledge is a creative resolution between uncertainty and the need to act • 9 Individual must break through to new perspectives and discard those no longer useful
Perry summary • 9 levels • 1-3 absolute • 4-~6 relative • ~6-9 personal
Professional ethics • Avoiding legal problems • Privacy, permission
Purpose • Ends • Means • Rationalisable • E.g., historical, economic • Objective/subjective
Ethics v meta-ethics • Environmental ethics • Sadism • Marxism (ideology & false consciousness) • Feminism • Hedonism • Virtue ethics • Utilitarianism
continued… • Deontology • Consequentialism • Situation ethics • Monism v pluralism • Utilitarianism • Virtue ethics
continued… • Relativism • Absolutism • Universalism • Realism • Absolutism (Perry position 1!) • Machiavelli • Private • Public
HCI stances • Standards IS09471 • User’s task • Usability • Cost-effectiveness • Metrics. Empirical • Design • Enjoyment
‘Usability’ as applied ethics • Kant’s categorical imperative • Reciprocity • Help lines? • Bug reports? • User participation? (evaluation…)
Kant • Criterion • Some ‘nice’ principles • E.g., reciprocity, universalisability
Küng’s 6 rules • Solving problems: don’t create greater problems • Burden of proof: demonstrate avoids human or environmental damage • Common good: e.g., benefits the community, for a period • Urgency: e.g., survival more important than privacy
…continued • Ecology: system more important than individuals • Reversibility: system must be reversible, removable, not cause dependency
Post-marxist critical theory • One dimensional man (Marcuse) • “I shop therefore I am” • Atomised (Lyotard) • What is choice/democracy when you have 500 channels of TV?
What I want • Operational ethics • Bridge ‘knowing-doing gap’
Justice • Distributive • Restorative • Punitive • Political
Aristotle’s view • Doing good for others • Only virtue you can’t fake
Justice by programming • Fair chocolate bar
John Rawls • Justice • Veil of ignorance • Creating a just world • Creating a just system
Conclusions • Ethics v politics • CS is politics • Get involved!
Next lecture — Thursday 2pm An ethical debate on tags and tagging
Where from? • Communitarian • Individual • Artificial