CS332 Professional IT and Ethics (MIDTERM: Ethics and Morality)

Ethics
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The discipline dealing with what is good & bad & with moral duty & obligation
Individual human opinions and beliefs
Hard to define
Most of our moral responses seem to be more a matter of intuitions and feelings than of reasoning and logical deduction
we are not always the rational creatures we would like to be Gross, (1996)
Computer Ethics
Analysis of the nature & social impact of computer technology and the corresponding formulation & justification of policies
for the ethical use of such technologies
Ethics for computing professionals is ethical rules & judgements applied in a computing context based on professional
standards & a concern for the use of the computing product (Gotterbarn, 1997).
Professionalism
To meet standards set by a professional body in terms of individual conduct, competence & integrity
A commitment to interests of all end-users and other stakeholders
Morality
It concerns conduct: right and wrong, good and bad, the rules that ought to be followed
It is associated with consequences to ourselves, others, and the environment
The right or good is linked to value judgments generally thought to promote fairness, health, and safety while
minimizing injustice
ETHICAL THEORIES
Utilitarianism
the view that we ought to produce the most good for the most people, giving equal consideration to everyone affected
Rule-Utilitarianism is applying those rules that if generally adopted would produce the most good for the most
people
Act-Utilitarianism is applying rules in order to produce the most good for the most people involved in the
particular situation (rules become at most rules of thumb)
Deeply satisfying pleasures mixed with some inevitable pains & a pattern of activities and relationships that one can affirm
as valuable overall (Mill)
Things that satisfy rational desires, e.g., love and creativity. Rational desires are those we would approve of if we
scrutinized our desires in light of all relevant information about the world and our own psychology (Brandt)
Right Ethics
The view that human rights - not good consequences - are fundamental.
Acts of respect for human rights are obligatory, regardless of whether they always maximize good
Truthfulness important in terms of its contribution to liberty, especially within relationships based on trust
Complex in that there are many types of rights that may conflict and must be balanced
Liberty Rights
Places duties on other people not to interfere with ones life.
To be a person entails having human rights to life, liberty, and the property generated by ones labor
property thought of as whatever we gain by mixing our labor with things
Views reflected by todays Libertarians
Liberty & Welfare Rights
having moral rights presupposes the capacity to show concern for others and to be accountable within a moral community
extent of rights determined in terms of interrelationships among persons

recognizes right to community benefits for living minimally decent human life
Duty Ethics
the focus on duties which correspondence to and sustain fundamental rights
List of duties based on respect for persons and belief in human capacity for moral autonomy
For example, if you have a right not to be deceived, then I have a duty not to deceive you. To deceive you is to undermine
your ability to carry out your plans based on available truths and within relationships based on trust
List of duties:
Kant
Be truthful
Be fair
Make reparation for harm done
Show gratitude for kindness extended
Seek to improve ones own character and talents

Gert

Dont
o cause pain
o disable
o deprive of freedom
o deprive of pleasure
o deceive
o cheat
Do
o keep your promises
o obey the law
o do your duty
Are duties universally applicable and exception less? Is duty absolute?
What about when duties conflict with each other, e.g., do not deceive versus protect innocent life
Prima facie duties - those that have justified exceptions or limits

Testing and refining ethical theories

Is it applicable and coherent?
Is it consistent?
Is it based on valid information?
Is it sufficiently comprehensive to provide guidance?
Is it compatible with our moral convictions?
Virtue ethics
Primary focus on the kinds of persons we should aspire to be
Virtues are
desirable way of relating to others (individuals or groups)
desirable habits or tendencies of motive, attitudes, and emotion as well as conduct
Vices are
undesirable habits and tendencies
By extension, virtues and vices apply to organizations
Aristotle:
Defined the moral virtues as tendencies, acquired through habit formation, to reach a proper balance between
extremes in conduct, emotion, desire, and attitude (balance between excess and deficiency)
Example: Truthfulness is the mean between revealing all information in violation of tact and confidentiality
(excess) and being secretive or lacking in candor (deficiency) in dealing with truth
Gandhi Seven Social Sins (vices):
Politics without principle
Wealth without work
Commerce without morality
Pleasure without conscience
Education without character
Science without humanity
Worship without personal sacrifice
McIntyre: Virtue and Practices:
Internal goods define what the practices are all about (external goods are money and prestige)
virtues defined by reference to its internal good
professional responsibility
o Self-direction virtues
understanding, cognition (as grounded in moral concern)
commitment and putting understanding into action (courage, self-discipline, honesty)
o Public-spirited virtues
o Team-work virtues
o Proficiency virtues

Pragmatism
A theory about morality that emphasizes the limitations of abstract rules (anti-theory)
Not to be confused with crass expediency
Good consequences emphasized, but so too are rights, duties and virtues within a given context
Flexibility emphasized
Like act-utilitarianism, there is danger of paying insufficient attention moral principles through immersion in specific
contexts.
We can reduce Moral Reasoning to Custom, Religion or Self Interest?
Customs or ethical relativism is view that values are reducible to conventions, customs, or laws
Would we accept bribes, cruelty, and intolerance?
Religion and divine command ethics
Who are those among us who know precisely what Gods commands are or are not on each issue?
Self-interest and ethical egoism is view that the sole duty of each individual is to maximize his or her own good
Is everything act reducible to personal gain, alone?
Meaningful work and Professionals Commitment
Craft Motives
attraction to challenging work
wanting to create objects and systems
Moral Motives
contributing to the well-being of other human beings
Compensation and Self-Interest
money, power, and recognition motivate and guide human conduct
reasonable regard for ones self-interest can be a moral virtue (prudence) as long as it does not crowd out other
virtues