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Lesson1 - Common Ethical Theories

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10 views

Lesson1 - Common Ethical Theories

Uploaded by

jay.abaleta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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IT281 – Social Issues and IT Professional Practice 1

1. Common Ethical Theories


2. Computer Ethics
3. Technologies Impact on Privacy
4. The Blogger’s Freedom of Expression and
the Libel Law
5. Computer Hackers and the Cybercrime
Law
6. The Programmer’s Source Code and the
Intellectual Property Law
7. Extent of Liability of ICT Professional and
Other Computer Related Laws
COMMON
ETHICAL THEORIES
QUESTION 1
Which is more important when
deciding if an action is moral?
• Intentions
• Consequences
QUESTION 2
Which is more important?
– Safety
– Civil liberties
QUESTION 3
Which is more important? (inspired
by Thoreau)
– To be “good”
– To be “good for something”
QUESTION 4
Is “goodness” something that can be
learned? (inspired by Aristotle)
• Yes
• No
QUESTION 5
Is it more fun to act morally, or
immorally?
– Morally
– Immorally
ETHICS?
-describes the way in
which we look and
understand life, in
terms of good and bad
or right and wrong.
MORAL THEORIES
- are frameworks we use to justify
or
clarify our position.

“THERE ARE MANY MORAL


THEORIES AND THERE IS
NO ONE RIGHT THEORY”
(WALLACE, SUSAN)
DIFFERENCES
• ETHICS - The philosophical beliefs of what is right
and wrong.
– Societal
– Religious
– Political
• MORAL - An individuals beliefs to what is right and
wrong.
– “The difference between morals and ethics is the ethical man
knows he should not cheat, whereas the moral man doesn’t cheat.” –
• LEGAL - Being in conformity with the law.
RELATIVISM
-IS THE THEORY THAT THERE ARE NO
UNIVERSAL NORM OF RIGHT OR WRONG

A. SUBJECTIVE – HOLDS THAT EACH PERSON


DECIDES RIGHT OR WRONG

“What’s right for you may not be right for


me”

B. CULTURAL – THE MEANING OF RIGHT AND


WRONG RESTS WITH A SOCIETY’S ACTUAL
MORAL GUIDELINES
DIVINE COMMAND THEORY
-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
ETHICAL EGOISM
• IS THE PHILOSOPHY THAT EACH PERSON
SHOULD FOCUS EXCLUSIVELY ON HIS OR HER
SELF INTEREST
• IS THE PRESCRIPTIVE DOCTRINE THAT ALL
PERSONS OUGHT TO ACT FROM THEIR OWN
SELF-INTEREST.
Charge: Ethical egoism is contradictory because it
allows one and the same act to be evaluated as both
right and wrong. Charge: the theory is mistaken in
truth; it is inconsistent.
• Example: suppose Jack is competing against Jill for a
job. Ethical egoism would say

– It's right for Jack to praise Jack's qualities.


It's wrong for Jill to praise Jack's qualities.

Therefore, praising Jack's qualities is both right


and wrong—right for Jack and wrong for Jill.
• But this is not to say the same act is both right
and wrong—these are two different acts: one
is done by Jack and one is done by Jill.
• The best that can be said is that there is a
conflict of interest which could be settled by
contract law. Hence, this is not a good
objection.
THE LIKE
THAT YOU
DON’T LIKE
CONSEQUENTIALISM
- THE CONSEQUENCE OF
AN ACTION JUSTIFIES THE
MORAL ACCEPTABILITY OF
THE MEANS TAKEN TO
REACH THAT END.

“THE END
Lying is WRONG
But if telling lie
would save people’s
life then it’s the right
thing to do
Two example of consequentialism
• Utilitarianism – judges consequences by a
“greatest good for the greatest number”
• Hedoism- something is good if the
consequence produces pleasure or avoids pain
KANTIANISM
- IS AN OBLIGATION BASED THEORY
- EMPHASIZES THE TYPE OF ACTION
RATHER THAN CONSEQUENCES OF
THAT ACTION

Good will: the desire to do the right thing


Scenario
While you are working on a problem on an exam
you accidentally notice that the student next to
you has a different answer. You decide to go
back and check your work. After realizing that
you made a mistake, you change your answer.
• Is this an act of academic integrity?
• What did the student do wrong?
• How could this have been avoided?

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