Module CS5071NI

Professional and Ethical

Issues
2025
A Gift of Fire
Fifth edition
Sara Baase

Chapter 1.4:
Ethics
Agenda
■ Ethics
■ Morals
■ Ethical Values and Types
■ Personal preference and Ethics
■ Laws Vs Ethics

Feb 27, 2023 | 3

New Technology – and Ethics
■ Should you download Movies / Music from Unauthorized Websites?
■ Is talking on the Mobile Phone while Driving on Highway ok?
■ Should you hire Foreign Programmers who work at Low Salaries?
■ Should you fire Employee who criticizes your business in Social Media?
■ Should you attempt to prosecute employee who whistle-blows by releasing data
to press?

Feb 27, 2023 | 4

Ethics
■ Study of what it means to “do the right thing”.
■ Impact on how individuals make choices and live their life.
■ Assumes people are rational and make free choices.
■ Rules to follow in our interactions and our actions that affect others.

Feb 27, 2023 | 5

What makes a person good?
● Be good, help others in need
and live a virtuous life.
● Is it following rules, listening
to elders, or doing what you
are told?
Ethics

● The Greek word ‘ethos’ means customs, behaviours

or habits.
● The study of what it means to do the right thing.
● A branch of philosophy that deals with having right
behaviour and leading a good life.
 Morals
● Ethics: the theory of doing what is right for
greater good.
● Morals emphasise the practice of actually doing
something to achieve that greater good.
● Both are equally important and set guidelines
for acceptable behaviour in our society.
 Origins of ethics
● Every society has some form of myth
explaining its origin.
● Reflection of our behaviour and suggestions on
the best way to live.
 Example
● Buddhism refrains its followers from taking the life,
abstain from stealing, acting unjustly, telling lies,
and drinking intoxicant substances.
● Bhagwat Geeta, provides a guide to self-realisation .
● Quran says that if we do not follow the rules and
live an ideal life, there will be a day of judgment in
our afterlife.
Pythagoras of Samos
■ Mathematician and a Philosopher known for
Pythagorean Theorem.
■ Formed a brotherhood that was devoted to moral,
political and social life.
■ This society was known as Pythagoreans.
■ Influenced philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and,
through them, Western philosophy.

Feb 27, 2023 | 11

Socrates
• Born – 469 BC – Athens – Greece

• Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy.

• Interested in the thinking process.

• It clarified the concepts of Good and Justice.

• If you have any problem, break it down to a series of questions

and you find your required answer in those responses.

• Process of questioning is called the “Socratic Method”.

Feb 27, 2023 | 12
Plato
Born – Circa 428/9 BC – Athens -Greece
■ Socrates’ student
■ Recorded the speeches made by Socrates
■ Known for founding Academy north of Athens, traditionally
considered the first university in western world.
■ Plato wrote his ideas about an “ideal state” in a book called
The Republic.

Feb 27, 2023 | 13

Aristotle
■ Born (384 B.C. to 322 B.C.) philosopher and scientist
■ Founder of the Lyceum and the Peripatetic school of philosophy and
Aristotelian tradition.
■ Along with his teacher Plato, has been called the "Father of Western
Philosophy”
■ Began tutoring Alexander the Great.
■ Examined human behavior in the context of society and
government.
Feb 27, 2023 | 14
 Zeno of Citium: Stoicism
• Born (334BC – 262 BC)

• Founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, in Athens from about 300 BC.

• Teaches self-control and resilience as a means of overcoming destructive

emotions.

• Stoicism: pursuing self-improvement through four cardinal virtues , (derived

from the teachings of Plato): wisdom ("sophia"), courage ("andreia"), justice
("dikaiosyne") and temperance ("sophrosyne").

Feb 27, 2023 | 15

What are Ethical Rules?
■ Rules to follow during the interactions between people and actions that affect other
people.
■ Goal of ethical theories: to enhance human dignity, peace, happiness and well being.
■ Apply to all of us.
■ Intended to achieve good results for people in general and for situations in general –
not just for ourselves, not just for one situation

Feb 27, 2023 | 16

Ethics - differing viewpoints
■ Fundamental and universal, like the laws of science
Or
■ Rules of games that provide framework on how to interact with people in a peaceful,
productive way.
■ The main aim of any ethical theory is to do what is right and good since it involves moral
rules or acting based on specific ethical values

Feb 27, 2023 | 17

Ethicists distinctions
■ Ethical theories that view certain acts as good or bad because of some basic
aspect of the action – deontological "obligation, duty” (or non consequentialist)
theories
And

■ Ethical theories that view acts as good or bad because of their consequences or
results – consequentialist theories (judgment about the rightness or wrongness)

Feb 27, 2023 | 18

Ethical Principles

Deontological
Virtue Theory Utilitarianism Rights
Ethics

Feb 27, 2023 | 19

Virtue Theory
• Emphasizes on merits or moral character; rather than one’s duties or rules or
consequences of actions .

• A virtue ethicist is likely to give you this kind of moral advice: “Act as a virtuous person
would act in your situation.”

• Began with Socrates, was subsequently developed further by Plato, Aristotle, and Zeno.

• Take inspiration from Aristotle who declared that “a virtuous person is someone who has
ideal character traits”.

Feb 27, 2023 | 20

Virtue Theory
• Aristotle: a person can improve his or her character by practicing self-discipline, while
a good character can be corrupted by repeated self-indulgence.

• He said that having virtue just means doing the right thing, at the right time, in the
right way, in the right amount, toward the right people.

• Zeno: Everything around us operates according to cause and effect, we may not always
have control over the events affecting us, we can have control over how we approach
things.

Feb 27, 2023 | 21

Example
• Walking home from a movie, you see a person
being mugged. What action will you take?

• Your impulse might be to say that a courageous

person would run over there and stop the
mugging, because courage means putting
yourself in harm's way for a good cause, right?

Feb 27, 2023 | 22

Example
• A virtuous person – in the Aristotelian sense would first understand the situation.

• If you size up the mugger and have a good reason to believe that he could safely
intervened, then that's probably the courageous choice.

• But if you recognize that intervention is likely to mean that both you and the victim
will be in danger, the courageous choice is not to intervene, but to call for help instead.

Feb 27, 2023 | 23

Aristotelian sense
• Aristotle : “You can have too much of a
good thing. So, being courageous
doesn’t mean rushing headlong into
danger”.
• A courageous person will assess the
situation, they’ll know their own abilities,
and they’ll take action that is right in the
situation

Feb 27, 2023 | 24

Example
• A virtuous person – in the Stoicism believes every situation can be reacted to in one of
two ways. You can choose to become overwhelmed and abandon or help the person.

• In either way, you remind yourself, that you did things that you possibly regret, but you
also learned from it. So you try to improve in the future. This is very important.

• "The best revenge is to be better than the person who caused the injury”- Stoicism

Feb 27, 2023 | 25

Deontological theories
■ Deontology is an ethical theory that uses rules to distinguish
right from wrong.

■ A person will follow his or her obligations to another or

society as upholding one’s duty is what is considered
ethically correct.

■ For instance, a deontologist will always keep his promises to

a friend and will follow the law.
Immanuel Kant (1724 –1804 Germany)
■ Non consequentialist
Feb 27, 2023 | 26
Deontological theories
■Principle of Universality – We should follow rules of behavior that we universally
apply to everyone.
■Rationality is the standard for what is good - deontologists argue that logic or reason
determines rules of ethical behavior, that actions are intrinsically good because they
follow from logic.
■Principle about Interacting with People - One must never treat people as merely
means to an end but rather as ends in themselves

Feb 27, 2023 | 27

Deontological theories
❑ Kant took an extreme position on the absolutism of ethical
rules. He argued it is always wrong to lie.
❑ Example: If a person is looking for someone he or she intends to
murder, and he asks you where the intended victim is. Is it wrong
to lie to protect the victim?

❑Kant: Ethical actions follow universal moral laws, “Don’t lie. Don’t steal. Don’t cheat.” It doesn’t
require weighing the costs and benefits of a situation.

Feb 27, 2023 | 28

Example:
• Suppose you’re a software engineer and learn that a nuclear missile is about to launch that
might start a war. What will you do?

• You can hack the network and cancel the launch, but it’s against professional code of ethics to
break into any software system without permission. And, it’s a form of lying and cheating.

• Deontology advises not to violate these rules.

• However, in letting the missile launch, thousands of people will die.

• Following the rules makes deontology easy to apply. But it also disregards the possible
consequences of our actions.
Feb 27, 2023 | 29
Utilitarianism
• Based on one’s ability to predict the consequences of an
action.

• To a utilitarian, the choice that yields the greatest benefit

to the most people is the one that is ethically correct.

• John Stuart Mill (May 20, 1806, -May 8, 1873), English

philosopher, economist, and exponent of Utilitarianism

Feb 27, 2023 | 30

Consequentialist theory: John Stewart Mill guiding
principles:
■ Key purpose is to increase happiness or utility
■ A person’s utility is what satisfies a person’s needs and values
■ An action may decrease utility for some people and increase it for others.
■ Two types of utilitarianism, act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism
■ Pleasure or Happiness Is the Only Thing That Truly Has Intrinsic (Core) Value.

Feb 27, 2023 | 31

Utilitarianism: Valuable theory
Valuable theory: Only thing that's valuable is happiness and the absence of suffering.
Everyone's Happiness Counts Equally.

• Actions Are Right Insofar (to the extent that ) as They Promote Happiness, Wrong
Insofar as They Produce Unhappiness.

• The theory of right action: The right action is the one that maximizes and produces the
most expected value.

• If you put these two pieces together, you get utilitarianism

Feb 27, 2023 | 32

Example
Example
• “We should act always so as to produce
the greatest good for the greatest
number.”- principle of utility.
• Why? Because saving the five lives provides
more happiness than saving just one life.
• It's important to notice that we accept the
utilitarian claim that the right action is the
one that makes the most value.
Utilitarianism: Act version
Considers the Consequences of individual Acts or Actions (Act Utilitarianism)
■ “ In any given situation, you should choose the action that produces the greatest good for the
greatest number”.
■ An act is right if it tends to increase aggregate utility. An act is wrong if it tends to decrease
aggregate utility.
■ A person performs the acts that benefit the most people, regardless of personal feelings or the
societal constraints such as laws.

Feb 27, 2023 | 35

Problems with Act utilitarianism
■ Sometimes, the act that will produce greatest good for greatest number can seem just wrong.
■ Who determines what increases the happiness (utility) of people affected by an action – the
decision maker[s] or the people affected?
■ How do we know what they would choose?
■ Should some people's utility carry more weight than others?
■ Should a thief's gain of utility be equal to the victim's loss of utility?

Feb 27, 2023 | 36

Problems with Act utilitarianism
■ A fundamental (and ethical ) objection is that it does not
recognize or respect individual rights. It has no absolute
prohibitions.
■ Would you kill one innocent person to distribute their organs to
several people who will die without an organ transplant?
■ Should you steal the property of a rich person and distribute
amongst poorer people?

Feb 27, 2023 | 37

Utilitarianism – Rule version
Rule utilitarianism a variant form of utilitarianism
■ Applies utility principle not to individual actions but to general ethical rules.

• This theory says that we ought to live by rules that, in general, are likely to lead to the
greatest good for the greatest number.

• Rule utilitarian's want us to think long-term, and on a larger scale

■ A rule utilitarian might argue that the general rule “Do not kill” will increase total
utility.

Feb 27, 2023 | 38

Problems with Rule utilitarianism
■ Does not use utility as its way of evaluating actions
■ If utility demands it, so should utilitarianism, but Rule Utilitarianism does not.
■ Recognizing that widespread lying, killing and stealing decrease the security and
happiness (utility) of all, a rule utilitarian can devise rules against these acts.

Feb 27, 2023 | 39

Rights
■ Established by society and given the highest priority.
■ Considered to be ethically valid since a large population endorses them.
■ John Locke (1632 – 1704) English philosopher and physician, was one of
the primary supporters of this system.
■ Focused on three major topics:

• Epistemology- theory of knowledge

• Political philosophy

• Religious toleration.

Feb 27, 2023 | 40

Rights
• When people talk about rights, they are often speaking about two different kinds of
rights.
• In philosophy books these are usually called
■ Negative rights (liberties or natural rights)
■ The right to act without interference
■ Positive rights (claim-rights)
■ Impose an obligation on some people to provide certain things for others.

Feb 27, 2023 | 41

Negative Rights vs Positive
■ The right to act without interference. • A positive right is an obligation by others
■ Called “natural rights” because in the to provide benefits to the rights holder.
opinion of some philosophers we can derive
• A right is a causal effect of a mistake, so if
them from the nature of humanity
■ John Lock, argued that we each have an you have a right to something, it implies

exclusive right to ourselves, our labor, and that eliminating that right or not

to what we produce with our labor. He saw providing some benefit is wrong or
protection of private property as a moral unlawful for others.
rule.
Feb 27, 2023 | 42
Example: Positive Rights

Negative Rights ■ Positive right to a job could mean that someone must

■ Right to life (no one should kill anyone) hire you

■ Right to be free from assault ■ Positive right to life may mean that others have to pay
■ Right to use your property for your food or medical care
■ Right to use labor, skills and mind to create goods and ■ Positive right to attorney mean that others will
services and to trade with people in voluntary exchanges.
facilitate you with the lawyer service to fight your court
■ Freedom of speech and religion
case
■ Right to privacy
■ Positive right to freedom of speech may mean that we
■ Right to access the internet seems obvious in many
countries. require to broadcast, my, your, everyone’s views

■ However authoritarian regimes restrict it. Which? ■ Positive right to freedom of information may mean no
Feb 27, 2023 | 43
confidentially allowed
Conflict Between Negative and Positive Rights
■ Some think negative rights (liberties) are almost meaningless/ worthless :

■ Society must devise social and legal mechanisms that satisfy everyone’s positive (claim rights)

■ Even if this means diminishing the liberties of some

■ Others believe there can be no, or very few, positive (claim) rights for some people without violating the

liberties of others
■ They see the protection of liberties, or negative rights as essential

■ How about privacy as a negative right (liberty) and freedom of information as a positive (claim) right? A

possible conflict?

Feb 27, 2023 44

Ethics
■ Golden rules
■ Treat others as you would want them to treat you.
■ Confucius and the Bible
■ Contributing to society
■ Doing one’s work honestly, responsibly, ethically, creatively, and well is virtuous.
■ Social contracts and a theory of political justice
■ People willingly submit to a common law in order to live in a civil society.
■ The foundations of this are in the writings of Socrates and Plato

Feb 27, 2023 | 45

 Ethics
■ No simple answers
■ Human behavior and real human situations are complex. There are often trade-offs to consider.
■ Ethical theories help to identify important principles or guidelines.
■ Ethical theories do not provide clear, incontrovertibly correct positions on most issues. We can
use the approaches we described to support opposite sides of many an issue.
■ Do organizations have ethics?
■ Ultimately, it is individuals who are making decisions and taking actions. We can hold both the
individuals and the organization responsible for their acts.

Feb 27, 2023 | 47

Personal preference and Ethics
We might find something distasteful but is it ethically wrong?

■ Some people may not consider a job opportunity in. For example, the arms industry because

they do not like the products the company produces, e.g. nuclear bombs

■ Are they doing this on ethical grounds or is it a personal preference?

■ Two people with opposing political or social views may both claim they are morally and/or

ethically correct – i.e. claim the “moral high ground”

Feb 27, 2023 | 48

Law vs Ethics
■ Ethics are rules of conduct. Laws are rules developed by governments in order to provide
balance in society and protection to its citizens.
■ Ethics comes from people’s awareness of what is right and wrong. Laws are enforced by
governments to their people.

■ Ethics does not carry any punishment to anyone who violates it. The law will punish
anyone who happens to violate it.
■ Ethics comes from within a person’s moral values. Laws are made with ethics as a guiding
principle.
Feb 27, 2023 | 49
 Law and Ethics: connection?
■ One cannot be Ethical and follow the law all the time. History allowed the slave trade.
■ It takes time to recognize new problems associated with the new technology, consider possible
solutions, think and debate about the consequences of various proposals and so on
■ Ethics fills the gap between the time when new technology creates new problems and the
time when legislatures pass reasonable laws
■ A good law will set minimal standards that can apply to all situations, leaving a large range of
voluntary choices.

Feb 27, 2023 | 50

Any questions?

Feb 27, 2023 | 51