Ethics

Def : Something to do what we ought and ought not to do.

A set of rule we must follow ?

Is intended to help us in determining right form wrong

These rules could be

objective, meaning they just exist, just follow and can't change (Gods will, can't lie or kill )
or
relative created by us & are subject to change (Based on culture, slavery created over time/
changed, death penalty )

How does what's thought of as right/wrong differ by culture/society?

Status of women
Role/expectations of family life
Polygamy

Normative Ethics
Systematic attempts to describe and explain moral or ethical phenomena
Provide justifiable and reliable principles to determine what is moral/immoral behavior

Main focus of ethical theory

Act Centered
What act should I take or do?
Consequences of an act
To individual (egoism)
To others
For society

The act itself

Choosing acts that are Universalisable.
Would the act be acceptable,
morality in a religious sense
Agent Center
Focus on you, what does it mean to you?
Agent's intention
Actions Done because of
An obligation
Religious requirement
Agent's character
Actions done because agent flourishes

Its not the end that matters, but it what you do in the end that matters. It’s a means to justify the end.

Deontological = deos = duty + logos = study

 Rules must be followed irrespective of outcomes
Can be viewed as means justifying the ends

You cant take an action that you know causes harm

Consider a situation where a Dr. determines a patient has cancer and little time to live
C. If the patient asks tell them

RULE: Can't lie

Kantian Ethics

You must consider whether an action you are about to take would still be ok if everyone else was to do
the same

Theological Theories (Study of consequences)

Any action could be good, if the end result is good
The end specify the means

AGAIN. Consider a situation where a Dr. determines a patient has cancer and little time to live
E. Any of these
Depending on the stakeholders

Consider some who fire a gun in a crowed street but doesn’t hit anyone
Is it right act as seen by theological theory

Because there were no bad consequences so it was an acceptable act however, the usual consequence is
harm (Some one might have died , viewed as immoral )

Virtue Based Systems

Based on becoming a virtuous person , character building (Hamza coffee drink )

Summary
In trying to say that what makes a decision or action right
Consequentialist focus on the consequences , actual or apparent
 Must be able to account of rules and virtues
Virtuous ethics emphasize neither consequences nor rules but rather moral virtues which are typically
thought of behavioral dispositions
 Must be able to account for the importance of consequences and rules
Demonological ethics emphasize the agent's moral duties which are typically captured in a set of rules
 Must be able to account for the importance of consequences and virtues

Values & Principles relevant to professional ethics

 Impartiality, objectivity
  Openness, full disclosure
 Confidentiality
 Due diligence, duty of care
 Fidelity to professional responsibilities
 Avoiding potential or apparent conflict of interest

CIPS Code of Ethics

Primary concern is protection of public interest

Demonstrate competence and quality of service

o Do you have knowledge and skills to do the task

Maintain confidential information and privacy

Avoid conflict of interest

Key figures In computer ethics

o Norbert Weinier

o Walter Maner
 Proposed computer gave rise to new entirely new ethically problem's
o Debora Johnson
 Proposed that computers posed new versions of ethical issues or dilemmas
o James Moore
 Offered ideas about why computing technology offered such ethical challenges
 Policy Vacuums
 Logical malleability
 Conceptual muddle
o Krystyna Gorniak
 Argued that ethics of information/computing forms a basis for global, non-relativistic
(i.e. not cultural dependent) ethics
 Will require everyone to adopt the same ethical approaches or they will be useless given
the nature of technology
o Terrell Ward Bynum
 Proposed a very broad def. of computer ethics: analyzing the impacts of technology on
social and human values
o Don Gotterbarn
 Focused on professional code of practice
 View computer ethics as a branch of professional ethics
o Luiciano Floridi
 Developing the idea of information ethics as an entirely new branch of ethics
 May eventually provide a framework via which moral agency could be extended to non-
human actors

Case Study : Water city problem practical approach

o Consequential approach Harm-Beneficence test
 Finances / essential good
 Moral / immoral
  Consequences
 Alternative
 Test benefits and harms of alternatives
 Inequality
 Find solution
o Deontological approach (Reversibility test )
 Identify the agent (yourself usually ) & the action (this is what you are evaluating )
 Identity the stake holder and their stakes
Switch these two role and think in their shoes if you would still find it acceptable
o Virtue approach : The public identification test
 List key values / virtues at play in the situation
 What does the action say about the person as an agent
 Does it reveal her or him with a virtue or vice
 Evaluate
 Honesty, integrity, reasonableness , responsibility , justice