There are several approaches to ethics that can help people be in a better position to make a sound ethical decision. Three common approaches to ethics include virtue ethics, consequentialist ethics, and deontological or duty-based ethics.
We’re going to focus on Consequential ethics, i.e. is the end result good, and duty-based ethics, i.e. is this action right?
Consequentialism
Consequentialism is an ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its consequences are. It is simply the view that normative properties depend only on consequences. For instance, most people would agree that lying is wrong. But if telling a lie would help save a person’s life, consequentialism says it’s the right thing to do.
The paradigm case of consequentialism is utilitarianism. Utilitarianism judges consequences by a “greatest good for the greatest number” standard. You might be more familiar with the classic Star Trek line, “The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few.” Star Trek II – Wrath of Khan.
This can lead into the question, can small “inconveniences” for some justify larger benefits for others? Does it matter how we got to the end result?
These are actually some of the problems that some people have with this form of ethics. There are others such as:
- Ignoring individual rights in favor of collective outcomes.
- Relying heavily on calculation and prediction, which can be time-consuming and difficult.
- Failing to consider certain values, such as justice or fairness, in determining the morality of an action.
- Difficulties in evaluating a relative value.
- Disagreement over the extent to which we should value the distant future.
- Uncertainty.
- Conflicts with commonsense morality.
With technology, this might be an easy way to view ethics. Because we look at the outcome, and try to determine should we do something based upon the result, and the inputs are mostly machines. Or are they?
But, does the ends, justify the means? And what are the potential causal chains which might be a factor if we only looked at this form of ethics?
Deontological or Duty Based
Deontological (duty-based) ethics are concerned with what people do, not with the consequences of their actions. Do the right thing. Do it because it’s the right thing to do. Don’t do wrong things. Avoid them because they are wrong.
Duty-based ethics follows a set of moral rules that are based on the idea of duty, not on the outcomes of actions, such as:
- It is wrong to kill innocent people.
- It is wrong to steal.
- It is wrong to tell lies.
- It is right to keep promises.
Duty-based ethics therefore focuses on the inherent morality of actions themselves. i.e. the Means justify the Ends.
Examples of duty-based ethics in real life and workplace situations include:
- Telling the truth even if it harms someone’s reputation.
- Keeping a promise even if it is inconvenient.
- Refusing to participate in unethical experiments even if they offer benefits.
- Reporting a crime even if it puts oneself in danger.
This simple logic would work well in coding it into machines and technology, however, it can often get in to trouble in deciphering “grey” areas. Additionally, what if this isn’t the best way because of some of the limitations of this methodology of studying ethics?
Some limitations of duty-based ethics suggest that it does not consider individuals, and there is no agreement on the definition of “good for all concerned”. In addition, it is difficult to measure “costs and benefits” in some cases.
Ethics in this course
If you were to study ethics, you’d find there were a great number of people who would tout one methodology over another. However, when we look at technology, we’re going to focus on these two, as they will cover most of our situations. Additionally, but looking at it from multiple perspectives, we will hopefully find a proper balance in figuring out what is ethical for us.
As mentioned before, we’re not looking at how to persuade you from one side or another of the ethical debate. Rather, to allow you to be aware of the ethics, and know how to make decisions from an understanding perspective, rather than “because it’s right… right?”
A Closing Thought
There are two important closing thoughts I think you should know when you look at ethics.
First: Ethics can be messy.
“Matt, you are suffering from the disease of youth – You expect moral problems to have nice, neat, black-and-white answers.”
Robert Heinlein – Space Cadet
Sometimes there are no easy answers.
This means Second: We need to be mindful of others and full of grace. Because there are no easy answers, or necessarily black and white solutions, we have to be full of grace when debating with one another. We need to consider other people, listen to them, and respect their opinions, even if we don’t agree. This including remember to debate the topic, and not the person. This can be difficult to do, especially at this time in society, but it is what is necessary.
Keys to Arguing Ethics was originally found on Access 2 Learn
