HUT200 Professional Ethics

Module 2 - Engineering Ethics &

Professionalism.
Senses of Engineering Ethics - Variety of moral issues-
Types of inquiry- Moral dilemmas –Moral Autonomy –
Kohlberg’s theory- Gilligan’s theory- Consensus and
Controversy-Profession and Professionalism- Models of
professional roles-Theories about right action –Self
interest-Customs and Religion- Uses of Ethical Theories.
 Engineering Ethics
the activity and discipline aimed at
(a) understanding the moral values that ought to guide
engineering profession or practice,
(b) resolving moral issues in engineering, and
(c) justifying the moral judgments in engineering. It deals with set
of moral problems and issues connected with engineering.
Engineering ethics is defined by the codes and standards of
conduct endorsed by engineering (professional) societies with
respect to the particular set of beliefs, attitudes and habits
displayed by the individual or group.
Another important goal of engineering ethics is the discovery of the
set of justified moral principles of obligation, rights and ideals
that ought to be endorsed by the engineers and apply them to
concrete situations.
Engineering is the largest profession and the decisions and actions
of engineers affect all of us in almost all areas of our lives,
namely public safety, health, and welfare.
Scope
The scope of engineering ethics are twofold:
1. Ethics of the workplace which involves the co-workers and employees in an
organization.
2. Ethics related to the product or work which involves the transportation,
warehousing, and
use, besides the safety of the end product and the environment outside the
factory.
Approach
There are conventionally two approaches in the study of ethics:
1. Micro-ethics which deals with decisions and problems of individuals,
professionals, and companies.
2. Macro-ethics which deals with the societal problems on a regional/national
level. For example,
global issues, collective responsibilities of groups such as professional
societies and consumer groups.
 SENSES OF ENGINEERING ETHICS
There are two different senses (meanings) of
engineering ethics, namely the Normative and the
Descriptive senses. The normative sense include:
(a) Knowing moral values, finding accurate solutions to
moral problems and justifying moral
judgments in engineering practices,
(b) Study of decisions, policies, and values that are
morally desirable in the engineering practice
and research, and
(c) Using codes of ethics and standards and applying
them in their transactions by engineers.
The descriptive sense refers to what specific individual
or group of engineers believe and act, without
justifying their beliefs or actions.
 Nurture the life with good values
VARIETY OF MORAL ISSUES
It would be relevant to know why and how do moral
issues (problems) arise in a profession or why do
people behave unethically? The reasons for people
including the employer and employees, behaving
unethically may be classified into three categories:
1. Resource Crunch
Due to pressure, through time limits, availability of money or
budgetary constraints, and technology
decay or obsolescence. Pressure from the government to
complete the project in time (e.g., before the elections),
reduction in the budget because of sudden war or natural
calamity (e.g., Tsunami) and obsolescence
due technology innovation by
the competitor lead to
manipulation and unsafe and
unethical execution of projects.
Involving individuals in the
development of goals and values
and developing policies that allow
for individual diversity, dissent,
and input to decision-making will
prevent unethical results.
2. Opportunity
(a) Double standards or behaviour of the employers towards the employees and the public.
(b) Management projecting their own interests more than that of their employees. Some organizations
over-emphasize short-term gains and results at the expense of themselves and others,
(c) Emphasis on results and gains at the expense of the employees, and
(d) Management by objectives, without focus on empowerment and improvement of the infrastructure.
3. Attitude
Poor attitude of the employees set in due to
(a) Low morale of the employees because of dissatisfaction and downsizing,
(b) Absence of grievance redress mechanism,
(c) Lack of promotion or career development policies or denied promotions,
(d) Lack of transparency,
(e) Absence of recognition and reward system, and
(f) Poor working environments.
To get firm and positive effect, ethical standards must be set and adopted by the senior management,
with input from all personnel.
 TYPES OF INQUIRIES
The three types of inquiries, in solving ethical
problems are: normative inquiry, conceptual
inquiry, and factual or descriptive inquiry.
The three types of inquiries are discussed below:
1. Normative Inquiry
It seeks to identify and justify the morally-desirable norms or standards
that should guide individuals and groups. It also has the theoretical goal of
justifying particular moral judgments. Normative questions are about what
ought to be and what is good, based on moral values. For example,
1. How far does the obligation of engineers to protect public safety extend in any
given situation?
2. When, if ever, should engineers be expected to blow whistle on dangerous
practices of their employers?
3. Whose values ought to be primary in making judgment about acceptable risks in
design for
a public transport system or a nuclear plant? Is it of management, senior
engineers, government, voters or all of them?
4. When and why is the government justified in interfering with the organisations?
5. What are the reasons on which the engineers show their obligations to their
employees or clients or the public?
2. Conceptual Inquiry
It is directed to clarify the meaning of concepts or ideas
or principles that are expressed by words or by
questions and statements. For example,
(a) What is meant by safety?
(b) How is it related to risk?
(c) What is a bribe?
(d) What is a profession?
When moral concepts are discussed, normative and
conceptual issues are closely interconnected.
3. Factual or Descriptive Inquiry
It is aimed to obtain facts needed for understanding and resolving value
issues. Researchers conduct factual inquiries using mathematical or
statistical techniques. The inquiry provide important information on
business realities, engineering practice, and the effectiveness of
professional societies in fostering moral conduct, the procedures used in
risk assessment, and psychological profiles of engineers. The facts
provide not only the reasons for moral problems but also enable us to
develop alterative ways of resolving moral problems. For example,
1. How were the benefits assessed?
2. What are procedures followed in risk assessment?
3. What are short-term and long-term effects of drinking water being
polluted? and
4. Who conducted the tests on
materials?
MORAL DILEMMA
Dilemmas are situations in which moral reasons
come into conflict, or in which the application of
moral values are problems, and one is not clear of
the immediate choice or solution of the problems.
Moral reasons could be rights, duties, goods or
obligations. These situations indicate the presence
of moral complexity. This makes the
decision making complex.
For example
, a person promised to meet a friend
Or to help his uncle who
is involved in an accident — one has
to fix the priority.
There are some difficulties in arriving at the
solution to the problems, in dilemma. The
three complex situations leading to moral
dilemmas are:
1. The problem of vagueness: One is unable
to distinguish between good and bad
(right or wrong) principle. Good means an
action that is obligatory. For example,
code of ethics specifies that one should
obey the laws and follow standards.
Refuse bribe or accept the gift, and
maintain confidentiality
2. The problem of conflicting reasons: One is
unable to choose between two good
moral solutions. One has to fix priority,
through knowledge or value system.
3. The problem of disagreement: There may
be two or more solutions and none of them
mandatory.
These solutions may be better or worse in some respects but not in all
aspects.
One has to interpret, apply different morally reasons, and analyze and rank
the decisions.
Select the best suitable, under the existing and the most probable
conditions.
Steps to Solve Dilemma
The logical steps in confronting moral dilemma are:
1. Identification of the moral factors and reasons. The clarity to identify the
relevant moral
values from among duties, rights, goods and obligations is obtained (conceptual
inquiry).
Another resource is talking with colleagues
2. Collection of all information, data, and facts (factual inquiry) relevant to the
situation.
3. Rank the moral options i.e., priority in application through value system, and
also as obligatory, all right, acceptable, not acceptable, damaging, and most
damaging etc. For example, in fulfilling responsibility, the codes give prime
importance to public safety and protection of the environment, as compared to
the individuals or the employers (conceptual inquiry).
4. Generate alternate courses of action to resolve the dilemma. Write down the
main options and sub-options as a matrix or decision tree to ensure that all
options are included.
5. Discuss with colleagues and obtain their perspectives, priorities, and suggestions
on various alternatives.
6. Decide upon a final course of action, based on priority fixed or assumed. If
there is no ideal solution, we arrive at a partially satisfactory or ‘satisficing’
solution.
MORAL AUTONOMY
Moral autonomy is defined as, decisions and actions exercised on the basis
of moral concern for other people and recognition of good moral reasons.
Alternatively, moral autonomy means ‘self determinant or independent’.
The autonomous people hold moral beliefs and attitudes based on their
critical reflection rather than on passive adoption of the conventions of the
society or profession.
Moral autonomy may also be defined as a skill and habit of thinking rationally
about the ethical issues, on the basis of moral concern.
Viewing engineering as social experimentation will promote autonomous
participation and retain one’s professional identity. Periodical performance
appraisals, tight-time schedules and fear of foreign competition threatens this
autonomy. The attitude of the management should allow latitude in the
judgments of their
engineers on moral issues. If management
views profitability is more important than
consistent quality and retention of the
customers that discourage the moral
autonomy,
The engineering skills related to moral autonomy are listed as follows:
1. Proficiency in recognizing moral problems in engineering and ability to distinguish as
well as relate them to problems in law, economics, and religion,
2. Skill in comprehending, clarifying, and critically-assessing arguments on different
aspects of moral issues,
3. Ability to form consistent and comprehensive view points based on facts,
4. Awareness of alternate responses to the issues and creative solutions for practical
difficulties,
Contd....
5. Sensitivity to genuine difficulties and subtleties, including
willingness to undergo and tolerate some uncertainty while making
decisions,
6. Using rational dialogue in resolving moral conflicts and developing
tolerance of different perspectives among morally reasonable
people, and
7. Maintaining moral integrity.
Autonomy which is the independence in making decisions and
actions, is different from authority. Authority provides freedom
for action, specified within limits, depending on the situation.
MORAL DEVELOPMENT (THEORIES)1. Kohlberg Theory
• Moral development in human being occurs overage and experience. Kohlberg suggested
there are three levels of moral development, namely pre-conventional, conventional, and
post-conventional, based on the type of reasoning and motivation of the individuals in
response to moral questions.
• In the pre-conventional level, right conduct for an individual is regarded as whatever
directly benefits oneself. At this level, individuals are motivated by obedience or the desire
to avoid punishment or to satisfy their own needs.(children)
• At the conventional level, of one’s family or group or society is accepted, as the standard of
morality. Individuals in this level want to please or satisfy, and get approval by others and
to meet the expectations of the society, rather than their self interest (e.g., good boy, good
girl).
Loyalty is regarded as most important.
At the post-conventional level, people are
called autonomous. They think originally and
want to live by universally good principles
and welfare of others. They have no self-
interest. They live by principled conscience.
They follow the golden rule, ‘Do unto others
as you would have them do unto you’.
They maintain moral integrity, self-respect and
respect for others.
2. Gilligan’s Theory
Carol Gilligan found that Kohlberg’s theory had a strong male bias.
According to Gilligan’s studies, men had a tendency to solve problems by applying abstract
moral principles.
Men were found to resolve moral dilemma by choosing the most important moral rule,
overriding other rules.
In contrast, women gave importance to preserve personal relationships with all the people
involved. The context oriented emphasis on maintaining personal relationships was called
the ethics of care, in contrast with the ethics of rules and rights adopted by men.
Gilligan revised the three levels of moral development of Kohlberg, as stages of growth
towards ethics of caring.
The pre-conventional level, which is same as that of Kohlberg’s first one, right
conduct, is viewed in a selfish manner solely as what is good for oneself.
conventional level, the importance is on not hurting others, and willing to sacrifice one’s own
interest feature of women.
At the post-conventional level, a reasoned balance is found between caring about others and
pursuing the self-interest. The balance one’s own
need and the needs of others, is aimed while maintaining relationship based on mutual
caring. This is achieved by context-oriented reasoning, rather than by hierarchy of rules.
The difference in these two theories is explained through the well-known
example, Heinz’s dilemma.
Heinz being poor and a debtor could not buy the costly medicine for his sick wife,
at tentimes the normal cost. Initially he begged the Pharmacist to sell at half
the price or allow him to pay for it later. Pharmacist refused to oblige him
either way. Finally he forcibly entered the Pharmacy and stole the drug.
According to Kohlberg study, men observed that the theft was morally
‘wrong’ at the conventional level, because the property right was violated.
But men at the post-conventional level, concluded that the theft was ‘right’,
as the life of the human being was in danger. But women observed that
Heinz was wrong. They observed that instead of stealing he could have tried
other solutions (threatening or payment in installments?) to convince the
Pharmacist.
Gilligan however attributed the decision by women
as context-oriented and not on the basis of rules
ranked in the order of priority.
Consensus and
Controversy

• consensus means agreement‘, and controversy means disagreement‘.

• When an individual exercise moral autonomy, he may not be able to
attain the same results as other people obtain in practicing their moral
autonomy.
• This kind of controversies i.e., disagreements are inevitable.
• Since exercising moral autonomy is not as precise and clear-cut as
arithmetic, therefore the moral disagreements are natural and common.
So in order to allow scope for disagreement, the tolerance is required
among individuals with autonomous, reasonable and responsible thinking.
• According to the principle of tolerance, the objective of teaching and
studying engineering ethics is to discover ways of promoting tolerance in
the exercise of moral autonomy by engineers.
• The harmonious interaction between engineers and public individuals is
the crucial factor for the manifestation of the consensus and Controversy
 Profession
• Profession means a job or an occupation, that helps a
person earn his living. The main criteria of a profession
involves the following.
• Advanced expertise − The criteria of a profession is to have
sound knowledge in both technical aspects and liberal arts as
well. In general, continuing education and updating knowledge
are also important.
• Self-regulation − An organization that provides a profession,
plays a major role in setting standards for the admission to the
profession, drafting codes of ethics, enforcing the standards of
conduct and representing the profession before the public and
the government.
• Public good − Any occupation serves some public good by
maintaining high ethical standards throughout a profession. This
is a part of professional ethics where each occupation is
intended to serve for the welfare of the public, directly or
indirectly to a certain extent.
• Professional
• A person who is paid for getting involved in a particular
profession in order to earn a living as well as to satisfy the
laws of that profession can be understood as a Professional.
The definition of a professional is given differently by
different experts in the field.
• Professionalism-Status of professional
• Professionalism covers comprehensively all areas of practice
of a particular profession. It requires skills and
responsibilities involved in engineering profession.
Professionalism implies a certain set of attitudes.
• The art of Professionalism can be understood as the
practice of doing the right thing,
• Professionals make a profession of the specific kind of
activity and conduct to which they commit themselves and
to which they can be expected to conform.
• According to Aristotle, virtues are
the “acquired habits that enable us to
engage effectively in rational activities
that defines us as human beings.”
• Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre ( a
Scottish-American philosopher): Any
coherent and complex form of socially
established cooperative human activity
through which goods internal to that
form of activity are realized in the
course of trying to achieve those
standards of excellence which are
appropriate to, and partially definitive
of, that form of activity, with the results
that human powers to achieve
excellence, and human conceptions of
the ends and goods involved, are
systematically extended.
Characteristics
The characteristics of the ‘profession’ as distinct from ‘non-
professional occupation’ are listed as
follows:
1. Extensive Training
Entry into the profession requires an extensive
period of training of intellectual (competence) and moral
(integrity) character. The theoretical base is obtained
through formal education, usually in an academic
institution. It may be a Bachelor degree from a college or
university or an advanced degree conferred by
professional schools.
2. Knowledge and Skills
Knowledge and skills (competence) are necessary
for the well-being of the society. Knowledge of physicians
protects us from disease and restores health. The lawyer’s
knowledge is useful when we are sued of a crime, or if
our business is to be merged or closed or when we buy a
property. The Chartered Accountant’s knowledge is
important for the success of recording financial
transactions or when we file the income return.
The knowledge, study, and research of the
engineers are required for the safety of the air plane, for
the technological advances and for national defense.
3. Monopoly
The monopoly control is achieved in two ways:
(a) the profession convinces the community that only those who have graduated from the
professional school should be allowed to hold the professional title. The profession also
gains control over professional schools by establishing accreditation standards
(b) By persuading the community to have a licensing system for those who want to enter
the profession. If practicing without license, they are liable to pay penalties.
4. Autonomy in Workplace
Professionals engaged in private practice have considerable freedom in choosing
their clients or patients. Even the professionals working in large organizations exercise a
large degree of impartiality, creativity and discretion (care with decision and
communication) in carrying their responsibilities. Besides this,professionals are
empowered with certain rights to establish their autonomy.
Accordingly physicians must determine the most appropriate medical treatments for their
patients and lawyers must decide on the most successful defense for their clients.
5. Ethical Standards
Professional societies promulgate the codes of conduct to regulate the
professionals against their abuse or any unethical decisions and actions (impartiality,
responsibility) affecting the individuals or groups or the society.
Eg:-IMA,WHO
MODELS OF PROFESSIONAL ROLES
Promotion of public good is the primary concern of
the professional engineers. There are several role
models to whom the engineers are attracted.
These models provoke their thinking, attitudes
and actions.
1. Savior
The engineer as a savior, save the society from
poverty, illiteracy, wastage, inefficiency, ill health,
human (labor) dignity and lead it to prosperity,
through technological development and social
planning. Eg:- R.L. Stevenson.
2. Guardian
He guards the interests of the poor and general
public. As one who is conversant with technology
development, is given the authority befitting his
expertise to determine what is best suited to the
society. Eg:-Lawrence of Arabia (an engineer).
3. Bureaucratic Servant
He serves the organization and the employers.
The management of an enterprise fixes its goals
and assigns the job of problem solving to the
engineer, who accepts the challenge and shapes
them into concrete achievements. Eg:-, Jamshedji
Tata.
4. Social Servant
It is one who exhibits social responsibility. The engineer
translates the interest and aspirations of the society into a
reality, remembering that his true master is the society at
large. Eg: Sir M.Viswesvarayya.
5. Social Enabler and Catalyst
One who changes the society through technology. The
engineer must assist the management and the society to
understand their needs and make informed decisions on the
desirable technological development and minimize the
negative effects of technology on people and their living
environment. Thus, he shines as a social enabler and a
catalyst for further growth. Eg:Sri Sundarlal Bahuguna.
6. Game Player :He is neither a servant nor master. An engineer
is an assertive player, not a passive player who may carry out
his master’s voice. He plays a unique role successfully within
the organization, enjoying the excitement of the profession
and having the satisfaction of surging ahead in a competitive
world. For example, Narayanamurthy, Infosys and Dr.
Kasthurirangan, ISRO.
THEORIES ABOUT RIGHT ACTION (ETHICAL THEORIES)
Uses and Criteria :The ethical theories are useful in many respects.
1. In understanding moral dilemma. They provide clarity, consistency, systematic and
comprehensive understanding.
2. It provides helpful practical guidance in moral issues towards the solution.
3. Justifying professional obligations and decisions, and
3. In relating ordinary and professional morality.
Different criteria may be applied for evaluating various ethical theories and
deciding upon the best.
1. The theory must be clear and (coherent) formulated logically connected.
2. It must be internally consistent, i.e., none of its principles conflicts with any other
3. The theory and its defense must depend, only upon facts.
4. It must organize basic moral values in systematic and comprehensive manner. It is
to fix priority of values and provide guidance in all situations
5. It must provide guidance compatible with our moral convictions (judgments)
about concrete situations. Eg:-engineers to make explosive.
Ethical Theories/Approaches
Several ethical theories have been developed ,stressing certain ethical principles or
features ,converge and reinforce the ethics: 6 ...contd....
.
1. Utilitarian Theory
The term Utilitarianism was conceived in the
19th century by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart
Mill to help legislators determine which laws were
morally best. They suggested that the standard of
right conduct is maximization of good
consequences.
Good consequences mean either ‘utilities’ or the
‘balance of good over evil’. This approach weighs
the costs and benefits. Right actions are the ones
that produce the greatest satisfaction of the
preferences of the affected persons. In analyzing an
issue in this approach,we have to:
(a) Identify the various courses of action available to us.
(b) Ask who will be affected by each action and what
benefits or harms will be derived from each.
(c) Choose the action that will produce the greatest
benefits and the least harm. The ethical
action is the one that provides the greatest good for the
greatest number.
The ACT UTILITARIAN theory proposed by J.S. Mill (1806-73) focuses on actions,
rather than on general rules. An action is right, if it generates the most overall good
for the most people involved.
The RULE UTILITARIAN theory, developed by Richard Brandt (1910-97), stressed on
the rules, such as ‘do not steal’, ‘do no harm others’, ‘do not bribe’, as of primary
importance. He suggested that individual actions which maximizes the public good.
The act utilitarian theory permitted a few immoral actions. Hence, there was need to
develop rule
utilitarian theory to establish morality and justice, in the transactions. For example,
stealing an old computer from the employer will benefit the employee more than
the loss to the employer.
As per Act, utilitarian this action is right. But rule utilitarian observes this as wrong,
because the employee should act as ‘faithful agent or trustee of the employees’.
2. The duty ethics theory, proposed by
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) states, that
actions are consequences of performance of
one’s duties such as, ‘being honest’, ‘not
cause suffering of
others’, ‘being fair to others including the
meek and week’, ‘being grateful’, ‘keeping
promises’ etc.
We have a duty not to commit suicide; a duty
to develop our talents and a duty to avoid
harmful drugs.
Kant insisted that moral duties are categorical
imperatives.
They are commands that we impose on
ourselves as well as other rational beings. For
honesty is required by duty. A businessman is
to be honest because honesty pays — in terms
of profits from customers
the DUTY ethics theory, as enunciated by John Rawl, gave importance to the actions that
would be voluntarily agreed upon by all persons concerned, assuming impartiality.. Rawl
proposed two basic moral principles;
(1) each person is entitled to the most extensive amount of liberty compatible with an equal
amount for others, and
(2) differences in social power and economic benefits are justified only when they are likely
to benefit every one, including members of the most disadvantaged groups.
C.W.D. Ross, the British philosopher introduced the term prima facie duties,
which means duties might have justified exceptions. Some may be having
obligatory or permissible exceptions. Ross assumed that the prima facie duties
are intuitively obvious (self-evident), while fixing priorities among duties.
He noted that the principles such as ‘Do not kill’ and ‘protect innocent life’
involve high respect for persons than other principles such as, ‘Do not lie’ (less
harmful).
This theory is criticized on the fact, that the intuitions do not provide sufficient
guideline for moral duty.
He has listed various aspects of Duty Ethics that reflect our moral convictions,
namely:
1. Fidelity : duty to keep promises.
2. Reparation : duty to compensate others when we harm them.
3. Gratitude : duty to thank those who help us.
4. Justice : duty to recognize merit.
5. Beneficence : duty to recognize inequality
and improve the condition of others.
6. Self-improvement : duty to improve virtue
and intelligence.
7. Non-malfeasance : duty not to injure others.
3. Rights Theory
Rights are entitlement to act or to have another individual act in a certain way.
Minimally, rights serve as a protective barrier, shielding individuals from unjustified
infringement of their moral agency by others.
A. The RIGHTS approach to ethics has its roots in the 18th century philosopher
Immanuel Kant, who focused on the individual’s right to choose for oneself.
According him, what makes human beings different from mere things is, that
people have dignity based on their ability to choose freely what they will do with
their lives, and they have a fundamental moral right to have these choices
respected.
. Other rights he advocated are:
1. The right to access the truth: We have a right to be told the truth and to be informed
about matters that significantly affect our choices.
2. The right of privacy: We have the right to do, believe, and say whatever we choose
in our personal lives so long as we do not violate the rights of others.
3. The right not to be injured: We have the right not to be harmed or injured unless we
freely and knowingly do something to deserve punishment or we freely and
knowingly choose to risk such injuries.
4. The right to what is agreed: We have a right to what has been promised by those
with
whom we have freely entered into a contract or agreement.
• B. In deciding whether an action is moral or
immoral,. The RIGHTS theory as promoted by
John Locke states that the actions are right, if
they respect human rights of every one
affected. He proposed the three basic human
rights, namely life, liberty, and property. His
views were reflected in the modern American
society, when Jefferson declared the basic
rights as life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
C. As per A.I. Melden’s theory based on rights,
nature mandates that we should not harm
others’ life, health, liberty or property. Melden
allowed welfare rights also for living a
decent human life. He highlighted that the rights
should be based on the social welfare
system.
D. Human rights: Human rights are explained in two forms, namely liberty rights and
welfare rights.
Liberty rights are rights to exercise one’s liberty and stresses duties on other people
not to interfere with one’s freedom. The four features of liberty rights (also called
moral rights), which lay the base for Government Administration, are:
1. Rights are natural in so far as they are not invented or created by government.
2. They are universal, as they do not change from country to country.
3. They are equal since the rights are the same for all people, irrespective of caste,
race, creed or sex.
4. They are inalienable i.e., one cannot hand over his rights to another person such as
selling oneself to slavery.
The Welfare Rights are the rights to benefit the needy for a decent human life, when
one can not earn those benefits and when those benefits are available in the
society.
E. Economic rights: In the free-market economy, the very purpose of the existence of
the manufacturer, the sellers and the service providers is to serve the consumer.
The consumer is eligible to exercise some rights9. The consumers’ six basic rights
are: Right to Information, Right to Safety, Right to Choice, Right to be Heard,
Right to Redressal, and Right to Consumer Education.
4. The Virtue Theory
This emphasizes on the character rather than the rights or
duties. The character is the pattern of virtues (morally-
desirable features). The theory advocated by Aristotle,
stressed on the tendency to act at
proper balance between extremes of conduct, emotion,
desire, attitudes to find the golden mean between the
extremes of ‘excess’ or ‘deficiency’. The examples shown
below illustrate the theory:
On the other hand, the Virtue Theory proposed by
MacIntyre, highlighted on the actions aimed at achieving
common good and social (internal) good such as social
justice, promotion of health, creation of useful and safe
technological products and services. Five types of virtues
that constitute responsible professionalism, namely
public-spirited virtues, proficiency virtues, team-work
virtues, self-governance virtues, and cardinal virtues
5. Self-realisation Ethics
Right action consists in seeking self-fulfillment. In one
version of this theory, the self to be realized is
defined by caring relationships with other individuals and
society. In another version called ethical
egoism, the right action consists in always promoting
what is good for oneself. No caring and society
relationships are assumed.
6. Justice (Fairness) Theory
The justice or fairness approach to ethics has its roots in
the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher
Aristotle, who said that “equals should be treated equally
and unequals unequally.” The basic moral
question in this approach is: How fair is an action? Does it
treat everyone in the same way, or does it
show favoritism and discrimination?
SELF-CONTROL
It is a virtue of
maintaining personal
discipline. It means a
strong will and
motivation and
avoidance of fear,
hatred, lack of efforts,
temptation, self-
deception, and
emotional response. It
encompasses courage
and good judgment also.
Self-respect promotes
self-control.
SELF-INTEREST
Self-interest is being good and acceptable to oneself. It is
very ethical to possess self-interest.
As per utilitarian theory, this interest should provide for
the respect of others also.
Duty ethics recognizes this aspect as duties to ourselves.
Then only one can help others.
Right ethicist stresses our rights to pursue our own good.
Virtue ethics also accepts the importance of self-respect as
link to social practices.
• In Ethical Egoism, the self is conceived in a highly
individualistic manner. It says that every one
should promote one’s own interest. The ethical
egoists do not accept the well being of the
community or caring for others. However this self
interest should not degenerate into egoism or
selfishness, i.e., maximizing only own good in the
pursuit of self-interest.
The ethical egoists hold that the society benefits to maximum when
(a) the individuals pursue their personal good and
(b) the individual organizations pursue maximum profit in a competitive enterprise..
Self-respect includes recognition of our vulnerabilities and interdependencies.
compatible with caring for ourselves as well as others.
• Self-interest is necessary initially to begin with.
• prime motives for action;
• show concern for others, in the family as well as society.
• One’s self-interest should not harm others.
• The principles of ‘Live and let (others) live’, and
• ‘reasonably fair competition’ are recommended to professionals by the ethicists.
CUSTOMS
Ethical Pluralism: Various cultures in our pluralistic society lead to tolerance for
various customs, beliefs, and outlooks.
• moral attitudes appear to be reasonable, the rational and morally concerned
people can not fully accept any one of the moral perspectives.
• varied moral values, which allow variation in the understanding and application
of values by the individuals or groups in their everyday transactions.
Ethical Relativism: According to this principle, actions are considered morally right
when approved by law or custom, and wrong when they violate the laws or
customs. The deciding factor is the law or the customs of the society.
1.Laws appear to be objective ways for judging values.
• The laws and customs tend to be definite, clear and
real, but not always.
• allow objective criticism of laws, as being morally
lacking.
• Eg:-Apartheid laws of South Africa violated the
human rights of the native Africans. No legal
protection was available for native citizens for a long
time. Now, of course, these laws have been repealed.
2. Ethical relativism assumes that the values are subjective
at the cultural level.
• Moral standards also vary from culture to culture.
• The objectivity is supported by the existing laws of that
society.
• The relative morality accepted, supports the virtue of
tolerance of differences among Societies.
. As per ethical relativism, the actions and laws of the Nazis
and Hitler who vowed on Anti-Semitism and killed
several million Jews would be accepted as right.
3. Moral relationalism or moral contextualism: According to this, the moral judgments must
be made in relation to certain factors, which may vary from case to case.
• factors for making judgments include the customs and laws.
• The virtue ethicists hold that the practical wisdom should prevail upon assessing the facts
and in the judgment.
• The human sacrifices and cannibalism were accepted. But the modern anthropologists
insist that all cultures shall exhibit the virtue of social welfare and safety against needless
death or physical or mental harm.
• Moral differences were based on the circumstances and facts and not on the difference in
moral attitudes.
• For example, the pharaohs buried the live attendants along with their dead king with the
belief that they would continue to serve the king in his after life.
RELIGION
Religions have played major roles in shaping moral views
and moral values, over geographical regions.
• Christianity has influenced the Western countries,
• Islam in the Middle-East countries,
• Buddhism and Hinduism in Asia,
• and Confucianism in China.
• there is a strong psychological link between the moral and religious
beliefs of people following various religions and faiths.
• Religions support moral responsibility./moral standards.
• Faith in the religions provides trust and this trust inspires people to be
moral.
• The religions insist on tolerance and moral concern for others.
• Many professionals who possess religious beliefs are motivated to be
morally responsible.
• Hinduism holds polytheistic (many gods) view, and virtues of devotion
and surrender to high order.
• Christianity believes in one deity and emphasizes on virtues of Love,
Faith, and Hope.
• Buddhism is non-theistic and focuses on compassion and Islam on one
deity and adherence of ishan (piety or pursuit of excellence) and prayer.
• Judaism stresses the virtue of ‘tsedakah’ (righteousness).
• But many religious sects have adopted poor moral standards, e.g., many
religious sects do not recognize equal rights for women.
• The right to worship is denied for some people.
• People are killed in the name of or to promote religion.
• conflicts exist between the ‘secular’ and religious people and between
one religion and another, religious views have to be morally scrutinized.
Divine Command Ethics
The right action is defined by the commands by God.
It implies that to be moral, a person should believe in God and an action is right only if
it is commanded by God. There are some difficulties in this approach, namely,
(a) whether God exists or not is not clear.
(b) How to know what are the God’s commands? And
(c) How to verify the genuineness of the commands?
Further, religions such as Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity accept the existence of
God. But Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism adopt only faith in a right path and
do not believe in God.
Socrates was said to have argued that God, an entity which is responsible, morally
good, and beyond fear or favor, would not command murder, rape, torture,
immoral activities, and even mass suicide.
Many such crimes were committed in the name of God then and continue even now
in different parts of the world.
Some Western leaders had claimed that God had commanded them to invade against
the Middle-East countries.
If anyone claims to have obtained commands from God to kill people merciless, then
we have to conclude that the person is not religious but insane.
USE OF THE THEORY
The choice of the ethical theory to study a problem is illustrated herein with
an example.
Case: A chemical plant near a small town is discharging hazardous wastes
into the fields nearby.
The ground water gets contaminated and significant health problems surface
in the community.
Since harm is caused to the residents, the action is unethical as per rights
ethics. The agriculturists
who have the agrarian right of water supply have been over looked. The
pollutants may endanger their
profession and welfare. Hence, rights ethics also concludes that the action is
unethical.
The effects of polluted water and the cost to purify the water by the
municipality may out weigh
the economic benefits of the plant. Hence, the utilitarian analysis leads to the
same conclusion.
The groundwater harms the people and caused health problems. Hence,
discharging the pollutants
is unethical as per duty ethics.
Generally, because the rights of the individuals should weigh strongly than
the needs of the society as a whole, rights and duty ethics take
precedence over utilitarian considerations.
Caution is necessary in applying theory of virtue ethics. When we use the
word ‘honor’, we mean it to be a measure of dignity and integrity. It is a
positive virtue. When it points to ‘pride’ it is not a
virtue and has a negative connotation. History abounds with examples of war,
which have been fought and atrocities were committed on innocent
people in order to preserve the honor (pride) of an individual or a nation.
In using virtue ethics, we have to ensure that the traits of virtue are
actually virtuous and will not lead to negative consequences.

Water treatment plant ,

avoiding polution