ETHICS

Issues of Right and Wrong

What is Ethics?

» Many people tend to

equate ethics with
their feelings.

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What is Ethics?

One should not

identify ethics with Ethi aR

religion although -

most religions

advocate high ETHICS applies as much as to

ethical standards. the behavior of the Aetheist as

to that of the Saint.
What is Ethics?

Being ethical is not Ethics =

the same as
following the law.
What is Ethics?

°Sometimes,
breaking the law
is the right thing
to do!

Ethic
What is Ethics?

Lastly, being ethical is

not the same as doing
“whatever society

accepts.”.

THE ENTIRE SOCIETY can

be ETHICALLY CORRUPT!
What is ethics?

°a discipline or
area of study
dealing with
moral problems
What is ethics?

Moral

Philosophy It involves the

Concepts of
Right and

Systematizing Wrong

Defending Recommending
Ethics Refers to

Standards of Right and Wrong

What humans ought to do
Engineering Ethics

° The discipline or
study of moral
issues arising in and
surrounding
engineering
Wrong Acts

Stealing
Morality

Study of human behavior as a consequence of

beliefs about what is right or wrong (Descriptive
ethics)

Study of what is thought to be right and what the

general public, group, culture or society would

generally do.
Morality

Used between three Context

Pro
Mem a.
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— Aa
a nd
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Individual ™e Moral Values . Codes of

Conscience ae oor Judgement y Conduct

Moral vs Ethics

* Morals define whether | should kill my neighbour

Joe when he steals my tractor;

° Ethics define whether it is right or wrong for one

person to kill another in a dispute over property.
(7)

COMICS

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The End Justifies the Mean

° The result of some actions taken is more important than the other
repercussions of the said actions.

° As long as the desired result is achieved, it doesn’t matter what

you do to get those results

° Satanic Doctrine teaching that we may do evil without becoming

evil if our motive is good enough.

It doesn’t matter which course to take to

finish the race, JUST WIN!
Ethics, morality, virtues, vices

° Ethics are beliefs regarding right and wrong behavior.

° Morality refers to social convention about right and wrong
* Virtues are habits that incline us to do what is acceptable

° Vices are habits that incline us to do what is unacceptable

Three categories of moral actions

me 6Moral > if they reflect a person’s values and those of

society

Immoral > if they go against a person's values or

those of society

Amoral > if they do not reflect choices based on

values or social norms
Why be Moral?

| tad ; :

= | To avoid Punishment
eu \ : ;

= To attain happiness
vA] Theimega ° Wa

@ To be dignified
ae \ ‘ ‘
a \ : . :

= ) To fit with society

The Ethical or Moral Dilemma

Situations where two or more moral

obligations, duties or rights are in conflict

Often, not just a choice between right

and wrong or good and evil

Lesser of evils

Greater of goods
Example of moral dilemmas

Easily resolvable dilemmas:

e You promised to attend the birthday party of

your friend. However, on that day, your
parent became ill and you need to stay home.

Dilemma:

e obligation to friend < > obligation to parent

Difficult to Resolve

e You have been tasked by the government to develop a

bomb system that can be remotely activated and has
some Safety features where the full control will be at the
headquarters and it will require two people to activate,
the General and You. The bomb was scattered in public
places where the New Osama Bin Laden is expected to
appear. On a Monday morning, New Osama was spotted
at Mall of Asia. However, he is surrounded by innocent
people. The General has already keyed in his password
and ordered you to key in yours in order to trigger the
bomb planted near the area. What should you do?
To resolve dilemmas like this, the

following must be considered:

— What is the duty: to defend the country against aggressors and terrorists

— Why did you succumb to this idea: it is for the common good; many people can
be saved.

— Are you willing to sacrifice innocent lives just to kill the world’s number one
enemy?

— Are you willing to accept that another person who may be assigned to your

position will do the same thing granting that a family member of yours is part of
that innocent crowd?
Dilemma Paradigms

Truth versus loyalty

Individual versus community
Short-term versus long-term

Justice versus mercy

Approaches for ethical decision-making
Approach | Principle,

Virtue ethics approach The ethical choice is the one that best
reflects moral virtues in ourselves and
our communities.

Utilitarian approach The ethical choice is the one that

Approach produces the greatest excess of
benefits over harm

Fairness approach The ethical choice is the one that treats

everyone the same and does not show
favoritism or discrimination.

Common good approach The ethical choice is the one that advances
the common good.
Moral Problem solving in Engineering

Utilitarianism approach Respect for persons

approach
Teleological Deontological
Hedonism Humans are ends

in themselves
and not means

Result oriented Humans are ends

in themselves
and not means

The Ends justify the

means
Utilitarian vs Respect for Persons

Applied to the Terrorist case

Respect for Persons Approach

Activating the bomb that will kill New Will not activate the bomb because the
killing
Osama is the right thing to do even of innocent people will defeat the very
when innocent lives are sacrificed oecet inveettneepie Marieke
since killing New Osama will stop him —

from killing more innocent people. The

end which is the killing of New Osama

justifies the means, which is killing also

innocent lives. Some utilitarian may

use double effect.

Utilitarianism

° The rightness of the Act is based on its results:

* Welfare

» Consequence

Kill one, save a thousand

The right thing to do is that which is

likely to produce the greatest happiness
for the greatest number of people.
Example

° If a toxic fume has been diffused in the room and you

are able to run to the safety chamber together with ten
more people but your close friend is left out in the
open. If you open the door, your friend can definitely
get inside, however, it is certain that the fumes get
inside the chamber even before you can finally shut it
fully. And once you are exposed, all of you definitely will
die. Do you open the door?
Example

° A bomb expert diffuses a bomb although he knows that

this is a suicide mission. If he fails to diffuse it, he dies.
Does he commit suicide? Is this kind of sacrifice morally
acceptable?
The Utilitarian Approach

© The Act Utilitarian Test

° The Rule Utilitarian Test
° The Cost/Benefit Test
The Act Utilitarian Test

Will this course of action produce more utility than any alternative course of
action that | could take?

The Act utilitarian measures the consequence of a single act.

The rightness or wrongness of the act is based on the premise that the
probable benefit is maximized.

Act utilitarians may break the law, rules, contract, morals in order to produce
the highest utility.
Situation

° The patient has an incurable disease |

and has only a few months to live.

Which is the right thing to do here:

to tell the patient the truth or not?
° The Act Utilitarian would lie to the patient in order for him, his
family, and friends to enjoy life before the illness makes it
impossible for him to enjoy. The happiness brought to the
patient and his family outweighs the obligation of the doctor to
tell the patient the truth
The Rule Utilitarian Test

° Would utility be maximized if everyone did the same

thing in the same circumstances?

* Rule utilitarian would consider the consequence of an

action in the long run if it is repeated over and over
such that it becomes a “rule”
Situation

° The patient has an incurable disease and has only a few

months to live. Which is the right thing to do here? Tell
the patient the truth or not? | |
° The Rule Utilitarian would tell the truth. It will
consider the long term consequence if doctors will not
tell the diagnosis, people would no longer be able to
trust their doctors and this would break down the
confidence they need for their therapies to be
effective.
Cost-Benefit Test

° Resolves moral problem by converting the negative and

positive utilities to monetary terms.

° Mostly used by government and business sector when

making a decision.
Situation: To buy new machine
to increase production or not?

Benefit of Buying New Cost of Buying New

Machine: Machine:

can produce 100 more units per Cost of the machine

hour

Will replace 3 workers, hence no Interest rate for the cost of buying
overhead cost the machine, either credit or cash
Reject rate is much lower Depreciation cost

compared to manual process.

Cost of supplies can be cheaper Lump sum separation pay for the
three Workers
Respect-for-persons Approach

1.The Golden Rule

2.The Self-Defeating Test
3.The Rights Test

Universal criterion in resolving a

moral issue: to be ethically valid, we
must be willing for others to do
similar course of action in similar
circumstances
The Golden Rule Test

* Christian Version
Treat others as you would like them to treat you (Luke 6:31)

° Hindu Version

Let not any man do unto another any act that he wisheth not done to himself by
others, knowing it to be painful to himself (Mahabharata, Shanti Parva, cclx.21

* Confucian Version

Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you (Analects, Book
xii, #2)
The Golden Rule Test

* Buddhist Version
Hurt not others with that which pains yourself (Lldanavarga, v.18)

° Jewish version

What is hateful to yourself do not do to your fellow man. That is the

whole of Torah (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbath 31a)

°« Muslim version

No man is a true believer unless he desires for his brother that

which he desires for himself (Hadith, Muslim, imam 71-2)
Situation:

° An engineer is trying to resolve the line drawing

issue of whether to accept a gift of a Christmas ham
from a supplier. Should he reject the ham based on
the assumption that it might be a bribe?
Situation

° You are a manager who orders a young engineer

to remain silent about the discovery of an
emission from the plant that might cause minor
health problems for some people who live near
the plant. What will be your basis in saying that
this is the right thing to do?
Self defeating test (Kantian Ethics)

° Which actions are inherently good? Simply focus

on the deed itself.

* Does it respect the basic human dignity and rights of

everyone involved?

° Does it avoid deception, coercion and manipulation?

* Does it treat people equally and fairly?

Human sible are ences in themselves,

not me to some ene

dS.
If you are facing a moral dilemma, ask
yourself this question:

°Can | will that all human beings should act in

the same way | am about to act now, if they
are confronted with the same problem?

ACT ONLY ON A PRINCIPLE THAT YOU

WOULD WISH EVERYONE TO FOLLOW
IN A SIMILAR SITUATION.
A universalized action can be self-defeating
in two ways:

¢ The action itself cannot be performed if universalized

° The purpose in performing the action can be

undermined if everyone else does what | do, even if |
can perform the action itself.

lf the action is self-defeating, it is not permissible

The action itself cannot be
performed if universalized.

° If | borrow money on the promise to return it and do not

keep that promise, the action is self-defeating.
The purpose! have in performing the
action can be undermined if everyone
else does what! do, even if I can
perform the action itself.

°lam running for public office and | give

money to voters because | want to help

them
The Rights Test

° In this approach, the rights of the people must be

respected.

Right is an entitlement to act in a certain

way

Serves as a protective barrier, shielding

individuals from unjustified infringements
of their moral agency by others.
Essential Rights

°Rights to Freedom
*Rights to well-being
Hierarchy of Rights

on-
A more basic right cannot be sacrificed for
a less basic right

°Right to Life >>

Right to make a
living
° It would be wrong for the plant manager to attempt to
save money by emitting a pollutant that is carcinogenic,
because the right to life comes first before the right to
maintain a level of purpose or fulfillment, in this case,
saving the company from inevitable bankruptcy.
Valid consent

° The consent was given voluntarily

° The consent was based on the information that a rational

person would want, with the information presented in
understandable form.

* The consenter was competent and rational to process the

information.
An experiment is valid if

° The participants give their consent subject to the

following:

* All information regarding the experiment including the pro’s

and con's

° The participants/subjects are not subjected to force, fraud or

deception.
Fostering good business ethics

° Why is it important that the company foster

good business ethics?

° To protect the organization and its employees from

legal action

» To create an organization that operates consistently

° To produce good business

» To avoid unfavorable publicity

* To gain the goodwill of the community

Some hindrance to Ethics in

Business

* Operating ethically does not always guarantee

business success.
Without ethics in company...

Managerial Behavior Resulting individual

encourages unethical behavior | feelings and behavior1

Set and hold people accountable My boss wants results, no

for stretched goals, quotas, excuses, so | have to cut corners

budgets to meet the goals my boss has

set

Failed to provide a corporate Because there are no

code of conductand operating — guidelines, | don’t think

principles to my action is really wrong

guide decision-making or illegal.

Without ethics in company...

Managerial Behavior Resulting individual

encourages unethical behavior | feelings and behaviour

Fail to act in an ethical manner | have seen other successful

and set a poor example for people take unethical actions
others to Follow and not

suffer negative Repercussions

Fail to hold people No one will ever know
accountable for unethical the difference, or if they

actions do, so what?

Without ethics in company...

Managerial Behavior Resulting individual

encourages unethical feelings and behaviour
behavior

When employees are hired, plop a This is overwhelming. Can’t they just
three-inch binder entitled “Corporate give me the essentials? |

Business Ethics, Policies and can never absorb all this.

Procedures” on their desks. Tell them

to read it when they have time and sign
the attached form that says you read
and understand the corporate policy.
Code of Conduct

° Is a guide that highlights an organization’s key ethical

issues and identifies the overarching values and
principles

e that are important to the organization and

e that can help in decision making.
Moral

° Of or concerned with the judgment of the goodness or badness of

human action and character: moral scrutiny; a moral quandary.

° Teaching or exhibiting goodness or correctness of character and

behavior: a moral lesson.

° Conforming to standards of what is right or just in behavior;

virtuous: a moral life.
Moral

* Arising from conscience or the sense of right and wrong: a moral obligation.

* Having psychological rather than physical or tangible effects: a moral victory;

moral support.

* Based on strong likelihood or firm conviction, rather than on the actual

evidence: a moral certainty.
Good will

° The good will is the only good without qualification.

° The good will is a will that acts for the sake of duty, as a "good-in-
itself.”

° Duty is the necessity of acting out of reverence for universal law

BEaLOTUS

° A lotus remains beautiful even as it lingers in the

filthy waters of the pond. Don’t be contaminated,
do not be influenced by worthless means. Remain
radiant among the shadows of darkness. Be a

lotus. It has to start with one, to fill the pond with

more (Confucius)