PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

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PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

• Calvin Gotlieb,
• Professor Emeritus, Department of Computer
  Science
• University of Toronto
• York University
• October 18, 2006

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ETHICS

• Webster
• The branch of philosophy dealing with values
  relating to human
• conduct with respect to rightness and wrongness
  of actions and the
• goodness and badness of motives and ends
• In considering professional ethics it is
  necessary to put these in
• context with different ethical theories proposed
  through the
• centuries, in many countries, by religious
  leaders and moral
• philosophers
• Reference Michael J. Quinn Ethics for the
  Information Age
• Pearson Education, 2nd ed. 2006

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Ethical Theories

• Descriptive ethics---as practiced
• Normative ethics-from the writings of
  philosophers and religious leaders
• Assumption
• Will accept theories based on logic/reason
• (as opposed to, say, belief or practice)

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SUBJECTIVE/CULTURAL RELATIVSIM

• Negative claim
• There are no universal norms
• Positive claim
• Right and wrong are relative to the individual
  and society
• Problems
• Accepts intolerance, slavery, apartheid,
  torture, where these are societal norms
• Negates idea of moral progress
• Relativism view in itself is a universal claim

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DIVINE COMMAND THEORY

• Good actions are those aligned with the will of
  God
• Gods will is revealed in the holy book handed
  down
• through his messenger
• Problems?

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CONSEQUENTIALISM( ACT) UTILITARIANSIM

• Jeremy Bentham John Stuart
  Mills
• What makes acts right or wrong depends wholly on
  the consequences
• Consequences are difficult to predict So--
• Act so as to achieve the greatest good for
  the greatest number
• Problems
• Leads to a calculus of values But can
  values be quantified?
• Should we kill one person to get many body
  parts?

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DEONTOLOGICAL THEORIES

• 
  Immanuel Kant
• The only unambiguous good thing is the will to do
  good
• There are absolutely, inherently right rules
• RationalityMan is unique in ability to reason
• Therefore rules are good if
  they follow from logic
• Categorical Imperative
• Rules are good if they apply to everyone
  (Universality)
• E.g. Do no harm (-) Golden rule ()
• Never treat human beings as means to an end,
  but rather as ends in themselves
• Leads to idea of human rights---privacy,
  intellectual property rights
• Are there universal rights?e.g. life,
  liberty, pursuit of happiness
• Problems
• How to adjudicate between conflicting
  rights?privacy and free speech
• Does absolute right imply existence of absolute
  evil?

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SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY

• Thomas Hobbes Jean-Jacques
  Rousseau
• There is a social contract between individuals
  and society where
• everyone gains (is not hurt)
• This leads to legal contract i.e. Laws
• Hence the connection between laws,ethics,
  morality
• Laws about driving (on the left or right) or
  protecting intellectual
• Property may not be inherently moral but they
  prevent harm and promote good
• Social Contract theory recognizes the harm
  resulting form the concentration of wealth and
  power

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Ethical Codes for Professions

• Requirements for Codes to be Effective
• A Code has to formulated and promulgated
• A transparent process has to be in place to judge
  cases
• where there has been a possible
  transgression of the code
• A support system has to be known to aid persons
  who
• are willing to be whistleblowers on
  witnessing what they
• believe is a serious infraction of the code