Moral Reasoning and Ethical Theories

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Moral Reasoning and Ethical Theories

• Good engineering, good business, and good ethics
  work together in the long run.

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What is Morality?

• It concerns conduct right and wrong, good and
  bad, the rules that ought to be followed
• It is associated with consequences to ourselves,
  others, and the environment
• The right or good is linked to value
  judgements generally thought to promote fairness,
  health, and safety while minimizing injustice

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Ethical TheoriesUtilitarianism

• Utilitarianism - the view that we ought to
  produce the most good for the most people, giving
  equal consideration to everyone affected
• Rule-Utilitarianism is applying those rules that
  if generally adopted would produce the most good
  for the most people
• Act-Utilitarianism is applying rules in order to
  produce the most good for the most people
  involved in the particular situation (rules
  become at most rules of thumb)

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Ethical Theories Utilitarianism Theories of
Good

• Deeply satisfying pleasures mixed with some
  inevitable pains a pattern of activities and
  relationships that one can affirm as valuable
  overall (Mill)
• Things that satisfy rational desires, e.g., love
  and creativity. Rational desires are those we
  would approve of if we scrutinized our desires in
  light of all relevant information about the world
  and our own psychology (Brandt)

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Ethical TheoriesRights Ethics

• Rights Ethics - the view that human rights - not
  good consequences - are fundamental.
• Acts of respect for human rights are obligatory,
  regardless of whether they always maximize good
• Truthfulness important in terms of its
  contribution to liberty, especially within
  relationships based on trust
• Complex in that there are many types of rights
  that may conflict and must be balanced

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Ethical TheoriesRights Ethics Liberty Rights

• Liberty Rights (Locke) - places duties on other
  people not to interfere with ones life.
• To be a person entails having human rights to
  life, liberty, and the property generated by
  ones labor
• property thought of as whatever we gain by
  mixing our labor with things
• Views reflected by todays Libertarians

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Ethical TheoriesRights Ethics - Liberty
Welfare Rights

• Liberty Welfare Rights (Melden) - having moral
  rights presupposes the capacity to show concern
  for others and to be accountable within a moral
  community
• extent of rights determined in terms of
  interrelationships among persons
• recognizes right to community benefits for
  living minimally decent human life

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Ethical TheoriesDuty Ethics

• Duty Ethics - the focus on duties which
  correspondence to and sustain fundamental rights
• List of duties based on respect for persons and
  belief in human capacity for moral autonomy
• For example, if you have a right not to be
  deceived, then I have a duty not to deceive you.
  To deceive you is to undermine your ability to
  carry out your plans based on available truths
  and within relationships based on trust

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Ethical TheoriesDuty Ethics - List of Duties

• Kant
• Be truthful
• Be fair
• Make reparation for harm done
• Show gratitude for kindness extended
• Seek to improve ones own character and talents

• Gert
• Dont
• cause pain
• disable
• deprive of freedom
• deprive of pleasure
• deceive
• cheat
• Do
• keep your promises
• obey the law
• do your duty

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Ethical TheoriesDuty Ethics - A Closer Look at
Duties

• Are duties universally applicable and
  exceptionless? Is duty absolute?
• What about when duties conflict with each other,
  e.g., do not deceive versus protect innocent
  life
• Prima facie duties - those that have justified
  exceptions or limits

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Summary

• Morality - good is linked to value judgements
• Ethical Theories - attempt to provide perspective
  on moral responsibilities
• Utilitarianism
• Rule-Utilitarianism
• Act-Utilitarianism
• Rights Ethics
• Duty Ethics

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Testing and Refining Ethical Theories

• Is it applicable and coherent?
• Is it consistent?
• Is it based on valid information?
• Is it sufficiently comprehensive to provide
  guidance?
• Is it compatible with our moral convictions?

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Example of Refining a Theory
A Theory of Justice (John Rawls) (1) Each person
is entitled to the most extensive amount of
political liberty compatible with an equal amount
for others
(2) Differences in social power and economic
benefits are justified only when they are likely
to benefit everyone, including members of the
most disadvantaged groups
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Virtue Ethics

• Primary focus on the kinds of persons we should
  aspire to be
• Virtues are
• desirable way of relating to others (individuals
  or groups)
• desirable habits or tendencies of motive,
  attitudes, and emotion as well as conduct
• Vices are
• undesirable habits and tendencies
• By extension, virtues and vices apply to
  organizations

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Aristotle Virtue and the Golden Mean

• Defined the moral virtues as tendencies, acquired
  through habit formation, to reach a proper
  balance between extremes in conduct, emotion,
  desire, and attitude (balance between excess and
  deficiency)
• Example Truthfulness is the mean between
  revealing all information in violation of tact
  and confidentiality (excess) and being secretive
  or lacking in candor (deficiency) in dealing with
  truth

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Gandhi Seven Social Sins (Vices)

• Politics without principle
• Wealth without work
• Commerce without morality
• Pleasure without conscience
• Education without character
• Science without humanity
• Worship without personal sacrifice

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MacIntyre Virtue and Practices

• Internal goods define what the practices are all
  about (external goods are money and prestige)
• virtues defined by reference to its internal good
• professional responsibility
• Self-direction virtues
• understanding, cognition (as grounded in moral
  concern)
• commitment and putting understanding into action
  (courage, self-discipline, honesty)
• Public-spirited virtues
• Team-work virtues
• Proficiency virtues

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Pragmatism

• A theory about morality that emphasizes the
  limitations of abstract rules (anti-theory)
• Not to be confused with crass expediency
• Good consequences emphasized, but so too are
  rights, duties and virtues within a given context
• Flexibility emphasized
• Like act-utilitarianism, there is danger of
  paying insufficient attention moral principles
  through immersion in specific contexts.

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Can We Reduce Moral Reasoning to Custom,
Religion, or Self-Interest?

• Customs or ethical relativism is view that values
  are reducible to conventions, customs, or laws
• would we accept bribes, cruelty, and intolerance?
• Religion and divine command ethics
• who are those among us who know precisely what
  Gods commands are or are not on each issue?
• Self-interest and ethical egoism is view that the
  sole duty of each individual is to maximize his
  or her own good
• is everything act reducible to personal gain,
  alone?

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Meaningful Work and Professionals Commitments

• Craft Motives
• attraction to challenging work
• wanting to create objects and systems
• Moral Motives
• contributing to the well-being of other human
  beings
• Compensation and Self-Interest
• money, power, and recognition motivate and guide
  human conduct
• reasonable regard for ones self-interest can be
  a moral virtue (prudence) as long as it does not
  crowd out other virtues