Ethics

Workable Ethical Theories 1- Kantianism: Categorical Imperative (1st Formulation): Act only from moral rules that you can at the same time will to be universal moral laws. Categorical Imperative (2nd Formulation): Act so that you treat both yourself and other people as ends in themselves and never only as a means to an end. Footer Text

Workable Ethical Theories 2- Act utilitarianism Add up change in happiness of all affected beings Sum > 0, action is good Sum < 0, action is bad 3- Rule Utilitarianism We ought to adopt moral rules which, if followed by everyone, will lead to the greatest increase in total happiness Act utilitarianism applies Principle of Utility to individual actions Rule utilitarianism applies Principle of Utility to moral rules Footer Text

Workable Ethical Theories 4- Social Contract Theory “Morality consists in the set of rules, governing how people are to treat one another, that rational people will agree to accept, for their mutual benefit, on the condition that others follow those rules as well.” Footer Text

Evaluate scenario#1 in textbook - Chapter2- from Kantianism perspective (The 2nd formula:). Footer Text

The Kantianism theory: The 2nd formula: Alexi uses someone's password in the library without his permission and lied to the librarian, so she use him as a mean or tool to reach her goal and complete her research project. Alexis did wrong when she lied to the librarian. By deceiving the librarian, Alexis treated the librarian as a means to her end of getting access to the private college’s computers. Footer Text

Evaluate scenario#2 in textbook in - Chapter2 - from act utilitarian perspective. 11/29/2018 Footer Text

Millions of people are getting much less spam Millions of people are getting much less spam. The benefit to each of these persons is small, but meaningful. Tens of thousands of citizens of the East Asian country cannot send email to the United States. The harm to each of these persons is significant. Concluding whether the action is right or wrong depends upon the weight you give to each person’s benefit or harm. Arwa Al-Issa

Suggested Weight The Act Utilitarianism theory: (Happiness and unhappiness) now we will measure the benefit for organization and the harm for others: The Benefit: The amount of spam received by the typical users in the USA drops by 25 percent. The Harm: Tens of thousands of innocent computer users in the East Asia country are unable to send email to friends and business in the USA. So the harm is more than the benefit so their action is wrong. Footer Text

Based on Social Contract Theory A man has been sentenced to prison for armed robbery, and admits guilt for the deed. "But", he argues, "I'll never do anything of the kind again. I'm not insane or a danger to society. I would be happier out of jail than in. My wife depends on me for support and she and the children would be far happier if I were able to be the family breadwinner again. As to the influence on others, almost no one would ever know about it; you can keep the matter out of the newspapers and no one except you will ever know that the crime was committed. Therefore, you should release me" Assuming he is correct, what would you do? 29-Nov-18 Computer Science Department