AIT, Comp. Sci. & Info. Mgmt AT02.98 Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues in Computing September Term, Objectives of these slides: l to describe utilitarianism, an ethical theory based on the consequences of actions 4. Measuring Consequences

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4 2 Overview 1. The Results-Oriented Approach 2. Utilitarianism 3. The Hedonistic Calculus 4. The Quality of Pleasure 5. Judgement 6. Drawbacks

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/ The Results-Oriented Approach §It tries to answer “How much actual good/happiness is produced as a consequence of an action?” l a practical measure l fairly uncomplicated §Sometimes called the teleological approach l telos = end/outcome l logis = ‘the study of’ / ‘the science of’ continued

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4 4 §Roughly corresponds to the first category of rights in the Universal Declaration. §A problem: how to evaluate the consequences of an action before it is carried out? l we must imagine all the likely outcomes l our evalaution requires judgement/guesswork

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/ Utilitarianism §Evalauate actions based on how useful they are in improving life l developed by Jeremy Bentham §An action is morally good to the extent that it produces a greater balance of pleasure over pain for the largest number of the people involved l “the greatest good of the greatest number” continued

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4 6 §Different forms of utilitarianism are central to modern decision-making l law, public policy l cost-benefit, risk-benefit analysis in business

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4 7 Jeremy Bentham ( )

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4 8 Egoism is Different §Egoism specifies that a person should act to maximise only the consequences for themselves. §Egoism is not the same as utilitarianism.

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/ The Hedonistic Calculus §The measurement of pleasure involves 7 elements: l 1. the intensity of the feeling l 2. its duration l 3. the certainty or uncertainty of it happening l 4. how soon it will be felt (propinquity) l 5. whether it will produce additional pleasures (fecundity) l 6. whether it has unhappy side-effects (purity) l 7. the number of people affected (extent)

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/ Stealing from an Old Lady Old LadyYou 1. Intensity Duration Certainty Propinquity Fecundity Purity Extent-2+2 Total-49+23

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/ Party Time PartyHelp Friend 1. Intensity 2. Duration 3. Certainty 4. Propinquity 5. Fecundity 6. Purity 7. Extent Total

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/ “The Torture Fight” TV Show §A TV show of hand-to-hand fighting between two volunteers. The winner gets receives $2 million, the loser $1 million. The loser is also tortured in front of the cameras. l there are 40 million viewers each week continued

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4 13 §Utilitarianism (“the greatest hapiness of the greatest number”) would give a positive evaluation for the show. What’s wrong? §All pleasures are not equal l e.g. watching torture compared to listening to music

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/ The Quality of Pleasure §John Stuart Mill modified utilitarianism to include a measure of the quality of the pleasures involved in an action. §This was estimated by asking people who had the greatest experience with the pleasures to rank them. continued

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4 15 §This approach assumes that an rational human would value pleasures that exercise the higher faculties over the lower ones. §Higher faculties: intelligence, mental pleasure, education, sensitivity to others, morality, health l very close to the needs in the Universal Declaration §Lower faculties: stupidity, ignorance, selfishness, laziness, physical pleasures.

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4 16 John Stuart Mill ( )

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/ Long-Term Consequences §Generally, higher faculty pleasures are better than lower faculty pleasures in the long run. §For example, listening to music over a long period improves a person’s enjoyment of music.

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/ Party Time / Torture Fight Again §Keeping your word to a friend is a higher form of pleasure than getting drunk at a party. §Watching enough “Torture Night” shows will insensitise the viewer to violence l eventually society as a whole will see violence as an acceptable norm (behaviour) l violence of all types will increase

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/ Judgement §The results-oriented approach is not just a matter of number-crunching, but requires imagination and judgement to assess all the consequences l long-term consequences are the hardest to predict, but often the most important continued

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4 20 §Many of the elements in the results-oriented approach are intangible: l possible outcomes l judgements about degrees of pleasure l future consequences §The morality of an act depends on the (perceived) context.

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/ Drawbacks §The happiness of the many outweighs the happiness of the few l not so good for minorities §It is very difficult to predict all the consequences of an action §This approach can be misused to justify awful actions if the results are good l “the ends justify the means” continued

Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4 22 §The results-oriented approach requires us to be forever calculating consequences for every action l rather tiring §One solution: rule utilitarians suggest the use of default general rules which maximise happiness in most cases l “keep your promises” l “tell the truth”