1. Social Responsibility  Maintains that businesses should not function amorally, but should contribute to the welfare of their communities. [ Recognizes multiple objectives: ¤ economic, social, and environmental dimensions from each and all activities [ Related to: ¤ sustainability, ¤ Citizenship  If not “amoral,” then has ethical dimensions

2. Determinants of Moral Behavior Characteristics (Moral Intensity) of the Issue Social Characteristics Relationships with “others” Type of Relationships Structure of Relationships Individual Characteristics Situational Characteristics Level of Cognitive Moral Development Cognitive Dissonance Recognize the moral Issue Make a Moral Judgment (establish Intent) Engage in Moral Behavior Steps towards moral behavior

3. Individual Utility Rights Justice Care Personal Characteristics Culture Social Networks Economic Environment Foreseeable Consequences Perceptions & Behavioral Intentions Situational Framing Recognition Analysis & Evaluation Action

4. Ethical Philosophies vs. Reasoning Teleology vs Deontology vs Virtues Utility vs Justice vs Rights vs Care PhilosophyPerspective

5. Question 1: I do not care what motivates other people; I judge them solely on the basis of what they do. Strongly agree Agree Neutral/undecided Disagree Strongly disagree Question 2: When I am trying to decide what the right thing to do is, I look at the consequences of the various alternatives open to me. Strongly agree Agree Neutral/undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

6. Question 3: The right thing to do is whatever is best for everyone. Strongly agree Agree Neutral/undecided Disagree Strongly disagree Question 4: We should look at the overall consequences of our actions in each and every case. Strongly agree Agree Neutral/undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

7. Question 5: If someone tries to do the right thing but it works out badly, they still deserve moral credit for trying. Strongly agree Agree Neutral/undecided Disagree Strongly disagree Question 6: What is the most important thing in life? Pleasure Happiness Ideals such as truth and beauty Having your preferences satisfied

8. Philosophical Ethics  Teleological (design & purpose) [ Results oriented [ Actions have no intrinsic ethical character (acquire moral status from their consequences) or  Deontological (obligation) [ Act oriented [ Actions are inherently right or wrong (e.g., lying, cheating, stealing)

9. Ethical Frameworks  Utilitarianism (Bentham & Mills) [ Ethics of consequences  Deontology (Kant) [ Ethics of Duty [action] (Ethical laws)  Principles willed into Universal laws  Treat people as ends (not means)  Virtues (Aristotle) [ Ethics of Character

10. Bentham’s Hedonistic Calculus  Bentham (not originally called Utilitarianism) [ Moral science (vs. ascetic religious) ¤ Quantifying pleasure l Pleasure good, pain bad l Hedonistic calculus (7 aspects) 1. Intensity (Intrinsic strength of the pleasurable or painful feelings produced.) 2. Duration (how long they last) 3. Certainty / Uncertainty (likelihood of sensations being produced by given action. 4. Propinquity / Remoteness (how soon they will be felt) 5. Fecundity (whether actions lead to pleasure) 6. Purity (whether actions lead to pain) 7. Extent (number of people affected)  Open, public, objective, fair [ Mill’s types of pleasure (quality vs. quantity)

11. Basic Insights of Utilitarianism  The purpose of morality is to make the world a better place.  Morality is about producing good consequences, not having good intentions  We should do whatever will bring the most benefit (i.e., intrinsic value) to all of humanity.

12. The Purpose of Morality  The utilitarian has a very simple answer to the question of why morality exists at all: [ The purpose of morality is to guide people’s actions in such a way as to produce a better world.  Consequently, the emphasis in utilitarianism is on consequences, not intentions.

13. Fundamental Imperative  The fundamental imperative of utilitarianism is: Always act in the way that will produce the greatest overall amount of good in the world. [ The emphasis is clearly on consequences, not intentions.

14. The Emphasis on the Overall Good  We often speak of “utilitarian” solutions in a disparaging tone, but in fact utilitarianism is a demanding moral position that often asks us to put aside self-interest for the sake of the whole.  Utilitarianism is a morally demanding position for two reasons: [ It always asks us to do the most, to maximize utility, not to do the minimum. [ It asks us to set aside personal interest.

15. The Dream of Utilitarianism: Bringing Scientific Certainty to Ethics  Utilitarianism offers us a powerful vision of the moral life, one that promises to reduce or eliminate moral disagreement. [ If we can agree that the purpose of morality is to make the world a better place; and [ If we can scientifically assess various possible courses of action to determine which will have the greatest positive effect on the world; then [ We can provide a scientific answer to the question of what we ought to do.

16. Intrinsic Value  Many things have instrumental value, that is, they have value as means to an end.  However, there must be some things which are not merely instrumental, but have value in themselves. This is what we call intrinsic value.  What has intrinsic value? Four principal candidates: [ Pleasure ¤ Jeremy Bentham [ Happiness ¤ John Stuart Mill [ Ideals ¤ G. E. Moore [ Preferences ¤ Kenneth Arrow

17. Pleasure  Definition: The enjoyable feeling we experience when a state of deprivation is replaced by fulfillment.  Advantages [ Easy to quantify [ Short duration [ Bodily  Criticisms [ Came to be known as “the pig’s philosophy” [ Ignores higher values [ Could justify living on a pleasure machine

18. Happiness  Advantages [ A higher standard, more specific to humans [ About realization of goals  Disadvantages [ More difficult to measure [ Competing conceptions of happiness

19. The Utilitarian Calculus  Math and ethics finally merge: all consequences must be measured and weighed.  Units of measurement: [ Hedons: positive [ Dolors: negative

20. What do we calculate?  Hedons/dolors may be defined in terms of [ Pleasure [ Happiness [ Ideals [ Preferences  For any given action, we must calculate: [ How many people will be affected, negatively (dolors) as well as positively (hedons) [ How intensely they will be affected [ Similar calculations for all available alternatives [ Choose the action that produces the greatest overall amount of utility (hedons minus dolors)

21. Business Systems  Economic systems (underlying ideologies) [ “normative” beliefs ¤ Motivation? ¤ Basic purpose(s)? ¤ Function of society  Market [ Free-Market ¤ John Locke’s (rights) l All are free and equal l Rights of freedom, property, and protection  Negative / positive rights?  Rights versus justice?  Individualistic assumption? ¤ Adam Smith’s (utilitarian) l Market competition serves society better than government  Unrealistic assumptions of perfect competition

22. Business Systems  Keynesian [ Free-markets alone are not enough ¤ Not the most efficient  Social Darwinism [ Survival of the fittest ¤ Penalties for incompetence and ignorance l Naturalistic fallacy  Free-Trade [ Benefits of specialization and trade ¤ Comparative (rather than absolute) advantage l Production costs are not constant l Means of production is portable.

23. Business Systems  Command [ Marx’s economic substructure / social superstructure ¤ Exploitation of workers “surplus” ¤ Separation (alienation) of workers from product ¤ Subordination of government to ruling class’ interests ¤ State control is victimized by individuals  Mixed Economy [ Retains Market and Private Property system [ Relies on governmental policies

24. Cell X Cell 1 Cell2Cell 3 Ethical Responsibility Legal Responsibility Economic Responsibility Business Ethics

25. Ethical Responsibility Legal Responsibility Economic Responsibility Business Ethics Cell “X” Profitable, Legal and Ethical Proceed with enthusiasm! Cell X

26. Cell 1 Ethical Responsibility Legal Responsibil ity Economic Responsibility Business Ethics Cell 1 Legal and Ethical Not Profitable: Seek Profitable alternatives

27. Cell2 Ethical Responsibility Legal Responsibility Economic Responsibility Business Ethics Cell 2 Profitable and Legal Proceed cautiously

28. Cell 3 Ethical Responsibility Legal Responsibil ity Economic Responsibility Business Ethics Cell 3 Profitable and ethical Likely, also legal; Proceed cautiously

29. Bremer’s “big picture” perspective

30. Three Models of Managerial Ethics Moral Management Immoral Management Amoral Management IntentionalUnintentional

32. Ethical Standards? 1. Integrity Possessing and adhering to high principles 2. Honesty Fair, just, truthful and morally upright 3. Fidelity Loyalty, allegiance, accuracy 4. Charity Voluntarily helping those in need 5. Tolerance Ability to endure hardship, accepting different views 6. Responsibility Accountable, willing to take a stand 7. Self-Discipline Ability to motivate or restrain oneself

36. right to read right to write right to learn right to com- municate right to filter development, self-determ- ination participation, open access development, information competence deliberative democracy privacy, data protection autonomy inclusive- ness justice sustain- ability information for all participationeducation for all collaboration knowledge sharing self-determi- nation free accessknowledge sharing education for all inter- generational access no censorshipopen accessresponsibilitylife-long learning information ecology information control right to commu- nicate rights values Rainer Kuhlen – Computer and Information Science – University of Konstanz, Germany Transborder Library Forum – Chihuahua, Mexico – March 2005 The information ethics matrix values and rights in electronic environments This PP file is made publicly available under the following Creative-Commons-License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/de/Creative-Commonshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/de/