1. Ethics in a Computing Culture
Chapter 1
Critical Reasoning and Moral Theory

2. Objectives What are ‘ethics’ and ‘morality’? How do they differ?
Why do societies strive to create an environment that is unanimously considered ‘moral’?
What theories do they rely on to create this ideal environment?
Ethics in a Computing Culture

3. Case: Borrowing a Password
What partied were affected parties when Alice gave her password to Josh?
What were the risks involved?
Did anyone do anything “wrong”?
How do you interpret the word “wrong” in this case?
If a university policy stated that providing passwords to others is prohibited, would the action be wrong?
Ethics in a Computing Culture

4. Case: Borrowing a Password (continued)
How would you react if Alice were a software engineer at a software development firm?
Why would this circumstance affect your decision?
This case did not specify why Josh’s account was disabled.
How does this hinder your ability to decide the morality of this case?
Ethics in a Computing Culture

5. Case: Borrowing a Password (continued)
Suppose Josh just accepted a job at a competitor of Alice’s company.
Would this information affect your previous decision?
Suppose the terms of Alice’s employment required her to protect the confidentiality of her company’s corporate information, but she overlooked the fine details.
Would her unawareness keep her action from being considered immoral?
Ethics in a Computing Culture

6. Case: Warning or Ticket?
Consider the affected parties, as well as the risks, involved with Dolores’ failure to stop at the stop sign.
What should Officer Schmidt do in this situation?
Emphasize that students are not being asked what might happen, but what ought to happen in this situation.
Ethics in a Computing Culture

7. Case: Warning or Ticket?
No harm, no foul: principle that states it is wrong to punish someone for a simple mistake when no actual harm has been done
Ask students to consider if the no harm, no foul principle affects their responses to the “Borrowing a Password” or “Warning or Ticket” scenarios. Suppose Dolores hit a pedestrian; how would that would affect students’ responses? Suppose the pedestrian were the mayor; should this influence Officer Schmidt’s action?
Ethics in a Computing Culture

8. Morality and Ethics
Ethics: a set of morally permissible standards for a group
Morality: the set of standards everyone wants everyone else to follow
Standards of morality are similar to standards of language: Rules regarding human behavior are complex and have many exceptions.
Ethics in a Computing Culture

9. Moral Theory The basic equation for defining morality:
How do I know that X is good?
Why is X good?
An action might be unethical, yet remain morally permissible.
Ethics in a Computing Culture

10. Moral Theory (continued)
Religious ethics: ‘doing the right thing’ usually is achieved by obeying the dictates of one’s religion
Divine Command Theory: God, and only God, decrees what is right and what is wrong
Can a person who is not religious act morally?
Ethics in a Computing Culture

11. Moral Theory (continued)
Cultural Relativism: there is no valid, rational criterion for determining if the right thing to do exists
members of one culture should not judge or be judged by a different culture
Point out that cultural relativism is not flawless (for instance, in the case of Nazi interment camps).
Ethics in a Computing Culture

12. Moral Theory (continued)
Virtue Theory: concerns the nature of virtue and what it means to have virtue
Ideal Man: one who possesses the characteristics of a good person (virtues), including courage, friendliness, and modesty
represent s the half-way point between risk and generosity
Ethics in a Computing Culture

13. Moral Theory (continued)
Righteous Indignation: the anger we feel at someone’s undeserved good or bad fortune
Dolores deserves to get the ticket because she broke the law, and her behavior endangered others
Virtue Ethics: agent-centered as opposed to action-centered
Ethics in a Computing Culture

14. Utilitarianism & Consequentialism
Consequentialism: the consequence of an action, not the motivation behind the action, makes an action good or bad
Utilitarianism: an action is good if it causes more happiness than a potential, alternative decision
Ethics in a Computing Culture

15. Utilitarianism
Act Utilitarianism: the concept of performing an action that maximizes happiness
Rule Utilitarianism: the concept of adopting a set of rules, and only violating them in the case where compelling evidence indicates that utility is increased by such a violation
Ethics in a Computing Culture

16. Deontological Ethics
Deontological ethics theories differ from consequentialist theories
the intention behind the action is considered more important than the end result
focuses on rights, duties, obligations, and rules
assumes that the result will end badly if these rules are not met
Ethics in a Computing Culture

17. Contractarianism
State of Nature: supports the idea that people are rational beings who seek to promote the common interests of society in order to promote their own self-interests
Prisoner’s Dilemma: a scenario in which two people are offered a choice—cooperate or defect
Ethics in a Computing Culture

18. Ethics of Justice
Impartiality: the quality that every person is treated equally and no one is given preferential treatment in the theory
Rawls’s Theory of Justice: explores the basic rules that are necessary to ensure fairness in society as a whole
argues that the principles of “justice as fairness” underlie all just societies
Ethics in a Computing Culture

19. Ethics of Justice (continued)
According to Rawl’s Theory of Justice, in order for a society to be just:
Everyone has as much freedom as possible.
Everyone has an equal opportunity to reach desirable positions in society.
All socio-economic differences are of the most benefit to the least advantaged.
Ethics in a Computing Culture

20. Ethics of Justice (continued)
Difference Principle: social and economic inequalities are justified only if such inequalities provide the greatest benefit to the least advantaged
Explains why impartiality is not always desirable.
Ethics in a Computing Culture

21. Ethics of Caring
Nel Noddings: morality boils down to a single virtue, which is caring for other individuals
Ethics of Caring: defines goodness in terms of whether or not we take care of the people around us
Noddings: the only inherent good is caring
Kant: the only inherent good is good will
Utilitarians: the only inherent good is happiness
Ethics in a Computing Culture

22. Ethics of Caring (continued)
Because it is possible to care for everyone, impartiality is rejected.
It is only necessary to care for those with whom one shares a relationship.
There is no universal way to externally judge whether an action is morally right or wrong.
The judgment varies on the relationship between the one-caring individual and the person being cared for.
Ethics in a Computing Culture

23. Ethics of Caring (continued)
A computerized pill dispenser is equipped with alarms and self-opening caps that help remind patients to take their medication.
Is it morally permissible to require all patients with a history of ignoring their medication to use this technology?
Is it morally permissible to require all elderly patients to use this technology?
Ask students how Nel Noddings would answer these questions.
Ethics in a Computing Culture

24. Ethics of Reasoning
Pure Reason: deductive reasoning on which Euclidean geometry is based; its purpose is to establish the truth
issues are straightforward
Practical Reason: the reasoning used to make decisions
issues are complex
used to resolve ethical issues
Ethics in a Computing Culture

25. Ethics of Reasoning (continued)
Deliberative Critical Discussion: a conversation in which the participants consider the partners in the discussion are well-intended and informed; with this understanding, participants bring their knowledge to the discussion to share their own opinions and develop more refined perspectives.
Avoid:
- charged language
- hyperbole
- Ad hominem
Ethics in a Computing Culture

26. Ethics of Reasoning (continued)
Read the case “To Tell or Not To Tell.”
Choose whether Arnold’s actions were ethical or unethical, then elaborate on your reasoning.
What are your arguments?
Is there any situation you can allude to that will help others to understand your perspective?
Ethics in a Computing Culture

27. Ethics of Reasoning (continued)
Read 1.5.5, “A Sample Deliberative Critical Discussion.”
How did your opinion change after reading the dialogue?
Do you still consider Arnold’s actions to be ethical?
Did the context of the situation affect your view?
Had the professor allowed it, would the ad hominem attack against Alpha have helped to drive Delta’s argument?
Ethics in a Computing Culture

28. Guilty or Not Guilty?
A virtue theorist, a Kantian, and an act utilitarian are discussing a court case.
In this case, a person who was mentally ill refused his medication and became violent, killing an innocent person.
Describe the position that each of the theorists would be most likely to hold regarding the mentally ill man’s moral responsibility (see p. 40 ex. 14 for details).
Ethics in a Computing Culture