Testing Our Assumptions about Ethics: Overview and Site Map
January 15, 2003

Review site map of Ethics in Computing (and relate to ongoing lectures)
http://legacy.eos.ncsu.edu/eos/info/computer_ethics/

1. How do we know how to be ethical?
2. Why are we asking you to examine computer-related matters from an ethical standpoint?

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1. How do we Know how to be Ethical?

(From “The Ethicist” by Randy Cohen in The New York Times Magazine, March 11, 2001):

“I frequently carry a can of soda or a package of snacks into the movie theatre. Does the theatre have the right to insist on “No Outside food”?

If a person advises -- “Yes, because you should always follow the rules; never lie ” -- she would be advocating docility:

“and while civility requires that nearly all of us follow the rules nearly all of the time, it does not mean that we should NOT THINK CRITICALLY FOR OUSELVES: there are unworthy rules that you may break without being dishonourable.”

- for an agreement to be meaningful, it must be entered into freely by both parties;
- rules ought to be reasonable; and
- there is a difference between the rules imposed only through the authority of private property and the laws devised by a democratic society (laws under the control of elected representatives)

So, what answer would you give this person, and WHY?

Some ethical questions we face (might face) in our lives as Canadian citizens:

Is capital punishment right?

Is it right to refuse to go to war if you think it is an unjust war?
…..

Is it right to copy software you didn’t buy?

Is it right for a company to sell data it has collected on its customers?

1.2. How do we know how to behave, to do “the right thing?

actually, often it’s easy...

most of the time we are honest, do not lie, keep our promises, do not steal, do our work, etc.
why?
makes our lives easier, more predictable..
more practical:

for example, we might lose our friends if we frequently lied.

- external factors that encourage us to do right: we might get arrested if we steal..

BUT sometimes with computers, we’re put in situations where it is difficult to 1) know what is right, and 2) to do the right thing.
Why is it we can’t just rely on 1) religion, or 2) our laws to force us to act ethically?

1. Many people rely on religions to provide them “what is right and what is wrong”

e.g., the Ten Commandments in the Judeo-Christian religions:

But what about those of us who don’t practice a religion? How do we know what’s right and wrong? (from our family?)

2. Can we rely on our laws to provide the ethical standards?

2.1. Just because the law permits a certain course of action doesn’t mean that this action is morally acceptable. e.g.?
or conversely just because a law exists that it shouldn’t be broken (e.g., —Martin Luther King)

2.2. The law is reactive not proactive. Developments in technology are too fast for laws to keep up. Example: privacy laws for use of public databases.

2. Why are we asking you to undertake ethical analyses (case studies)?

1.1. Because a consideration of “ethics” (what’s right and wrong) is an important component of “computers andsociety.”

1.2. Because it involves analysis:
“ethical analysis proceeds on the premise that we must examine the reasons we have for our moral beliefs.” (Johnson, Computer Ethics, 1994, p. 17)

- your claim and your principle are “put on the table”

- examined for consistency and coherence ...

- Analysis involves moving from theory to cases: example of euthanasia...

Claim: euthanasia is wrong.

Principle: human life is the highest value and therefore should never be intentionally ended.

Test principle on cases:
- when person is conscious but in extreme pain
- when person is unconscious and severely brain damaged
- when person is terminally ill

how does the principle apply to war and capital punishment?
(in terms of consistency?)
revised principle: the value of a human life has to do with its quality so that when the quality is significantly and permanently diminished, it is all right to let a person die.

So important for critical skills side of our course. We examine the arguments we make.