sts and ethics

• Response to a moral (ethical) dilemma is not always a matter of “right versus wrong,” can be a “right versus right” dilemma
• According to ethical relativism, there are no universal moral standards, only moral standards judged by a society's own practices
• Ethics

  A systematic analysis of the nature of human actions, concerned about the correctness and wrongness of the act
• Categories of cultural relativism

  • Absolute: Complete acceptance and tolerance for any type of cultural practice
  • Critical: Critiquing cultural practices in terms of human rights
• Ethics or moral philosophy

  The empirical study of moral decisions, concerned with what is morally good and evil, right and wrong
• Objectivism

  Something is objective when it is independent of any individual’s personal beliefs, forming the basis for moral realism
• Concept of Ethics

  Derived from the Greek word “ethos” meaning tradition, habit, character, or attitude; concerned with the goodness of people and leading a decent life
• Moral (Ethical) Dilemma

  Involves making a choice between two or more moral (ethical) values, may lead to compromising or violating other moral (ethical) principles or values
• Subjectivism

  An extension of relativism applied to individuals, where the moral interpretation is based on the personal perspective of the individual
• Cultural relativism is the ability to understand a culture on its own terms without judgment using one's own culture's standards
• Ethical Relativism is the theory that an ethical viewpoint can be specific to a given society, acknowledging that morality is relative to the norm of one’s culture
• Hedonism


  A theory of well-being where the hedonist believes that what defines a successful life is the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain
• Hedonism


  A theory of well-being where the amount of pleasure in life determines how successful it is
• Act Utilitarian

  Believes in maximizing utility for each individual action
• Hedonic Calculus

  A method to calculate pleasure based on intensity, duration, certainty, remoteness, fecundity, purity, and extent
• In situation ethics, decisions should be based on the most loving or right choice within the context of each unique situation
• Rule utilitarians believe in following moral rules that promote the greatest amount of total happiness
• Moral objectivism may also be referred to as moral realism
• Utilitarianism

  We decide what is morally right or wrong by choosing actions that promote the greatest good
• Rule Utilitarian

  Believes in following moral rules that create the most utility
• Act utilitarians believe in performing actions that create the greatest net utility
• Situation ethics was developed by American Anglican theologian Joseph F. Fletcher as a response to moral absolutism and moral relativism
• Right ethics emphasizes the respect for human rights as the ultimate appeal
• Right Ethics


  Human rights are the ultimate appeal and should be respected
• Historical Antecedents in the World

  • Early inventions of Egyptian civilization
  • Four Great Inventions from Ancient China
  • Development of printing in the Renaissance
• Contractarianism

  The principles of right and wrong (or Justice) are those which everyone in society would agree upon in forming a social contract
• Deontological (Duty-Based) Ethics


  • Concerned with what people do, not with the consequences of their actions
  • Teaches that some acts are right or wrong because of the sorts of things they are, and people have a duty to act accordingly, regardless of the good or bad consequences that may be produced
• Technology is the application of science to create systems, processes, and objects designed to help humans in their daily activities
• Divine Command Theory


  Right and wrong come from the commands of God (or the gods)
• Human rights


  • Freedom of speech
  • Freedom of expression
  • Right to privacy
• Society is the sum total of human interactions, including those to understand the nature of things and create things
• Science is an evolving body of knowledge based on theoretical expositions and experimental activities that generate universal truths
• Robert Boyle 1627 – 1691 transformed chemistry from a field bogged down in alchemy and mysticism into one based on measurement; defined elements, compounds, and mixtures; discovered the first gas law – Boyle’s Law
• Amedeo Avogadro 1776 – 1856 was the first scientist to realize that elements could exist in the form of molecules rather than as individual atoms; originator of Avogadro’s law
• Francesco Redi 1626 – 1697 devised and performed the first controlled experiments in scientific history; showed that flies breed and lay eggs and do not spontaneously generate; founded modern parasitology
• Michael Faraday 1791 – 1867 discovered electromagnetic induction; ; discovered the first experimental link between light and magnetism; carried out the first room-temperature liquefaction of a gas; discovered benzene
• Alfred Nobel 1833 – 1896 invented dynamite, the blasting cap, gelignite, and ballistite; grew enormously wealthy manufacturing explosives; used his wealth to bequeath annual prizes in science, literature, and peace
• Alessandro Volta 1745 – 1827 pioneer of electrical science; invented the electric battery; wrote the first electromotive series; isolated methane for the first time; discovered a methane-air mixture could be exploded using an electric spark – the basis of the internal combustion engine
• Albert Einstein 1879 – 1955 his theories of special & general relativity delivered a remarkable transformation in our understanding of light, gravity, and time, while special relativity yielded the most famous equation in history, E = mc2; explained the photoelectric effect, and provided powerful evidence that atoms and molecules actually exist
• Alfred Wegener 1880 – 1930 discovered continental drift, proposing that our planet once consisted of ocean surrounding a single great continent he called Pangea that split apart over many millions of years to form the continents we see today