ethics

• Ethics

  The rational reflection on what is right, what is wrong, what is just, what is unjust, what is good & what is bad in terms of human behavior
• Some ethical principles

  • Truthfulness
  • Honesty
  • Loyalty
  • Respect
  • Fairness
  • Integrity
• Origin of ethics

  The word Ethics is derived from Latin word 'Ethicus' & the Greek word 'Ethikos'
• Ethics are an arrangement of decent principles & a branch of attitude which defines what is good for individuals & society
• Well-known figures in the history of ethics

  • Plato
  • Aristotle
  • Immanuel Kant
  • Jeremy Bentham
  • John Stuart Mill
  • D.W.Ross
  • C.L.Stevenson
  • Alasdair MacIntyre
  • John Rawls
• Meaning of ethics

  The evaluation of moral values, principles & standards of human conduct & its application in daily life to determine acceptable human behavior
• Evolution of ethics

  Constructs a conceptual bridge between biology & human behavior, with a cybernetic process at the heart of developing ethical systems
• Ethics merge with science in cybernetic ethics, presenting a theory describing how ethics can be linked to science & mathematics
• Evolutionary ethics belongs to a branch of evolutionary science & has no logical connection to the formal ethics of philosophy
• Facade

  An exterior side of a building, from the French language
• Walk their talk

  Considers the consumer's ethical intention, where ethically minded consumers rarely purchase ethical products
• Opportunist

  People who see a chance to gain some advantage from a situation, often at the expense of ethics or morals
• Salt of the earth

  The worthiest of people; a very good or worthy person
• Types of ethics

  • Meta-ethics
  • Normative ethics
  • Applied ethics
  • Descriptive ethics
• Code of ethics

  A written set of guidelines issued by an organization to its workers and management to help them conduct their actions in accordance with its primary values and ethical standards
• Conditions for making codes of ethics effective

  • Valid motivation for introduction of ethics
  • Broad acceptance within the company
  • Continuous feedback
  • Verification and control
  • Integration in a broad company philosophy
  • Sanctions and control
• Difficulties in implementing codes of ethics

  • Culture
  • Design
  • Enforcement
• Utilitarianism

  An ethical theory that argues for the goodness of pleasure and the determination of right behavior based on the usefulness of the action's consequences
• Utility

  Refers to the usefulness of the consequences of one's action and behavior
• Good consequences = Good actions
• We should pursue pleasure or happiness not just for ourselves but to as many people
• Principle of Utility

  Our actions are governed by two sovereign masters - pleasure and pain
• Jeremy Bentham

  • Advocated for freedom, women's rights, separation of church and state, animal rights, abolition of slavery, death penalty and corporal punishment of children
  • Denied individual legal rights and didn't believe in the natural law
• John Stuart Mill

  • Monistic view of theory of life - there is one thing, and one thing only, that is intrinsically desirable, namely pleasure
  • Reiterates moral good as happiness and consequently, happiness as pleasure
  • The things that produce happiness and pleasure are good; whereas those that produce unhappiness and pain are bad
• Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill

  Both understood happiness as the experience of pleasure for the greatest number of persons, even at the expense of some individual's right
• Utilitarianism types

  • Act Utilitarianism (Emphasis on quantity of pleasure, social reformer: criminal, judicial, penal)
  • Rule Utilitarianism (Emphasis on quality of pleasure, social reformer: equality for woman)
• Act Utilitarianism - in any given situation, you should choose the action that produces the greatest good for the greatest number
• Rule Utilitarianism - we ought to live by the rules that, in general, are likely to lead to the greatest good for the greatest number
• Utilitarianism decides the greater good for the greater number, but there are lots of limitations as it crosses the line of individual rights and justice
• What would you choose?

  • Be the smartest person
  • Be the funniest person
  • Date someone you love
  • Date someone who loves you
  • Have a pause button in your life
  • Have a rewind button
  • Know how you will die
  • Know when you will die
  • Lose all of the money you've earned this year
  • Lose all of the memories you've gained this year
  • End world hunger
  • Stop crime all over the Philippines
  • Save 4 of your closest family members
  • Save 1,000 people you don't know
  • Be the person who flips the switch during executions
  • Be the judge who decides who should be executed
• Ethics

  Matters such as the good thing that we should pursue and the bad thing that we should avoid; the right ways in which we could or should act and the wrong ways of acting
• Kinds of valuation and clarification of terminologies

  • Aesthetics
  • Etiquette
  • Moral
• Aesthetics

  Judgments of personal approval or disapproval that we make about what we see, hear, smell or taste. Judgments of beauty are sensory, emotional, and intellectual all at once.
• Etiquette

  Concerned with right or wrong actions, but those which might be considered not quite grave enough to belong to a discussion on ethics
• Etiquette

  • Respect
  • Be on time
  • Knock Before You Enter
  • Say "Thank You"
  • Listen Before Speaking
  • Speak with Kindness and Caution
• Moral

  Refers to specific beliefs or attitudes that people have or to describe acts that people perform. Morals are formed out of a person's values and a person's personal behavior is based on their morals.
• Common morals of the society

  • Always tell the truth
  • Have courage
  • Keep your promises
  • Do not cheat
  • Be generous
  • Do not judge
  • Be forgiving
• Moral judgment/moral reasoning

  The determination a person makes about an action (or inaction), motive, situation, or person in relation to standards of goodness or rightness
• Criteria for moral judgment

  • Logical
  • Based on facts
  • Based on sound or defensible moral principles
• Descriptive ethics

  Describes the behaviour of people and what moral standards they follow