moral frameworks 12-10-2014

8/9/2019 Moral Frameworks 12-10-2014

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MORAL

FRAMEWORKS


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Why a

MORAL FRAMEWORK?

Illuminates connections between

engineering codes of ethics and everyday

morality.

Helps make moral choices, resolve moraldilemmas

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What are the

types of Ethical Theories?

1. Right Ethics

2. Duty Ethics

3. Utilitarianism

4. Virtue Ethics5. Self-Realization Ethics

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What does RIGHT mean?

- are moral entitlements and valid moral

claims that impose duties on other people.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What does HUMAN RIGHT mean?

- constitute a moral authority to

make legitimate moral demands on others to

respect our choices, recognizing that others

can make similar claims on us.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What is the difference between

HUMAN RIGHTS and LEGAL RIGHTS?- Legal rightsare simply those the law of a

given society says one has, whereas human

rights are those we have as humans, whether

the law recognizes them or not.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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From the Code of Ethics:

1. Holding paramount the safety, health, and

welfare of the public.

- a requirement that can be interpreted ashaving respect for the publics rights to life,

rights not to be injured by dangerous

products, rights to privacy, and rights to

receive benefitsthrough fair and honestexchanges in a free marketplace.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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From the Code of Ethics:

2. A right to give informed consent to the risks

accompanying technological products.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What is RIGHT ETHICS?

- is the most familiar ethical theory, for it

provides the moral foundation of the

political and legal system of the United

States.

In the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson

wrote: We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all

men are created equal; that they are endowed by their

Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that amongthese are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What is RIGHT ETHICS

- This approach starts from the belief that

humans have a dignity based on their

human nature per se or on their ability to

choose freely what they do with their lives.

MORAL FRAMEWORK

- All ethical theories leave some room for

rights, but the ethical theory called rights

ethics is distinctive in that it makes humanrights the ultimate appealthe moral

bottom line.


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What is RIGHT ETHICS

MORAL FRAMEWORK

- Rights ethics applies to engineering in many

ways. It provides a powerful foundation for

the special ethical requirements in

engineering and other professions.Most engineering codes of ethics enjoin holding paramount the

safety, health, and welfare of the public, a requirement that can be

interpreted as having respectfor the publics rights to life, rights not

to be injured by dangerous products, rights to privacy, and rights to

receive benefits through fair and honest exchanges in a freemarketplace.

In addition, the basic right to liberty implies a right to give

informed consent to the risks accompanying technological products


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What does

SPECIAL HUMAN RIGHTS mean?- rights held by particular individuals rather than

by every human being.

Example:

Engineers and their employers have special moral rights that arise

from their respective roles and the contracts they make with each

other.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What does LIBERTY RIGHTS mean?

- are rights to exercise our liberty, and they

place duties on other people not to interfere

with our freedom (also called negative rights).

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What does WELFARE RIGHTS mean?

- are rights to benefits needed for a decent

human life, when we cannot earn those

benefits, perhaps because we are severely

handicapped, and when the community hasthem available (sometimes called positive

rights).

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)

- the first philosopher (often interpreted as

libertarian) to carefully articulate a rights

ethics.

- Lockes version of human rights ethics was

highly individualistic or viewed rights

primarily as entitlements that prevent otherpeople from meddling in our lives

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)

- Emphases on protecting private property,

dismantling welfare systems and opposition to

extensive government regulation of business

and the professions.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What does AUTONOMY mean?

- moral self-determination or self-governance

- means having the capacity to govern ones life

in accordance with moral duties.

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What is DUTY ETHICS?

- says that right actions are those required by

duties to respect the liberty or autonomy (self-

determination) of individuals.

- Rights and duties are typically correlated with

each other.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What is DUTY ETHICS?

- Most duties have some justified exceptions,

philosophers now use the expressionprima facie

duties

prima facie simply means might have justifiedexceptions (rather than at first glance). Most

duties are prima

faciethey sometimes have permissible or

obligatory exceptions.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What is PRIMA FACIE DUTIES?

- simply means might have justified

exceptions (rather than at first glance).

- most duties areprima faciethey sometimeshave permissible or obligatory exceptions.

- the term also applied to rights and moral

rules of all kinds.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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IMPORTANT DUTIES

- Do not kill

- Do not cause pain

- Do not disable

- Do not deprive of freedom- Do not deprive of pleasure

- Do not deceive

- Keep your promises

- Do not cheat.- Obey the law

- Do your duty [referring to work, family, and

other special responsibilities].MORAL FRAMEWORK


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IMMANUEL KANT (1724 -1804)

- the most famous duty ethicist, argued that all

such specific duties derive from one

fundamental duty to respect persons.

Respectfor persons amounts to respect for

their moral autonomy.

- He thought that everyday principles of dutywere absolute in the sense of never having

justifiable exceptions (prima facie duties).

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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IMMANUEL KANT (1724 -1804)

- Kants highly influential ideas (absolutism):

A. Respect for autonomy

B. Duties to ourselves

C. Universal dutiesD. Categorical imperatives (commands)

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What does UTILITY mean?

- is sometimes used to refer to good

consequences and other times to the balance of

good over bad consequences.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What is UTILITATIANISM?

- It says the sole standard of right action is good

consequences.

- It is in contrast with right and duty ethics thatagreed some types of action are obligatory for

reasons independent of their consequences.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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- Only one general moral requirement:

Produce the most good for the most people,

giving equal consideration to everyone

affected.

- The utilitarian approach deals with

consequences; it tries both to increase thegood done and to reduce the harm done.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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- Utilitarian modes of thinking are reflected in

cost-benefit analyses:

A. Tally up the likely good consequences of

various options or proposals;

B. Do likewise for the likely bad consequences;

C. Favor that proposal which maximizes theoverall good.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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- A straightforward way to interpret the central

principle in most engineering codes: Engineers

shall hold paramount the safety, health and

welfare of the public in the performance oftheir professional duties.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What exactly is the good to be maximized?

Should we maximize the good with respect to

each situation or instead with regard to

general rules (policies, laws, principles in codesof ethics)?

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What is the standard of measuring

good consequences? Intrinsic good

Instrumentally good

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What does

INSTRUMENTAL GOOD means?- A good is instrumental if it only has value as a

means to another good.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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CAN SOMETHING BE INTRINSICALLY BAD,

BUT INSTRUMENTALLY GOOD?

Examples:

a. Cheating to win a contest

b. Killing in selfdefense

c. Lying about your qualifications to

get a job

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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JOHN STUART MILL

- A classical, nineteenth-century utilitarian that

believed in act-utilitarianism.

MORAL FRAMEWORK

- Mill thought of happiness as:

(a) A life rich in pleasures, especially the

higher pleasures of friendship, love, and

intellectual endeavours, mixed with some

inevitable pains(b) A pattern of activities and relationships that

we can affirm as the way we want our lives

to be.


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What are the types of UTILITARIANISM?

1. Act Utilitarianism

2. Rule - Utilitarianism

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What is ACT UTILITARIANISM?

- A particular action is right if it is likely to

produce the most good for the most people in

a given situation, compared with alternative

options available believed that happiness was

the only intrinsic good, and hence he

understood utilitarianism as the requirement

to produce the greatest amount of happiness.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What is RULE UTILITARIANISM?

- Right actions are those required by rules that

produce the most good for the most people.

- Rule-utilitarians have in mind society-wide

rules, but the same idea applies to rules

stated in engineering codes of ethics.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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- An engineering code of ethics is justified in

terms of its overall good consequences

(compared to alternative codes), and

so engineers should abide by it even when an

exception might happen to be beneficial.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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- If codified rules forbidding bribes and

deception are justified, then even if a particular

bribe or deception is beneficial in somesituations, one should still refrain from them.

MORAL FRAMEWORK

For example:

Should one accepts a bribe?


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What does CHARACTER means?

- is the pattern of virtues (morally desirable

features) and vices (morally undesirable

features)in persons.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What do VIRTUES mean?

- are desirable habits or tendencies in action,

commitment, motive, attitude, emotion, ways

of reasoning, and ways of relating to

others.

Example of virtues :

competence, honesty, courage,

fairness, loyalty, and humility.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What do VICES mean?

- are morally undesirable habits or tendencies.

Examples on vices:

incompetence, dishonesty, cowardice,

unfairness, disloyalty and arrogance.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What is VIRTUE ETHICS?

- focuses on good character.

- emphasizes the role of one's character and

the virtues that one's character embodies for

determining or evaluating ethical behaviour.

- asks of any action, "What kind of person will I

become if I do this?" or "Is this action

consistent with my acting at my best?"

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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ARISTOTLE (384 322 BC)

- suggested that:

A. Moral virtues are habits of reaching a

proper balance between extremes, whether

in conduct, emotion, or desire.B. Virtues are tendencies to find the

reasonable ( golden) mean between the

extremes of too much (excess) and too little

(deficiency) with regard to particular

aspects of our lives.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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ENGINEERING CODE OF ETHICS

- The most comprehensive virtue of engineers

is responsible professionalism.

- This umbrella virtue implies four(overlapping) categories of virtues:

a. Public well-being (Public-spirited virtues)

b. Professional competence (Proficiency virtues)

c. Cooperative Practices (Teamwork virtues)

d. Personal Integrity (Self-governance virtues)

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What does PUBLIC SPIRITED

VIRTUES mean?- are focused on the good of clients and

the wider public.

- the minimum virtue is nonmaleficence, thatis, the tendency not to harm others

intentionally.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What does

PROFICIENCY VIRTUES mean?- are the virtues of mastery of ones profession,

in particular mastery of the technical skills

that characterize good engineering practice.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What does

TEAMWORK VIRTUES mean?- are those that are especially important in

enabling professionals to work successfully

with other people.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What does

SELF- GOVERNANCE VIRTUES mean?- are those necessary in exercising

moral responsibility.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What does

SOCIAL PRACTICE means?

- is any coherent and complex form of socially

established cooperative human activity

through which goods internal to that form of

activity are realized in the course of trying toachieve those standards of excellence which

are appropriate to, and partially definitive of,

that form of activity.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What does


A. Internal goods- are good things (products,

activities, experiences, etc.) that are so

essential to a social practice that they

partly define it.

MORAL FRAMEWORK

In engineering these goods are safe and useful

technological productsproducts that can be further specified

with regard to each area of engineering.


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What does


A. Internal goods- arepersonal goods

connected with meaningful work, such

as personal meaning in working as an

engineer to create useful and safe publicgoods and services.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What does


B. Personal goods- can be earned in or

outside specific professions, such as money,

power, self-esteem, and prestige.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What is SELF-REALIZATION ETHIC?

- are those necessary in exercising moral

responsibility.

- gives greater prominence to self interest andto personal commitmentsthat individuals

develop in pursuing self- fulfillment.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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HOW SELF IS CONCEIVED? :

1ST: The community-oriented version, the

self to be realized is understood in terms ofcaring relationships and communities;

2NDthe self is conceived in a highly

individualistic manner (ethical egoism).

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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- Self-realization ethics points to the highly

personal commitments that motivate, guide,

and give meaning to the work of engineers

and other professionals.

- They reflect what engineers care about deeply

in ways that evoke their interest and energy,

shape their identities, and generate pride or

shame in their work.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What does PERSONAL COMMITMENT

means?

- Are commitments that enter into the core of

an individuals character and are not

incumbent on everyone.

Example:

specific humanitarian, environmental,

religious, political, aesthetic,

supererogatory, family commitments and

obligatory professional standards.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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F. H. BRADLEY (18261924)

- The individual apart from the

community is an abstraction. It is not

anything real, and hence

not anything that we can realize. . . . I ammyself by sharing with others..

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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What are the motives of

professional?

- Based on Jack Kilby (coinvented the

microchip):

A. Proficiency Motives: center onexcellence in meeting the technical

standards of a profession, together with

related aesthetic values of beauty.

MORAL FRAMEWORK

Typically, students are motivated to enter engineering primarily by

a desire for interesting and challenging work.


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professional?

B. Compensation Motives: are for social

rewards such as income, power,

recognition, and job or career stability.

MORAL FRAMEWORK

Most people seek money for additional reasons, such as to benefit

family members or even to be able to help others in need.

In addition, financial independence prevents one from becoming a

burden on others.


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professional?

C. Moral Motives: include desires to meet

ones responsibilities, respect the rights

of others, and contribute to the well-

being of others.

MORAL FRAMEWORK

Such motives of moral respect and caring involve affirming

that other people have inherent moral worth.

In addition, moral concern involves maintaining self-respect andintegrityvaluing oneself as having equal moral worth and

seeking to develop ones talents.


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REMEMBER:

- The three motives contribute to providing

valuable services to the community, as well

as professional relationships among

engineers, other involved workers andclients.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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REMEMBER:

- Engineering is demanding, and it requires

engineers to summon and to integrate a

wide range of motivations.

- Life itself is demanding, and it can be

argued that our survival requires constant

interweaving and cross-fertilization of

these three motives.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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REMEMBER:

- For many engineers, we should add, moral

motivation and commitments are

interwoven with spiritual and religious ones.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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Which ETHICAL THEORY is best?

1st: Sound ethical theories are clear and

coherent.

- It rely on concepts (ideas) that aresufficiently clear to be applicable, and their

various claims and principles are internally

consistent.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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2nd: Sound ethical theories organize basic

moral values in a systematic and

comprehensive way.

- It highlight important values and

distinguish them from what is secondary.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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3rd: Sound ethical theories provide helpful

guidance that is compatible with our most

carefully considered moral convictions

(judgments, intuitions) about concretesituations.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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SUMMARY

- Utilitarianismsays that self-interest should

enter into our calculations of the overall

good;

- Rights ethicssays we have rights to pursue

our legitimate interests;

- Duty ethicssays we have duties to

ourselves;

- Virtue ethicslinks our personal good withparticipating in communities and social

practices.

MORAL FRAMEWORK


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SUMMARY

- Self-realization ethics gives greater

prominence to self interest and to personal

commitments that individuals develop in

pursuing self- fulfillment.

moral frameworks 12-10-2014

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