Umar FaizDepartment of Computer & Information SciencesPakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Engineering Ethics

Lecture 1Morality and Ethics

Ethics and Morality

• Morality and ethics have same roots: – Mores which means manner and customs from the Latin, and – Etos which means custom and habits from the Greek.

– Robert Louden, Morality and Moral Theory

• The terms ethics and morality are often used interchangeably. However, there is a distinction between them.

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Ethics and Ethical Behavior

• Morality – Moral values are the standards of good and evil, which govern an

individual’s behavior and choices.(a) What ought or ought not to be done in a given situation? (b) What is right or wrong about the handling of a situation?

Right – correct, true, accurate, exact, preciseWrong – incorrect, mistaken, erroneous, not right, immoral, dishonest, unethical

(c) What is good or bad about the people, policies, and ideals involved?Goodness – decency, kindness, honesty, integrity, righteousness

Ethics and Ethical Behavior

• The philosophy of morality is ethics.

• Ethics– A code of moral standards of conduct for what is “good” and “right” as

opposed to what is “bad” or “wrong”.

Ethics and Morality

• Morality– First-order set of beliefs and practices about how to live a good life. – It is a praxis – a process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted,

practiced, embodied, or realised.

• Ethics– Second-order, conscious reflection on the adequacy of our moral beliefs.

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Ethics and MoralityMorals Ethics

What is it? It defines how things should work according to an individuals' ideals and principles.

It defines how thing are according to the rules.

Source Individual/Internal Social system/ExternalWhy we do it? Because we believe in something being

right or wrong.Because society says it is the right thing to do.

What if we don't do it?

Doing something against one's morals and principles can have different effects on different people, they may feel uncomfortable, remorse, depressed etc.

We may face peer/societal disapproval, or even be fired from our job.

Flexibility Usually consistent, although can change if an individual’s beliefs change.

Ethics are dependent on others for definition. They tend to be consistent within a certain context, but can vary between contexts.

Gray Areas A Moral Person may choose to follow a code of ethics as it would apply to a system.

A person following Ethical Principles may not have any Morals at all.

Amorality

• Having no moral sense or being indifferent to right and wrong.

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Immorality (Non-moral)

• The immoral person knowingly violates human moral standards, the amoral person may also violate moral standards because he or she has no moral sense.

• Examples:– Is Killing Immoral?– Is downloading copyrighted material off a web site immoral?– Is misrepresenting someone else immoral?– Is undercutting someone else work immoral?

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Branches of Ethics

• Descriptive Ethics – It involves describing, characterizing and studying morality– “What is”

• Normative Ethics – It involves supplying and justifying moral systems– “What should be”

• Applied Ethics – “How” moral outcomes can be achieved in specific situations.

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Types of Moral Values

• Universal Values– It has the same value or worth for all, or almost all people.– Examples: sanctity of human life, peace, and human dignity.

• Instrumental Values– These are values that can be used to get something else.– Example:

• Freedom (Through which we can get dignity and/or self actualization)• Knowledge (which helps us to get economic prosperity, and progress).

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Types of Moral Values

• Intrinsic Values ( Opposite to Instrumental Value) – Something has intrinsic worth simply because of what it is, and not

necessarily what it will lead to. We value them because they are an important aspect of life.

– Examples: Beauty, Artistic expression and Happiness.

• Prerequisite Values– These are values that are necessary before you can get to some bigger

goal.– Example: Justice (which is needed before we can move onto equality).

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Types of Moral Values

• Paramount Values– It is the value which is above all other things.– Example:

• Freedom (which many people have given up their lives for and see as essential to a decent life).

• Martyrdom

• Operative Values– These types of values are the ways that we make judgments on how to

live the rest of our lives and tell us what is always right and wrong. – Examples: Integrity, Honesty, and Loyalty.

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Sources of Moral Values

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Fellow Workers

Family/Friends

Culture

Law

Regions of Country

Profession

Employer

Society at Large

Customs/Beliefs

Religion

The Individual

Conscience

Sources of Moral Values

• We restrict ourselves to the following sources:– Religion– Science– Culture– Law

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Sources of Moral Values

• Religion– Religion is the greatest source of values. Religion also teaches us how to

behave and acts as a unconscious policing action.– For example, Islam religion teaches us to promote peace, preservation of

human sanctity, rights of minors and women, not eating pork, etc.

• Science– Science’s main objective is to prove certain facts, phenomenon’s and other

things right or wrong.– For example, it is scientifically proven smoking is injurious to

health. Thus, science helps us realize that there are better ways to live and thrive in our environment.

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Sources of Moral Values

• Culture– Culture refers to a set of values, rules & standards transmitted among

generations and acted upon to produce behaviors that fall within acceptable limits. These rules and standards always play an important part in determining values.

– For example, its good to show respect and give place to elderly people. • Laws

– Laws are rules of conduct, approved by legislatures that guide human behavior in any society. They codify ethical expectations & keep changing when new evils emerge. But laws cannot cover all ethical expectations of society.

– For example, law forbids stealing.

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Morality and Law

• There are four kinds of law: – Statutes– Regulations– Common law– Constitutional law

Morality and Law

• Statutes– Laws enacted by legislative bodies. Congress & state legislatures enact

statutes.– Example: The law that defines & prohibits theft is statute.

• Administrative regulations– Legislatures often set up boards/agencies whose functions include issuing

detailed regulations of certain kinds of conduct.– Example: state legislatures establish licensing boards to formulate

regulations for the licensing of physicians & nurses.

Morality and Law

• Common law– Laws applied in the English-speaking world when there were few statutes.– Courts frequently wrote opinions explaining the bases of their decisions

in specific cases, including the legal principles they deemed appropriate. – Each of these opinions became a precedent for later decisions in similar

cases.

• Constitutional law– Refers to court rulings on the requirements of the Constitution & the

constitutionality of legislation.– Although the courts cannot make laws, they have far-reaching powers to

rule on the constitutionality of laws & to declare them valid.

Morality and Legality

• People sometimes confuse legality and morality – the legality of an action does not guarantee that it is morally right.

• An action can be illegal but morally right.• An action that is legal can be morally wrong.

Approaches to Morality

• Two approaches to the study of morality1. The Scientific, or Descriptive Approach 2. The Philosophical Approach

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Approaches to Morality

1. The Scientific, or Descriptive, approach is used in the social sciences, and is concerned with how human beings do behave.

2. The Philosophical approach is divided into two partsa. Normative or Prescriptive Ethics – deals with norms or standardsb. Meta-ethics or Analytical Ethics – this approach is analytical in two ways. (meta- means go beyond).

– Analyzes language– Analyzes the rational foundations of ethical systems, or the logic and reasoning of various

ethicists.

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Four Aspects Related to Morality

1. Religious MoralityIt is concerned with human beings in relationship to supernatural beings (aka theists).

2. Morality from Nature? It is concerned with human beings in relationship to nature.

3. Individual MoralityIt is concerned with human beings in relation to themselves.

4. Social MoralityIt is concerned with human beings in relation to other human beings.

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Stages of Moral Development

• Pre-conventional LevelWhatever benefits oneself or avoids punishment.

• Conventional LevelUncritical acceptance of society’s rules.

• Post-conventional LevelMoral autonomy. Autonomous individuals think for themselves and do not assume that customs are always right.

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Foundations of Moral Behaviour

• How to Become Moral?1. Rationality2. Intellectual virtues3. Moral theories4. Moral knowledge5. Appropriate thoughts6. Close relationships7. Experience8. Spiritual exercises

Foundations of Moral Behaviour

1. Rationality– Cambridge University Press chooses to define being rational as– “The kind of thinking we would all want to do, if we were aware of our

own best interests, in order to achieve our goals.“– The ability to reason requires us to understand logic either consciously or

unconsciously. The ability to apply logic to our reasoning is aided by an explicit understanding of logic and experience with reasoning.

Foundations of Moral Behaviour

2. Intellectual Virtues– To have intellectual virtues is to be willing and able to be reasonable. A

person with intellectual virtues will reject irrational beliefs and refuse to reject rationally required beliefs.

– It is irrational to believe that “1+1=3” and it's rationally required to believe that “1+1=2.” Intellectual virtues include appropriate open mindedness and appropriate skepticism.

Foundations of Moral Behaviour

3. Moral Theories– Good moral theories are the result of years worth of moral debates and

moral reasoning. Philosophers have now been discussing morality and moral theories for thousands of years, so a great deal of progress has been made.

Foundations of Moral Behaviour

4. Moral Knowledge– Ideally moral theories, moral reasoning, and intellectual virtues can lead

to moral knowledge. Once we know right from wrong we can potentially be motivated to do the right thing.

– Much of the time moral knowledge seems sufficient to motivate us to do the right thing because we already want to do the right thing.

– Virtuous people are usually motivated to do the right thing, so we are all motivated to do the right thing insofar as we are virtuous.

Foundations of Moral Behaviour

5. Appropriate Thoughts– Appropriate thoughts are guided by moral knowledge, and appropriate

emotions and actions tend to be a result of appropriate thoughts; but inappropriate thoughts can lead to inappropriate emotions and actions.

• Anger management classes teach people to count to 10 when becoming enraged.

Foundations of Moral Behaviour

6. Close Relationships– Other people are just as real as we are, and we aren't the center of the

universe. It is pretty natural once we establish close relationships with others. Most people learn to love and care for their parents, siblings, and friends. It doesn't take long to realize that their lives, happiness, and suffering also have value. This can help us attain appropriate emotions, such as empathy.

Foundations of Moral Behaviour

7. Experience– We need to learn to be sensitive to particularities found in each situation

to know what actions will have the best results. – For example, driving on the right side of the road is appropriate in the

USA, but not in the UK due to the laws and behavior found in each of these societies.

Foundations of Moral Behaviour

8. Spiritual Exercises– Spiritual exercises are practices used to become more virtuous that could

be described as “moral therapy.”1. Reflect upon your past and find out how things could be improved. Decide if there are any mistakes you have made that should not be repeated in future.2. Reflect upon the future and decide how you should respond to various situations. If you have made a mistake that you don't want to repeat, then this intention can help prepare us against making the same mistakes again. 3. Talk to others about how you can improve your behavior. 4. If you have inappropriate thoughts and emotions, you can clear your mind to quench them and prevent them from leading to inappropriate actions.

Moral Reason

• All moral beliefs are NOT equal. We should prefer moral beliefs that are reasonable to those that are unreasonable and those that are probably true rather than probably false.

• The following are the four elements of moral reason:1. Uncontroversial moral truths2. Analogies3. Theoretical virtues4. Thought experiments

Moral Reason

1. Uncontroversial Moral Truths– There are many highly plausible moral truths that people tend to agree

with, such as the following:1. Suffering is bad.2. Happiness is good.3. If it is wrong for someone to do something in a situation, then it is wrong for anyone to do it in an identical situation.4. It is always or almost always wrong to torture anyone.5. It is often wrong to steal from people.

– These truths are often taken for granted during moral reasoning.

Moral Reason

2. Analogies– Analogies let us compare two things to find relevant similarities between

the two. – For example, kicking and punching people tend to be analogous actions

insofar as they are used to hurt people. They are both often wrong for the same reason. Whenever it's wrong to hurt people, it will be wrong to kick or punch them in order to hurt them.

Moral Reason

3. Thought Experiments– Moral thought experiments are meant to give us insight into morality. – For example, imagine that an individual puts a loaded gun up to your head

and asks you to give your wallet to her. It seems like the best thing to do in this situation is to give your wallet. It would be absurd to criticize someone for giving up their wallet in this scenario.

Moral Reason

4. Theoretical Virtues– These virtues help us determine when a hypothesis or belief is justified.

The virtues are: • Self-evidence• Logical consistency• Observation• Predictability• Comprehensiveness• Simplicity

Moral Reason

4. Theoretical Virtues– Self-evidence

• Merely understanding the statement could be sufficient to justify the belief in it.

• For example, consider that “torturing is always or almost always wrong.”

– Logical Consistency• The moral beliefs must not contradict one another (we want them to be

logically consistent). If we have a choice of rejecting an uncontroversial moral truth that we are certain is true (e.g. torture is usually wrong) and a controversial belief (e.g. whipping children is usually good), then we have reason to reject the controversial belief.

Moral Reason

• Observation– Observation is relevant to our moral beliefs. We experience that pain is

bad (in some sense), and that experience is an observation that seems to support the hypothesis that all pain is bad.

• Predictability– A hypothesis successful at making risky predictions is more likely to be

true. If I hypothesize that all pain is bad, then my predictions succeed until I observe that some pain isn't bad.

Moral Reason

• Comprehensiveness– The belief that all pain is bad is much more comprehensive than believing

that the pain of touching fire is bad. If all pain is bad, then we could use that fact to help us do a great deal of moral reasoning as opposed to merely realizing that burning pain is bad

Moral Reason

• Simplicity– The fact that a theory is simple counts in its favor and the fact that it's

complex counts against it.– Simple moral truths, such as “it's usually wrong to hurt people” give us

more more plausible hypotheses than much more complex moral truths, such as, “it's usually wrong to torture people, to punch people, to kick people, to stab people, to steal from people, and to shoot people.”

Moral Reason

• Simplicity– The fact that a theory is simple counts in its favor and the fact that it's

complex counts against it.– Simple moral truths, such as “it's usually wrong to hurt people” give us

more plausible hypotheses than much more complex moral truths, such as, “it's usually wrong to torture people, to punch people, to kick people, to stab people, to steal from people, and to shoot people.”

Summary

• Ethics is the systematic reflection on what is moral and study of morality.

• Morality is the whole of opinions, decisions, and actions which people, individually or collectively, express what they think is good or right.

• Morality can be explained in all these ways:– Morality can be defined as the standards that an individual or a group has

about what is right and wrong, or good and evil.– Moral quality or character; rightness or wrongness, as of an action; the

character of being in accord with the principles or standards of right conduct.

– Morality is individual. The morality of a group decreases as its size increases.