Ethical Theories

1
Ethical Theories

• Cristina Arimany
• Kerri Marsh
• Edward Porrello
• Monica Valencia

2
Introduction

• Brief history of ethical thought
• Ethical theories
• The Disaster at Bhopal
• The Titanic Tragedy

3
A Brief History of Ethical Thought

• The moral and ethical theories that engineers
  apply are derived from a Western cultural
  tradition.
• They come from the ancient Greeks and ancient
  religious thinking and writing.
• The philosophers with the greatest influence are
  Socrates and Aristotle.

4
Moral Theory

• Moral Theory Defines terms in uniform ways and
  links ideas and problems together in consistent
  ways.
• Moral concept is an important aspect in the four
  following theories.

5
Moral Theories

• Utilitarianism Seeks to produce the most
  utility.
• Duty Ethics There are some duties that should be
  performed.
• Rights Ethics We all have moral rights that
  should be protected.
• Virtue Ethics Actions as right that manifest
  good character traits and regards actions as bad
  that display bad character traits.

6
Utilitarianism

• I. What is it?
• Good actions are those that serve to maximize
  human well-being.
• II. Benefits
• Maximizes positive affects for many people.
• III. Downfalls
• Ignores the individual.
• Difficult to predict consequences of actions.

7
Utilitarianism

• Problem Solving Approach
• Determine Benefits to Society.
• Determine Costs to Parties involved.
• Compare Benefits to Costs.
• If Benefits to Society outweigh Costs, then it is
  ethical to pursue project.

8
Utilitarianism

• Example Problems
• A) Building Dams
• B) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

9
Utilitarianism

• Building Dams
• Benefits
• a) Stable flow of drinking water.
• b) Flood control.
• c) Recreational opportunities
• Cost
• a) Relocation of flood-zone residents.

10
Utilitarianism

• Result Since the benefits of building the dam
  outweigh the costs, it is profitable/ethical to
  build the dam.

11
Utilitarianism

• Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)
• Benefits
• a) Safe storage of dangerous waste.
• b) Nuclear Power electricity.
• c) Radioisotopes medicine.
• Costs
• a) Potential danger to residents near
  transportation routes.

12
Utilitarianism

• Result Since the benefits of building WIPP
  facilities outweighs the cost to society, then it
  is ethical to go ahead with project.

13
Utilitarianism

• Two Tenets of Utilitarianism
• Act Utilitarianism Focus on action, not rules.
• Rule Utilitarianism Focus on moral laws, not on
  action.

14
Utilitarianism

• Act Utilitarianism
• John Stuart Mill (1806 1873)
• Believe that rules of morality were derived from
  trial and error throughout the course of time.
• Believe that rules should be broken in order to
  maximize benefits to society.

15
Utilitarianism

• Rule Utilitarianism
• Believe that moral laws take precedence over
  action.
• Adhere that although following rules might not
  always maximize benefits to society, it will
  ultimately lead to the most good overall.

16
Cost-Benefit Analysis

• What is it?
• An Application of Utilitarianism
• Goal is to maximize Benefit-to-Cost Ratio.
• Benefits
• Quantifiable method for analyzing ethical
  dilemmas.
• Downfall
• Similar to utilitarian in that benefits are often
  difficult to predict.

17
Duty and Rights Ethics

• What are they?
• Good actions are those that respect the rights of
  the individual.
• Benefits
• Maximize positive effects for the individual.
• Downfalls
• Basic rights of one person may conflict with
  basic rights of another person.
• Doesnt account for overall betterment of society.

18
Duty and Rights Ethics

• Duty Ethics
• Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
• Ethical actions are those that can be written as
  a list of duties (e.g. Be Honest, Be Fair, etc.)
• Rights Ethics
• John Locke (1632-1704)
• People have fundamental rights that people have a
  duty to respect.

19
Virtue Ethics

• What is a virtue?
• A moral distinction and goodness.
• In virtue ethics, actions are considered right if
  they support good character traits (virtues) and
  wrong if they support bad character traits
  (vices).

20
Virtue Ethics

• Virtue Ethics determine what kind of people we
  should be.
• A virtuous person exhibits good and beneficial
  qualities.
• Personal morality cannot be separated from
  business morality. If a person is virtuous in
  his personal life, then he is also in his
  business life as well.

21
Virtue Ethics

• In using Virtue Ethics, it is important to ensure
  that the traits you identify as virtues are
  indeed virtuous and will not lead to negative
  consequences.
• Example
• Honor (dignity, integrity, pride). This may
  seem good because of integrity but it might give
  you negative consequences because of pride (wars
  to preserve honor of nation).

22
Personal vs. Corporate Morality

• Is there a distinction between the ethics
  practiced by an individual and those practiced by
  a corporation?
• How can a company display human traits like
  honesty and loyalty?

23
Personal vs. Corporate Morality

• While dealing with individuals, corporations
  should be considered pseudo-moral agents and
  should be held accountable in the same way that
  individuals are.
• A corporation must respect the rights of
  individuals and should exhibit the same virtues
  that we expect of individuals.

24
Which Theory to Use?

• How do we decide which theory to use?
• In order to obtain a complete understanding of a
  problem, it is best to analyze the situation
  using multiple ethical theories.
• Example A chemical plant discharges a hazardous
  waste into the groundwater the city will be
  compromised with health problems.

25
Which Theory to Use?

• Rights Ethics indicate that this is unethical.
• Utilitarian Analysis indicates the same.
  Economic benefits would be outweighed by negative
  effect of pollution and costs to ensure a safe
  municipal water supply.
• Virtue Ethics indicate this is irresponsible and
  harmful.
• They all show the same conclusion.

26
Which Theory to Use?

• What if they come up with different conclusions?
• The answers should be weighed.
• Generally, rights and duty ethics should take
  precedence over utilitarian consideration because
  the rights of individuals should receive stronger
  weight than the needs of society as a whole.

27
Non-Western Ethical Thinking

• Ethics are not geographical or cultural
• Ethics standards are similar worldwide

28
Non-Western Ethical Thinking

• In Arab countries
• Foundations of ethical principles grounded in
  traditions of Islam
• Islam is very similar to Christianity
• Ethical principles of Buddhists, Hindus, and all
  major religions of world are similar

29
Non-Western Ethical Thinking

• Personal ethics are not determined by geography
• When in Rome, do as the Romans
• Not applicable to personal morality

30
Disaster at Bhopal

• December 2, 1984
• Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India
• Leak developed in storage tank
• Toxic cloud of gas over surrounding area
• 2,000 Deaths 200,000 Injuries

31
What Happened?

• Accidental pouring of water into the tank
• Two pipes side-by-side
• Wrong pipe connected to tank

32
Several Factors

• Curtailment of plant maintenance
• Refrigeration unit
• Alarm system
• Flare tower
• Scrubbers

33
Who to Blame?

• Plant Designers Not at faultDid job by
  anticipating such problems
• Management Obviously negligent
• Union Carbide Negligent also
• Indian Government Few safety standards

34
Aftermath

• Lawsuits filed totally over 250 billion
• Job training and relocation for accident victims
• Chairman charged with culpable homicide
• Estimated 10,000 people injured will suffer
  permanent damage

35
Titanic Tragedy

• April 14, 1912
• British Liner Titanic
• Crashed into an iceberg and sank off the coast of
  Newfoundland
• 1,500 lives were lost

36
Several Factors

• Warnings of ice not received or ignored
• Ship continued at full speed
• Not a sufficient amount of lifeboats
• Lifeboats launched partially occupied
• Wireless operator of nearby ship had retired for
  the evening

37
Who to Blame?

• Ships Captain Did not slow ship down
• Company Did not change course of ship even when
  warned of ice
• Designer Not enough lifeboats
• Crew Not proficient in emergency procedures

38
Aftermath

• 1,500 deaths
• New measures to promote safety
• Regulations concerning lifeboats and safety
  equipment

39
References

• Fledderman, Charles. Engineering Ethics. Second
  Edition.
• Pearson Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, NJ.
  2004
• Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 2003.
  www.search.eb.com
• Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science.
  2004. http//onlineethics.org