Ethical Considerations

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Ethical Considerations
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Ethics

• What do we mean by ethics or unethical?
• Motivations to behave unethically
• Personal gain, especially power
• Competition
• Restoration of justice or fairness
• What is fairness?

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Some Ways to Behave Unethically

• Selective disclosure /or misrepresentation
  to others
• Deception
• False threats or false promises
• Provide false information (lie)
• Inflict intentional harm on the other party
• Selective disclosure or misrepresentation to
  constituencies

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Ethical Decisions Have Complexity

• Multiple alternatives
• Broad long-range consequences
• Uncertain consequences
• Mixture of economic, legal, ethical, social, and
  personal benefits and costs

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Some Ethical Systems

• Eternal law "capital-T truth"
• Ethical Egoism seek self-interests promote
  greatest balance of good over bad for self, with
  ethical constraints
• Utilitarianism greatest good for the greatest
  number, or maximize the social benefit function
• Universalism (Categorical imperative) would I
  be willing to make the basis for my action a
  general law binding everyone, given similar
  circumstances?
• Enlightened self-interest self-interest rightly
  understood, with long-term perspective or judging
  from my deathbed
• Ethics of interdependence interdependence
  between individuals is fundamental be willing to
  compromise to help the other side achieve goals

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Some Ethical Introspections

• Is it right?
• Is it fair?
• How does it smell?
• Who benefits and who gets hurt?
• What if details were made public?
• What would you tell your child to do?
• What if everyone did this?

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Consider

• Learning from your mistakes
• Look in the mirror see how you like what you
  see
• Put yourself in the other persons shoes and see
  how they see you
• However, dont be naive

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Case A Tragic Choice

• Review silently the questions at end of the case
• We discuss Q.1
• Each group takes one of questions 2-5 plus the
  general question If you were Jim, what would you
  do and why? - reports back
• All join in discussion of each

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The Insufficiency of Honesty

• Honesty refusal to steal, lie, or deceive in
  any way
• Integrity trustworthiness incorruptibility to
  a degree that one is incapable of being false to
  a trust or responsibility

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Integrity

• Honesty is necessary, but not sufficient
• The most important thing in acting is honesty
  once you learn to fake that, youre in.
• - Sam Goldwyn

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Integrity

• Honesty
• Discerning
• Examining beliefs assumptions
• Searching for "truth," avoiding error
• Allowing others the same
• Acting on what you have discerned
• Even at personal cost
• Fulfilling moral obligations
• Do no harm to others
• Not just the minimum

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Kohlberg Stages of Moral Development

• Stage 1 Obedience and Punishment (e.g., I won't
  hit him because he may hit me back.)
• Stage 2 Individual Instrumental Purpose and
  Exchange (I will help her so she will help me in
  exchange.)
• Stage 3 "Good Boy/girl" (I will go along with
  you because I want you/people to like me.)
• Stage 4 Law and Order (I will follow the
  rule/order because it is wrong not to.)
• Stage 5 Valuing Rights of Others plus Social
  Rights and Responsibilities (Although I disagree
  with his views, I support his right to have
  them.)
• Stage 6 Individual Principles of Conscience
  Grounded in Universal Ethical Principles (There
  is no external force that can compel me to do an
  act that I consider morally wrong.)

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