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Critical Reasoning and Moral theory – day 3
CS 340 Fall 2015
Ethics and Moral Theories
u Differences of opinion based caused by different value set
u Deontology
u Virtue
u Religious and Divine Command
u Utilitarian & Consequentialism
u Social Contract
u Justice theory
u Caring Theory
Review: “Cultural Relativism goes beyond tolerance, claiming that there is never any acceptable justification for one culture to override the wishes of another.”
A. True B. False
True
False
0%0%
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Review: Under which duty is honesty in WD Ross’ prima facie duty list?
A. Reparation B. Beneficence C. Fidelity
Reparation
Beneficence
Fidelity
0%0%0%
Luther clip
u Series 1: Episode 1
u http://www.bbcamerica.com/luther/videos/first-moments/
Ethics in a Computing Culture 5
Do you agree with what John Luther allowed to happen to Henry? A. Strongly Agree B. Agree C. Somewhat Agree D. Neutral / Unsure E. Somewhat Disagree F. Disagree G. Strongly Disagree
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral / U
nsure
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
0% 0% 0%0%0%0%0%
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6) Teleological Ethics: Consequentialism
• Pages 15-20 • Telos: Greek for end or purpose • Actions evaluated by their consequence.
– Consequentialism: the consequence of an action, not the motivation behind the action, makes an action good or bad
– Utilitarianism: an action is good if it causes more happiness than a potential, alternative decision*
*Look at the net consequence of behaviors.
u Guiding principle: to increase happiness, a.k.a. utility (satisfies needs and values)
Bentham’s Act Utilitarianism u “Greatest Happiness Principle”
u Pleasure and pain analysis
u Choose course with highest utility for world
u Look for what promotes “the general good”
u Bentham said:
u "An act is right from an ethical point of view if, and only if, the sum total of utilities produced by that act is greater than the sum total utilities produced by another act the agent could have performed in its place."
Bentham (1748-1832)
Bentham’s Felicific Calculus for Act Utilitarianism
u Greatest good for the greatest number, including “depth” of happiness, see page seventeen’s example of confiscating billionaire’s money.
u Requires a moral calculus of predicted results.
u Factors considered:
1.Intensity: How strong is the pleasure?
2.Duration: How long will the pleasure last?
3.Certainty or uncertainty: How likely or unlikely is it that the pleasure will occur?
4.Propinquity or remoteness: How soon will the pleasure occur?
5.Fecundity: The probability that the action will be followed by sensations of the same kind.
6.Purity: The probability that it will not be followed by sensations of the opposite kind.
7.Extent: How many people will be affected?
Source: Wikipedia
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Rule Utilitarian theory
u A rule utilitarian suggests the best course is to follow rules unless there is a compelling reason to break the rules.
Rationale: in general people like rules (and are happier to have them) because they know what to expect from others. Rules are often formulated for general good producing best consequences for all. Sometimes justice calls for an actor to violate a rule.
John Stuart Mill:
u “… justice is a name for certain moral requirements, which, regarded collectively, stand higher in the scale of social utility, and are therefore of more paramount obligation, than any others; though particular cases may occur in which some other social duty is so important, as to overrule any one of the general maxims of justice. Thus, to save a life, it may not only be allowable, but a duty, to steal, or take by force, the necessary food or medicine, or to kidnap, and compel to officiate, the only qualified medical practitioner.”
Mill (1806-1873)
Gert’s rules for morality
1. Do not kill
2. Do not cause pain
3. Do not disable
4. Do not deprive of freedom
5. Do not deprive of pleasure
6. Do not deceive
7. Keep your promises
8. Do not cheat
9. Obey the law
10. Do your duty.
u In Rule Utilitarian theory, these rules are to be followed UNLESS you have a compelling reason to believe that breaking the rule will result in the highest utility.
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The “pure” utilitarianism theory is
A. Act B. Rule
Act
Rule
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A utilitarian cares about and considers everyone impacted by her decision.
A. True B. False
True
False
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Contractarianism
u Born into a “State of Nature”
u Perpetual conflict
u In Leviathan by Hobbes, life w/o gov’t is pondered and declared to be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”
u w/o rules, complete entitlement to everything
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– Thomas Hobbes 1588-1679
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Contractarianism cont’d
u To overcome, accede to social contract for mutual benefit.
u promote the common interests of society in order to promote their own self-interests
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The Social Contract is an _____ contract.
A. explicit B. implicit
17 Ethics in a Computing Culture explicit
implicit
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Game Theory
Question: “Is the person’s self-interest really maximized by acting for the public good?”
Pages 24-26
Modeling of scenarios of conflict and cooperation between rational decision makers.
Game Theory Core Concepts:
u Dominant Strategy
u Dominated Strategy
u Nash Equilibrium
u Prisoner’s Dilemma
u Simultaneous Game
Ethics in a Computing
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Learn from a Ninja: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdWmVbX6jok
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Computer Modeling of the Prisoner’s Dilemma (page 25)
• Multiple iterations, as opposed to a one shot, would model closer to the real world.
u Winning Strategy from modeling experiments:
1. Cooperate in the first round
2. Thereafter, do whatever the opponent did in the previous round.
u Long term view (cooperation in the long run benefits everyone, social contract takes this view p. 26)
u Less clear that cooperating is best with a one shot or terminal deal.
u Our original Golden Balls shows this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3Uos2fzIJ0
Ethics in a Computing
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In game theory when you have a strategy that always produces the better result it’s called the_____.
A. Dominant strategy B. Dominated strategy
20 Ethics in a Computing Culture Dominant strategy
Dominated strategy
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When every player in the game plays his dominant strategy this is called the
A. Nash Equilibrium B. Simultaneous Game
21 Ethics in a Computing Culture Nash Equilibrium
Simultaneous Game
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In Prisoner’s Dilemma, the stay quiet option would be an example of
A. Dominant Strategy B. Dominated Strategy
22 Ethics in a Computing Culture Dominant Strategy
Dominated Strategy
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Golden Balls: Nick and Abraham
u The one where Nick promises Abraham that he is going to steal
u Makes it less of a simultaneous game
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http://davidweinberger.sys-con.com/node/2256940/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma
Contractarianism
u As opposed to placing value on duty or outcome, the focus shifts to individual rights
u Ex. John Locke’s fundamental rights (life, liberty, property)
u What is a right?
u Negative right:
u w/o gov’t interference
u examples?
u Positive:
u obligation to provide/help
u examples?
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A ____ right says the government should not interfere.
A. Positive B. Negative
25 Ethics in a Computing Culture Positive
Negative
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Rawl’s Justice Theory�
u Moral theory to ensure fairness in society as a whole.
• John Rawls argues that these principles of “justice as fairness” underlie all just societies
1. Impartiality
2. Universality
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Justice Theory cont’d
Two qualities of Just societies throughout time: 1. Impartiality: the quality that every person is treated equally and no one
is given preferential treatment in the theory 2. Universality
Page 27 • Everyone has as much freedom as possible. u Any inequalities are justified only if
u Everyone has a fair chance to obtain the better position u Inequalities provide the greatest benefit to least advantaged.
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Ethics of Justice (continued)
u According to Rawl’s Theory of Justice, in order for a society to be just:
u Everyone has an equal opportunity to reach desirable positions in society.
u All socio-economic differences are of the most benefit to the least advantaged.
u Rawl’s Veil of Ignorance: a test of whether rules are fair. u Idea: What if you got to choose your social contract
before you were born, but you did not know your lot in life, would you consider the rules to be fair?
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Reconciling Ethical Approaches
u Let each approach shed light on different aspects of an ethical problem
Normative guidance:
u Autonomy
u Non-maleficence
u Beneficence
u Justice
Which normative principle relates to “do no harm”?
A. Autonomy B. Beneficence C. Non-maleficence
D. Justice
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Autonomy
Beneficence
Non-‐m
aleficence
Justice
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