Categories of Ethics

We can divide systems of ethics into two broad groups: teleological and deontological.

Ethics based on teleological principles are said to be goal-oriented because the rightness or wrongness of an action depends on its effect or outcome (e.g., "the end justifies the means").

Deontological ethics are concerned with the rightness or wrongness of individual actions rather than the final outcome of the actions (e.g., "two wrongs don't make a right").

The notion of ethics has been an important part of human thinking for thousands of years, not least because it guides our every action. Some of the main concepts in ethics are:

Utilitarianism The utilitarian ethical framework was developed by John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham at the beginning of the 19th century. An action is good if it results in the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people. It is difficult to achieve a utilitarian code of ethics in practice because you have to weigh up all the good effects of an actions against all the bad effects and take into account the number of people affected both positively and negatively by the action. Utilitarianism can be used to deal with issues like mass vaccination where you have to weigh up the cost of the program in terms of the number of lives saved against the number of lives harmed by reactions against the vaccine.

Moral Duty In the 18th centaury the philosopher Immanuel Kant described a set of ethics based on the notion of moral duty. Kant's moral duty is expressed as the "categorical imperative"  which requires that the rules governing all actions should be part of a universal law. Consider "telling the truth" and "lying". Telling the truth is a categorical imperative because if everyone tells the truth, universal trust is possible. If, on the other hand, I lie, then the universal law would be fulfilled only if everyone else lied and that would clearly lead to an impossible situation.

Natural Rights The basis of natural rights is human life. If we say that all humans have a right to life, we imply that people have a right to eat because food is necessary to support life. This argument can be extended to include other factors that are required to allow humans to flourish; for example the right to own property.

Religious Ethics A large fraction of the world's population live in societies and communities where religion is practiced. Some religions provide an set of rules that must be obeyed (e.g., the ten commandments in the Judeo-Christian religion). Ethical behavior is then derived from these religious laws.

Positive and Negative Rights A key concept in ethics is the notion of positive and negative rights. A negative right confers on you the right to perform an action without hindrance; for example, the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States prohibits congress from passing any law that would restrict or abridge freedom speech. This is a negative right because you are allowed to exercise the right to free speech. A positive freedom gives you a right to have something; for example, education is a positive right because its is given to you. People have fewer positive rights than negative rights. For example, in the USA healthcare is a negative right whereas in most of Europe it is a positive right because people are guaranteed healthcare by the government.

Who's Who

Plato (429-347 B.C.)
Plato believed that human happiness was the highest aim of moral conduct. Plato regarded all actions as intrinsically right or wrong.

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
Aristotle's ethics overlap those of Plato. 

Epicurus (341-270 B.C.)

Thomas Aquinas (1225-274)

Spinoza (1632-1677 B.C.)
Spinoza believed that to act with virtue is to act with reason. He believed that when we act according to reason we desire good for both ourselves and for others.

Kant (1724-1804)

Mill (1806-1873)

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)

Ethics in Computing

What aspects of computing are most closely related to ethical issues?

An Example of Ethics in Practice

The case of McDonalds and the hot coffee.