INDE 410: Engineering Ethics

2.6 Case study: The cheating problem

Read the following case and then address the questions below and answer them in due time on
Moodle.

The world of sports, and in particular athletics and cycling, is facing a crisis of doping. Christian
Coleman, for example, got away with taking performance-enhancing drugs on multiple occasions.
These types of drugs give competitors an unfair advantage over others who do not use them. He
was finally suspended in June 2020. You can read more here.

Source: https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/29177242/the-rise-fall-lance-armstrong-need-
know-watching-lance
Lance Armstrong is another famous example. He was a cancer survivor who beat the odds to win
seven Tour de France titles, becoming an American hero in the process. He repeatedly denied
taking any performance-enhancing drugs, but eventually confessed that he had not only taken
drugs but also threatened others who tried to expose him. You can read more here.

1. What virtues and what vices did Lance Armstrong display? Would you consider Lance
Armstrong to be a virtuous person? Why or why not?
2. From a virtue ethics standpoint, is it right to cheat in sports? Explain.
3. From a virtue ethics standpoint, is it right to cheat at university? Have you done it
yourself? If your answer is different than cheating at sports, why is that so?
4. What guidance does social contract theory provide for cheating?
5. What guidance does ethical egoism provide for cheating?
6. What do you think of cheating in general – whether at school, in the government, in a
relationship, etc. based on all the theories that you know?