CBB 529/IMB 523 Professional Ethics

Lecture 2: Moral and Ethical Theories

K. Ntshwene (PhD)

© University of Botswana 2024

Introduction: Ethics vs Morals
• Ethics and morals relate to “right” and “wrong” conduct.

• While they are sometimes used interchangeably, they are

different:

❖ Ethics refer to rules provided by an external source,

e.g., codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in
religions

❖ Morals refer to an individual’s own principles

regarding right and wrong

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What is Morality?
• It concerns conduct: right and wrong, good and bad, the
rules that ought to be followed

• It is associated with consequences to ourselves, others,

and the environment

• The “right” or “good” is linked to value judgements

generally thought to promote fairness, health and safety
while minimizing injustice

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What is Ethics?
• At its simplest, ethics is a system of moral principles.

• They affect how people make decisions and lead their

lives.

• Ethics is concerned with what is good for individuals and

society and is also described as moral philosophy.

• The term is derived from the Greek word ethos which can
mean custom, habit, character or disposition.

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Analysis of issues in ethical problems
• The first step in solving any ethical problem is to
completely understand all of the issues involved.

• Once these issues are determined, a solution to the

problem frequently becomes apparent.

• Understanding these issues helps to put an ethical

problem in the proper framework and often helps point
the way to a solution.

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The nature of moral inquiry
• Some applications of ethics:
❖ Understanding moral values, resolving moral issues & justifying
moral judgements
❖ Exploring questions that involve moral issues
❖ Developing a system of moral values or code of ethics

• Defining ‘moral behaviour’ or ‘right conduct’:

❖ What ought to be done in a particular situation?
❖ What is right or wrong in how a situation was handled?
❖ What is good or bad about people, policies or beliefs?

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 The nature of moral inquiry
• Types of inquiry:
– Normative:- to identify moral values

– Conceptual:- to clarify concepts or ideas

– Factual:- to explore specific situations or problems

• Types of moral judgement:

– Actions:- morally right or wrong

– People:- morally responsible or irresponsible

• Aim:- to have consistency in reasoning & decision making

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Moral problems in engineering
• Typical situations involving a moral dilemma:
– Interests of an employer versus the public interest, e.g.:
• Unsafe products
• Extravagant claims of product performance
– Interests of one community versus another, e.g.:
• A power station that causes local or global pollution
• The impact of war on civilian populations

• Pertinent moral questions:

– What is the extent of an engineer’s responsibility?
– When should one not obey orders of superiors?

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Approaches to Moral Reasoning
• Ethical theories or approaches are comprehensive
perspectives on morality that clarifies, organizes and
guides moral reflection.

• They are used to evaluate actions, rules and character.

• If successful, they provide a framework for making moral

choices and resolving moral dilemmas.

• They can be used to identify, structure and integrate

moral reasons.
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Four approaches to Moral Reasoning
• Utilitarianism - Says that we ought to maximise the
overall good, taking into account all those affected by our
actions.

• Rights ethics – says we ought to respect human rights

• Virtue ethics – says good character is central to morality

(virtues & vices (good & evil behaviour & character)).

• Duty ethics – says we ought to respect individual’s

autonomy.
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 Utilitarianism
• Utilitarianism - the view that we ought to produce the most
good for the most people, giving equal consideration to
everyone affected

• Stated differently - a professional or individual should act in a

way to creating the greatest benefits for the largest numbers
of people.

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 Utilitarianism
• Act utilitarianism - maintains that an action is right if it is
likely to produce the most good for the most people in a
given situation compared to alternative choices (individual
actions).
• There is discretionary judgement with act utilitarianism

• Rule utilitarianism - maintains that an action is right if it

conforms to a rule that produce the most good for the most
people.
• It says that we can produce more beneficial results by following rules
than by always performing individual actions
• For example “drive safely” can be interpreted differently than being
specific and say “do not exceed 60 km/hr in residential areas” and “do
not drive when drunk”.
• There is no discretionary judgement with rule utilitarianism
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Issues in applying utilitarianism
• Act-utilitarianism biased towards self-interest:
– The decision maker should be impartial

• Rule-utilitarianism supports codes of ethics:

– May give non-optimal outcomes in some cases:
• Where specific issues are of over-riding concern (having an
emergency vs obeying road safety)

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Rights ethics
• Rights Ethics - the view that human rights - not good
consequences - are fundamental.
– Acts of respect for human rights are obligatory, regardless of
whether they always maximize good

– Truthfulness is important in terms of its contribution to liberty,

especially within relationships based on trust

– Complex in that there are many types of rights that may conflict
and must be balanced

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Rights ethics
• Locke - liberty rights : places duties on other people not
to interfere with one’s life.
– To be a person entails having human rights to life, liberty, and
the property generated by one’s labour
– property thought of as whatever we gain by “mixing our labour”
with things
– Life, liberty & the property generated by labour
– Used as a basis for libertarian ideology:
• Self-reliance & rejection of state intervention

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Rights ethics
• Melden:- liberty & welfare rights : having moral rights
presupposes the capacity to show concern for others and
to be accountable within a moral community
– Extent of rights determined in terms of interrelationships among
persons
– Recognizes right to community benefits for living minimally
decent human life
– Human rights in the context of communities
– Each individual must be provided with:
• A valued role in society, the capacity to show concern & to
be accountable
• Welfare systems may be required to guarantee this.

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Issues in applying rights ethics
• Special rights can be derived from basic rights:
– The right to have promises kept
– The right to privacy:
• Implications for database & internet design
– An engineer’s right to warn of danger to the public
– The right to a meaningful occupation:
• Important implications for automation
• Require compromise to resolve moral dilemmas:
– A right is only meaningful if it can be exercised

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 Virtue ethics
• Virtue ethics emphasizes character more than rights and
rules (focus on the kinds of person we should aspire to be).

• Character is the pattern of virtues (morally desirable

features) and vices (morally undesirable features) in an
individual.

• Virtues are desirable habits or tendencies in action,

commitment, motive, attitude, emotion, ways of reasoning
and ways of relating to others.

• Vices are morally undesirable habits or tendencies.

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Virtue ethics and professionalism
• Core principles of the engineering code of ethics:
– To respect the inherent dignity of the individual
– To act on the basis of a well-informed conscience
– To act in the interests of the community:

• These principles are duties that express virtues:

– Virtuous ways to interact with others
– Desirable features of character

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Conceptual basis for virtue ethics
• Aristotle’s definitions of virtues :
– Habits that enable us to engage effectively in rational activities:
• Cardinal virtues:- wisdom, courage, justice
– The golden mean between too much & too little:
• Cowardice - Courage – Rashness

• Macintyre’s definition of virtues :

– Social practices that achieve public good, e.g.:
• Professional responsibility in engineering

• Virtues are particularly valuable for group activity (Think of a

recent group assignment with your colleagues. What were the virtues and
vices that were displayed?)
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Aristotle virtue and the golden mean
• Defined the moral virtues as tendencies, acquired
through habit formation, to reach a proper balance
between extremes in conduct, emotion, desire, and
attitude (balance between excess and deficiency)

• Example: Truthfulness is the mean between revealing all

information in violation of tact and confidentiality
(excess) and being secretive or lacking in candor
(deficiency) in dealing with truth

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Macintyre: Virtue and Practices
• The most comprehensive virtue of engineers is
responsible professionalism.

• Responsible professionalism implies four categories of

virtues:
» Self-direction virtues - those necessary in exercising moral
responsibility.
» Public-spirited virtues - are focused on the good of clients
and wider public.
» Team-work virtues - those that are important in enabling
professionals to work successfully with other people.
» Proficiency virtues - are the virtues of mastery of one’s
profession, in particular mastery of the technical skills that
characterize good engineering practices.
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Virtues and professional responsibility
• Self-direction virtues: moral autonomy & good
judgement, self-knowledge & self-respect, commitment
& integrity

• Public-spirited virtues: do no harm, prevent or remove

harm, generosity-beyond normal expectations

• Team-work virtues: collegiality, respect for legitimate

authority, communication skills

• Proficiency virtues: mastery of technical skills, diligence,

creativity
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Issues in applying virtue ethics
• Virtues may contradict each other, e.g.:
– Truthfulness & tact
– Loyalty to employer vs responsibility to the public

• Virtues provide general not specific advice:

– Most useful in establishing a general code of conduct

• Different societies rank virtues differently, e.g.:

– Collegiality versus self-reliance

• Judgement is required in practical application:

– May have to rank virtues to resolve a moral dilemma
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Duty ethics
• Duty Ethics - the focus on duties which correspond to
and sustain fundamental rights

• List of duties based on respect for persons and belief in

human capacity for moral autonomy

• For example: if you have a right not to be deceived, then I

have a duty not to deceive you. To deceive you is to
undermine your ability to carry out your plans based on
available truths and within relationships based on trust

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Duty ethics and professional responsibility
• Kant • Gert
– Be truthful – Don’t
– Be fair • cause pain
– Make reparation for harm • disable
done • deprive of freedom
– Show gratitude for • deprive of pleasure
kindness extended • deceive
– Seek to improve one’s own • cheat
character and talents – Do
• keep your promises
• obey the law
• do your duty

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Issues in applying duty ethics
• Require compromise to resolve moral dilemmas:
– Prima facie duties (those that have justified
exceptions or limits) :- may be waved in some
situations (e.g. right to life vs duty not to kill!)

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Relationship between Ethics and Laws
• A legal framework (set of laws):
– Developed by a State with authority to enforce
– Penalty-based:- punishment for illegal behaviour

• Ethics:
– A code for personal (or group) behaviour:
• Incentive-based:- personal & group esteem

• Laws lag behind social & technical change, e.g.:

– Genetic engineering, rules for use of the internet
– Ethics matter for engineers:- they intend to innovate

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Summary
• Engineering innovation changes the way we live:
– moral dilemmas can easily arise:
• The interests of an employer may conflict with the public
interest

• Moral reasoning is concerned with distinguishing right

from wrong
• Ethical Theories (approaches to moral reasoning) attempt to
provide perspective on moral responsibilities and useful
insights on ethical behaviour:
– Utilitarianism: Rule & Act, Rights Ethics, Virtue ethics &
Duty Ethics

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Questions?

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