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School of Computer Science
19 December 2015
CMP2091M Professional Practice Deontology
Review • Morals / Ethics
– Our personal code of right and wrong
– The rationale and reasoning behind our morals
– Notions of shared applied ethics • Utilitarianism
– Based on consequentialist philosophical underpinning
– Ends justify the means
– Can be used as a framework for a priori guide to action and a posteriori evaluation
www.lincoln.ac.uk
Utilitarianism problems
• What issues arise from consequentialist
approaches?
– Temporal framing
– Actor identification / quantification – Happiness Quotient
– Hardening of soft things
– Prejudice is still likely to pervade
• Nobody said it was perfect • What else have we got?
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Non-utilitarian approaches
• Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
• Criticised the notion implicit in consequentialism that ends justify means
• He argues that consequentialist thinking is problematic since it ignores
• Motives
• Principles
• For Kant, intention is everything
www.lincoln.ac.uk
Kantian critique
• From a utilitarianist standpoint if good outcomes happen then the actions were good
• So what does that say about good things happening by accident?
• And what about doing what you think is right but finding out later that it was bad?
• Kant suggests we need to focus on Motive and compare that to Principles
www.lincoln.ac.uk
Motive
• There is some comfort if we concentrate on motive rather than outcome because:
– To be ethical I need only worry about having a good motive – I need not worry about a good outcome
– It allows me to acknowledge that actions have repercussions that go beyond what I can anticipate or predict
– And that chaos theory obscures and confuses repercussions
www.lincoln.ac.uk
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Principles
• To ‘have principles’ is an oft used phrase – What do you think it means?
• Kant asks “what good is an ethical stance that does not provide a guide for human behaviour?”
• He argues that an action is good only if it is universally good
– i.e. it can be seen to apply a general principle
• If an action cannot be seen to be correct as a
general rule, then it cannot be the right thing to
do in any circumstance
• So what is right for you to do MUST be right for me too!
www.lincoln.ac.uk
Intention
• Kant argues that it is intention that is good or
bad, not the consequences
• Therefore actions deemed to be good only emerge from good intentions
• An example:
– If I borrow money from you knowing that I will never repay it, that cannot be right
– The act itself was morally wrong because of my intentions
– It makes no difference what the consequences are
www.lincoln.ac.uk
Deontology
• This stance on ethics is called Deontology – Ethics from a non-utilitarianism perspective
• It gives a guide for action that does not require 20:20 foresight
• It also does not require temporal framing
• Kant’s approach is predicated on telling the truth (because to lie is against the general principle)
www.lincoln.ac.uk
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Deontology as an evaluative Framework
• How then would we view a case study from a deontological framework?
• Identify the actors
• Establish their motives
• Compare those motives to the general principles
• Adherence to the principles = morally good
• Any variance = morally wrong
www.lincoln.ac.uk
Deontology in Practice
• From a Deontological perspective ethically evaluate
– Google’s licence application to operate in China
– The Baby Shaker iPhone App
www.lincoln.ac.uk
Problems with Deontology
• How do we establish what someone’s motives were?
• What constitutes a universal good?
• Who defines principles and do they change over time?
• Is it good enough to say ‘It is good because my intentions are good?’
www.lincoln.ac.uk
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