Research Methods Lecture 3.pdf

Lecture 3 Ethical Theory and Applications BY Akyene Tetteh (PhD) Dpt. Of Management Studies Contact Information: [email protected]....

Lecture 3 Ethical Theory and Applications BY Akyene Tetteh (PhD) Dpt. Of Management Studies Contact Information: [email protected] UNIVERSITY OF MINES AND TECHNOLOGY Course Code: GM/GL/MN 451  What is Ethical Theory? Ethical Theories attempts to provide a clear, unified account of our ethical obligations. They are attempts, to tell a single “story” about what we are obligated to do, without referring directly to specific examples. Each theory emphasizes different points such as predicting the outcome and following one's duties to others in order to reach an ethically correct decision. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 2  Ethics and Morality Branches of Ethics Normative Ethics Applied Ethics Meta-Ethics Descriptive Ethics Consequentialism (or Deontology Virtue Ethics Teleological Ethics) Natural Rights Theory Eudaimonism Ethical Egoism Divine Command Theory Ethics of Care Utilitarianism Hedonism Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative Agent-Based Theories Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 3  Normative Ethics (or Prescriptive Ethics) It is the branch of ethics concerned with establishing how things should or ought to be, how to value them, which things are good or bad, and which actions are right or wrong. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 4  Normative Ethics (or Prescriptive Ethics) Cont. A. Consequentialism (or Teleological Ethics) It argues that the morality of an action is contingent on the action's outcome or result. Thus, a morally right action is one that produces a good outcome or consequence. Consequentialist theories must consider questions like "What sort of consequences count as good consequences?", "Who is the primary beneficiary of moral action?", Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 5  Normative Ethics (or Prescriptive Ethics) Cont. A. Consequentialism (or Teleological Ethics) Cont. 1. Ethical Egoism It holds that an action is right if it maximizes good for the self. Thus, Egoism may license actions which are good for individual, but detrimental to the general welfare. Individual Egoism holds that all people should do whatever benefits him. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 6  Normative Ethics (or Prescriptive Ethics) Cont. A. Consequentialism (or Teleological Ethics) Cont. 2. Utilitarianism: This holds that an action is right if it leads to the most happiness for the greatest number of people ("happiness" here is defined as the maximization of pleasure and the minimization of pain). Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 7  Normative Ethics (or Prescriptive Ethics) Cont. A. Consequentialism (or Teleological Ethics) Cont. 3. Hedonism It is the philosophy that pleasure is the most important pursuit of mankind, and that individuals should strive to maximise their own total pleasure (net of any pain or suffering). Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 8  Normative Ethics (or Prescriptive Ethics) Cont. B. Deontology It is an approach to ethics that focuses on the rightness or wrongness of actions themselves, as opposed to the rightness or wrongness of the consequences of those actions. It argues that decisions should be made considering the factors of one's duties and other's rights. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 9  Normative Ethics (or Prescriptive Ethics) Cont. B. Deontology 1. Divine Command Theory It’s a form of deontological theory which states that an action is right if God has decreed that it is right, and that that an act is obligatory if and only if (and because) it is commanded by God. Thus, moral obligations arise from God’s commands, and the rightness of any action depends upon that action being performed because it is a duty, not because of any good consequences arising from that action. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 10  Normative Ethics (or Prescriptive Ethics) Cont. B. Deontology 2. Natural Rights Theory Such as that espoused by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, which holds that humans have absolute, natural rights (in the sense of universal rights that are inherent in the nature of ethics, and not contingent on human actions or beliefs). This eventually developed into what we today call human rights. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 11  Normative Ethics (or Prescriptive Ethics) Cont. B. Deontology 3. Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative, Kant’s formulation is deontological in that he argues that to act in the morally right way, people must act according to duty, and that it is the motives of the person who carries out the action that make them right or wrong, not the consequences of the actions. Simply stated, the Categorical Imperative states that one should only act in such a way that one could want the maxim (or motivating principle) of one's action to become a universal law, and that one should always treat people as an end as well as a means to an end. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 12  Normative Ethics (or Prescriptive Ethics) Cont. C. Virtue Ethics This focuses on the inherent character of a person rather than on the nature or consequences of specific actions performed. The system identifies virtues, counsels practical wisdom to resolve any conflicts between virtues, and claims that a lifetime of practicing these virtues leads to, or in effect constitutes, happiness and the good life. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 13  Normative Ethics (or Prescriptive Ethics) Cont. C. Virtue Ethics 1. Eudaimonism It’s a philosophy originated by Aristotle that defines right action as that which leads to "well- being", and which can be achieved by a lifetime of practicing the virtues in one's everyday activities, subject to the exercise of practical wisdom. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 14  Normative Ethics (or Prescriptive Ethics) Cont. C. Virtue Ethics 2. Agent-Based Theories It give an account of virtue based on our common-sense intuitions about which character traits are admirable (e.g. benevolence, kindness, compassion, etc), which we can identify by looking at the people we admire, our moral exemplars. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 15  Normative Ethics (or Prescriptive Ethics) Cont. C. Virtue Ethics 3. Ethics of Care It was developed mainly by Feminist writers, and calls for a change in how we view morality and the virtues, shifting towards the more marginalized virtues exemplified by women, such as taking care of others, patience, the ability to nurture, self-sacrifice, etc. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 16  Applied Ethics Applied Ethics is a discipline of philosophy that attempts to apply ethical theory to real-life situations. Applied Ethics is much more ready to include the insights of psychology, sociology and other relevant areas of knowledge in its deliberations. It is used in determining public policy. The following would be questions of Applied Ethics: "Is getting an abortion immoral?", "Is euthanasia immoral?", "Is affirmative action right or wrong?", "What are human rights, and how do we determine them?" and "Do animals have rights as well?“ Some topics falling within the discipline include: Medical ethics, Media ethics, Business ethics, Legal ethics, etc. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 17  Meta-Ethics ✓ Meta-Ethics is concerned primarily with the meaning of ethical judgements, and seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties, statements, attitudes, and judgements and how they may be supported or defended. ✓ A meta-ethical theory, unlike a normative ethical theory does not attempt to evaluate specific choices as being better, worse, good, bad or evil; rather it tries to define the essential meaning and nature of the problem being discussed. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 18  Descriptive Ethics ❖ Descriptive Ethics is a value-free approach to ethics which examines ethics from the perspective of observations of actual choices made by moral agents in practice. It is the study of people's beliefs about morality, and implies the existence of, rather than explicitly prescribing, theories of value or of conduct. It is not designed to provide guidance to people in making moral decisions, nor is it designed to evaluate the reasonableness of moral norms. ❖ Descriptive Ethics is sometimes referred to as Comparative Ethics because so much activity can involve comparing ethical systems: comparing the ethics of the past to the present; comparing the ethics of one society to another; and comparing the ethics which people claim to follow with the actual rules of conduct which do describe their actions. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 19  Critical Thinking Tools for Critical Thinking According to Sibtain (2010), when talking about critical thinking and ethics, a few questions arise. 1. What do ethics mean to you? 2. What are some different beliefs about ethical living? Which ones do you tend to agree with more? Is it hard to live ethically? 3. What role do reason, emotion, and intuition play when making ethical decisions? 4. Have you experienced these, and have you ever felt a conflict between the three? 5. What are some of the tools of critical thinking for ethics? Have you ever used them? Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 20  Critical Thinking Cont. According to Heinkes (2009), tools to consider in ethical thinking are: ❑ Values ❑ Argument ❑ Finding facts ❑ Language ❑ Debate Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 21  Critical Thinking Cont. How to Solve Ethical Dilema So how does one “solve” an ethical dilemma? A solution to an ethical dilemma would be a decision or choice about what one ought to do. A fairly simple method for making any kind of choice also applies to ethical choices. This method is a kind of practical reasoning that proceeds as follows (Fox and DeMarco 1990): Step 1: Frame a set of questions. Step 2: Gather information. Step 3: Explore different options. Step 4: Evaluate options. Step 5: Make a decision. Step 6: Take action. Research Methods - Akyene Tetteh 7/7/2024 Slide 22