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Lecture 2: Ethical Thinking and PACE (Maria), Theories that combine these…
Lecture 2: Ethical Thinking and PACE
(Maria)
Ethics in Pace
Ethical Principles in PACE
Reciprocity
Mutual benefit
to student
to organisation
to university
How are these ensured?
Understand the value and ethics of your organisation
Understand the value and contribution of your activity
Understand the community it serves
Ethics
Descriptive Ethics
study of ethical beliefs
what motivates people to act ethically?
Applied Ethics
applying ethical theories to particular domains
environmental ethics, research ethics, bioethics
Ethics in research
Principles
Justice:
Fairness to participants in recruitment and effort requested
Beneficence:
Benefits outweigh costs
Merit & Integrity
: purpose of research, dissemination of results, trained researcher
Respect
: Voluntary nature, privacy, confidentiality
Human research
Taking part in surveys, interviews, focus groups
Psychological, physiological, medical testing, treatment
Observation by researchers
Access to personal documents or other materials
Collection of body organs, tissues and exhaled breath
Access to personal information as part of an existing or unpublished source or database
Case studies
Research study of how you are experiencing student life at Macquarie University
Study of how your religion influences on your life choices
Considerations
Time & cost, privacy, can I quit?, what's it for?, who is it for? will I be endangered? how will the information be stored? what training do researchers have? who will use this information, who is behind this?
Normative Ethics
theories about how we ought to behave
what is right/wrong
Deontological Ethics
DUTY
We have a duty to behave in a way that is aligned with our rationality
Leads to universalisable actions
Is based on humanist principles (dignity/integrity)
Main concepts
Categorical imperatives
Duty
Kant (18th C)
Critique
Removes the personal factor (agency and freedom)
Ignores emotions and feelings (duty > emotions)
There could be conflicting duties (eg. duty to employer AND duty to family)
Peter works in an organisation supporting the homeless. He realises one of the homeless individuals he has assisted during a long time provides false information on a form about how long he has been homeless, so that he can get into public housing a bit faster. Despite the fact that Peter knows his client is lying he decides not to disclose it to his superiors as he has developed a relationship with this person and wants to see him get ahead.
Conflicting duties: caring for homeless & duty to report
Chooses emotions > duty
Virtue Ethics
CHARACTER
Aristotle (380BC)
Ethical behaviour is the
result
of developing good character (courage, benevolence, compassion, loyalty virtues)
Critique
What virtues should be developing?
Valued virtues may depend on context
Virtuous character may not lead to good actions
Virtues might be conflicting in certain situations
Rudi got involved in a violent protest to displace internal migrants from a rival ethnic group in his city. He was brave enough to decide to fight in the streets, however he is a compassionate man and does not dare shooting his weapon.
Conflicting virtues
Does it lead to a good action?
Consequentialism / Utilitarianism
ACTIONS
Stuart Mil & Jeremy Bentham (18th/19th C)
Focus on the
consequences of our actions
Good intention
Greatest good for greatest number of people
Utility of out actions
Critique
Unintended consequences with no good outcomes
What about the ones who are not included?
Simon’s mother is feeling really lonely and would like Simon to come and spend the day with her. Simon had planned on using the day to volunteer with counselling for recently arrived refugees. By volunteering, he would be helping a much larger group of people, rather than cheering up his mother for simply one day. But decides to go and spend the day with his mother.
Situation challenges: greatest good for greatest no of people
Simon chooses mother > group
What are ethics
Facts
: descriptive or explanatory
All the facts learned at university cannot answer ethical questions
Values/ethics:
are normative, prescriptive and evaluative
Theories that combine these three
Ethics of care
Duty of care
Developed based on the types of people we are
Non anthropocentric ethical theories
Ethics beyond the impact on humanity (eg. animals, environment)