Ethics Reading #2 pg 38-81

The Ethics Tradition
3 Theories:
1) Confucianism
2) Emmanuel Levinas
3) Bernard Gert
Aristotle- virtue, personal character
Kant- duty or obligation based on a fundamental universal principle
utilitarianism- weigh consequences of costs of action against benefits
ethic of care- new, nontraditional way, gender-sensitive

Aristotle
- reflective reasoning, prudent judgment, deliberate choice, conscious application of the will, and practical action are all involved
- made Plato's thinking concrete and abstract
- ethics= study of what is involved in good actions
- what is sought for its own sake, not for money or success
- assertion that each person is responsible for his or her own character
- a person is only ethical if they perform ethical behavior for a period of time
- moral wisdom must be combined with practical wisdom to yield ethical action

Kant
- most important European philosopher of period from classical Greece to twentieth century
- based on sense of duty (deontology)
- distinguishing feature as human beings- ability to reason
- categorical imperative: "act in a way that if you had your way, the principle guiding your actions would become a universally binding law that everyone must act in accordance with "
- Kant's theory is duty based in reason
- each person is a rational being that should devise their own rules about how to behave
Kant's theory:
1) emphasizes a sense of duty, doing what is right regardless of competing interests or eventual outcomes
2) it conceptualizes ethics as bot han individual and a social matter
3) amounts for all practical purposes to the Golden Rule
- relevance to technical communication- in order to put this metaphysical principle, the categorical imperative, into practical realization, it must be based on something "the existence of which of itself has an absolute value, which serves as and end in itself."

Utilitarianism
- emphasizes usefulness in the same way that technical comm. does
- highly scientific, can calculate what to do ethically using numbers
- useful in medical field: ex: rank and explain choices
- do benefits outweigh drawbacks of actions?

Feminist and Care Perspectives
-modernism: traditions of rationalism, individualism, logic, analytical thinking, advancement of science and tech., the view that knowledge is single and positive
- postmodernism: challenges authority, challenges what has been taken for granted

Feminist Perspectives on Science as a Value System
- science and tech. constitute value systems in themselves
- critics appreciate essentialism and biological determinism assumed when one says that something is characteristic of one gender
Applied to tech writing:
- terminology
- hierarchal organization- masculine view of society
- feminism: system of values, an ethic
- reveal bias against women and womens' work in much technical communication
- most importantly, it requires that we critically examine roots of ethics and whether men are valued over women

Ethics of Care
- form of feminist ethics
- Nel Noddings perspective used
Carol Gilligan
- focuses on role of language in communication between and about men and women
- women value relationships more
- men base decisions on justice
- if a decision of ethics were determined for women, it would confirm stereotypes

Other Views
Confucian Ethics
- has influenced all of eastern Asia
- immediate realities rather than immutable, timeless absolutes
- human responsibilities constituted in relationships
- also, ignore egos for the sake of social harmony
- ren, li, yi- constitute general ethical virtuousness (te)
- cultivation of morality- paramount importance
- participate in activities that compose "way of virtue- Tao"
- many Asian societies are in a state of change- still, confucianism play important role in shaping relations and communications throughout Chinese society
- tech. comm. between US and China have clash of cultural values
- in China- tradition is prized
- Chinese business- modeled after parent-son relationship

Levinas
- most highly regarded postmodernist ethicists
- challenges powers of language to articulate feelings and thoughts
- ethics is about human nature in relation with others
- cannot be universal or generalizations

Gert
- focuses on morality
- actions rather than feelings, social relations vs. relations with God,
- focuses on avoiding evil rather than searching for good
1) Don't kill
2) Don't cause pain.
3) Don't disable.
4) Don't deprive of freedom.
5) Don't deprive of pleasure.
6) Don't lie.
7) Keep your promises.
8) Don't cheat.
9) Don't committ adultery.
10) Don't steal.
Questions to find morally relevant features of a situation
1) What moral rules are being violated?
2) What evils arebeing avoided? prevented? caused?
3) What are the relevant desires of the people affected by the violation?
4) What are the relevant rational beliefs of the people affected by the violation?
5) Does one have a duty to violate moral rules with regard to the person, and it one in a unique position in this regard?
6) What goods are being promoted?
7) Is an unjustified or weakly justified violation of a moral rule being prevented?
8) Is an unjustitied or weakly justified violation of a moral rule being punished?