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PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
Assignment #1
Of
Chapter 1
Recommended Books: 1. Engineering Ethics, Concepts & Cases by C. Harris Words Worth, 1994, Islamic Education, Latest Edition. 2. Ethics Engineering (Latest Edition) Mike W. Martin. 3. Lecture Notes. 4. Business Ethics (A stake Holder & Issues Management Approach) Latest Edition by Joseph W. Weiss, Contemporary Moral Issues by Lawrence M. Prentice Developed by:Adnan Alam Khan(Write2adnanalamkhan@gmail.com) Department of Computer Science & Information Technology 1
Chapter 1 Questions
1. Explain what is means to say that computer and information technology creates new possibilities for human behavior. Give examples: My Answer: Went to moon, advanced in medical knowledge, Global connections for business and communication. 2. How does computer and information technology create policy vacuums? Give examples: My Answer: Examples is free speech is it different for internet and how about protection of children while allowing adult expression. 3. What is the central task of computer ethics according to J. Moor? My Answer: It is to determine what we should do and what our policies should be. This includes consideration of both personal and social policies. 4. Why are the policy vacuums arising from computer and information technology sometimes difficult to fill? My Answer: We find ourselves confronted with complex issues. We find conceptual muddles that make it difficult to figure out which way to go. And, as we begin to sort out the conceptual muddles, often we find a moral landscape that is fluid and sometimes politically controversial. So, figuring out what norms or laws apply or should apply is not a simple matter. 5. What is the traditionalist account? Explain it as a descriptive account of how computer ethics is done and as a normative account of how computer ethic should be done. My Answer: On one account call this the traditionalist account all that is necessary is to take traditional moral norms and the principles on which they are based, and apply them to the new situations created by computer and information technology. The traditionalist account is important both as a descriptive and as a normative account. That is, it describes both how policy vacuums are often filled and recommends how policy vacuums ought to be filled. Descriptively the account captures what people often do when they are 1st introduced to computer and information technology. The traditionalist account is also normative in that it recommends how we should proceed in filling in policy vacuums. It recommends that we make use of past experiences. 6. What are the limitations of the traditionalist account as a descriptive account and as a normative account? My Answer: The traditionalist account has 2 serious problems. It oversimplifies the task of computer ethics insofar as it suggests that extending old norms to new situations is a somewhat mechanical or routine process. This hides the fact that the process is fluid and synthetic. When it comes to resolving the ethical issues surrounding computer and information technology, often the technology is not a fixed and determinate entity.
Developed by:Adnan Alam Khan(Write2adnanalamkhan@gmail.com) Department of Computer Science & Information Technology 2
Chapter 2 Questions
1. What are the activities involved in doing philosophical ethics? My Answer: Ethical analysis the reasons for moral beliefs are articulated, then critically evaluated. The reasons you give for holding an ethical belief or taking a position on an ethical issue can be thought of as and argument for a claim. The argument has to be put on the table, and once there, it can be evaluated in terms of its plausibility, coherence, and consistency. Once stated, we can ascertain whether the argument does, indeed, support the claim being made or the position being taken. 2. How do descriptive (empirical) claims and prescriptive (normative) claims differ? My Answer: Descriptive statements are statements that describe a state of affairs in the world. These statements describe what human beings think and do. They are empirical claims in the sense that they are statements that can be verified or proven false by examining the state of affairs described. All of these social scientific studies are descriptive studies of morality; they examine morality as an empirical phenomenon. In contrast, philosophical ethics is normative. The task of philosophical ethics is to explore what human beings ought to do, or more accurately, to evaluate the arguments, reasons, and theories that are proffered to justify accounts of morality. Ethical theories are prescriptive. They try to provide an account of why certain types of behavior are good or bad, right or wrong. Descriptive statements may come into play in the dialectic about philosophical ethics, but normative issues cannot be resolved just by pointing to the facts about what people do or say or believe. 3. What is ethical relativism? What is its positive claim? What is its negative claim? My Answer: Sometimes ethical relativists seem to be asserting that right and wrong are relative to the individual, and sometimes they seem to assert that right and wrong are relative to the society in which one lives. The positive claim of relativism is that right and wrong are relative to our society.
Developed by:Adnan Alam Khan(Write2adnanalamkhan@gmail.com) Department of Computer Science & Information Technology 4
Developed by:Adnan Alam Khan(Write2adnanalamkhan@gmail.com) Department of Computer Science & Information Technology 6