Professional Computing Ethics, Law and Marketing

(Ethics component)

Analysing an ethical problem

Introduction

As many students will know, crimes are investigated scientifically these

days. Many students are familiar with ‘whodunnit’ novels, police shows,
detective stories, thrillers and mystery books. Anecdotal evidence
suggests the recent spate of forensic crime investigation TV shows (CSI,
Cold Case, Without a Trace, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit)
appeal to a large majority of our multi-cultural students.

So we introduce students to a general procedure for analysing ethical

issues by way of summarizing a standard investigative procedure used
by policing authorities to solve crimes. We adapt this crime investigation
procedure (below) to investigate ethical ‘crimes’ (ie. ethical problems or
issues) – see ‘General procedure for analysing an ethical problem’
below.

Crime investigation procedure

The following investigative procedure extends a standard 5-step

procedure used by policing authorities to reconstruct crime scenes :
1) interview, 2) examine, 3) photograph, 4) sketch and 5) process.

These 5 steps are compressed into steps 1 and 2 below. Step 3 extends
the above ‘process’ step to begin theorising as to what transpired at the
crime scene and who is responsible.

COSC2454 Ethics -1- Ed Morris

 Crime investigation procedure

1) recognise a crime may have occurred in a given situation

• secure the crime scene
• collect evidence

2) identify the victim(s), suspects, witnesses, bystanders

• collect statements
• locate any party who departed the scene

3) explain the facts of what happened

4) formulate alternative hypotheses (theories)

• include motive and means for each possible perpetrator

5) eliminate suspects and hypotheses

• charge most likely perpetrator(s)

Students should apply the above procedure, actively or passively, while

watching their favourite TV crime show. The intention is to convince
students that the procedure works, not only in TV crime scripts but also
real crime investigations.

General procedure for analysing an ethical problem

Based on the above crime investigation procedure, we propose the

following analogous investigative procedure to analyse an ethical issue:

COSC2454 Ethics -2- Ed Morris

 General procedure for analysing an ethical problem

1) recognise an ethical issue may exist in a given situation

• quarantine the situation while under investigation
• collect evidence, eg. disputed claims

2) identify the participants, stakeholders, victims, ie. identify the

players or parties
• collect statements, documents, facts
• notify any relevant external parties

3) explain the ethical problem faced by the players, ie. define the moral
dilemma

4) formulate alternative solutions to the ethical problem, ie. list the

options
• clarify the principles, values, outcomes underlying each solution

5) prioritise the alternative solutions in terms of their values and

outcomes, ie. state your preferred solution to the ethical problem.
• give a short rationale for your decision
• generalise where possible

Students should actively apply the above procedure to analyse an ethical

issue or problem, as required in the Ethics assignment, part 1.

COSC2454 Ethics -3- Ed Morris

 Professional Computing Ethics, Law and Marketing
(Ethics component)

Applying ethical theory to analysis of an ethical problem

For each ethical problem, use one (1) ethical theory (relativism,
utilitarianism or deontology) to add support to the solution proposed in
step 5 of the general procedure for analysing an ethical problem, as
required in the Ethics assignment, part 2.
Your supporting argument (dialectic) should expand the five (5) step
analysis procedure as follows :
1 Step 1 should not require any alteration.
2 Step 2 should not require any alteration.
3 In step 3, explain the ethical problem (dilemma) faced by the players
in the scenario from the standpoint of ethical relativism,
utilitarianism or deontology. Eg. “A utilitarian is confronted with the
following dilemma …” Or, “an ethical relativist would see the
problem in the following terms …”
4 In step 4, rank the alternative solutions (options) to the ethical
problem in the scenario from the standpoint of ethical relativism,
utilitarianism or deontology. To accomplish this, you will need to :
clarify the principles (values) at stake in the scenario from the
standpoint of ethical relativism, utilitarianism or deontology. Eg. “A
deontologist would discount option X because it demeans player P’s
natural right to…” Or, “a utilitarian would rank option Z above all
others because it clearly brings about the greatest happiness for the
greatest number of people”.
5 In step 5, conclude with your solution to the ethical problem in the
scenario by summarising (3) and (4) above. Also try to generalise
your solution so that it could be applied to similar scenarios.

COSC2454 Ethics -4- Ed Morris