Category: Ethics

Is it ethical for companies to require employees to take a polygraph test before they are hired or promoted? Would your answer be different if the company made products from a secret formula that competitors have so far been unsuccessful in imitating? What benefit do companies accrue if ethics is made a part of their corporate culture?

Week 7 ethics discussion post

Discussion Prompt

Select one of the three prompts below to respond to in your initial post this week. You are encouraged to respond to peers that explored the prompts that you did not.

Prompt #1

Is it ethical for companies to require employees to take a polygraph test before they are hired or promoted? Would your answer be different if the company made products from a secret formula that competitors have so far been unsuccessful in imitating? What benefit do companies accrue if ethics is made a part of their corporate culture?

In resolving this dilemma, apply:

Utilitarianism
Deontology
Your own ethical reasoning on the issue
(USLOs 7.1, 7.2, 7.3)

Prompt #2

Sometimes liquor and tobacco companies create ads that link the consumption of its goods with popularity, love, friendship, and financial success.

Do you think this is ethical?

Would your answer change if the company engaged in some Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by occasionally publishing an ad that stressed the importance of consuming their product responsibly?

Be sure to include the perspectives of social contract theory and virtue ethics in your responses.
(USLOs 7.1, 7.2, 7.3)

Prompt #3

Opioid addiction continues to be a cause for national and global concern. Each year, hundreds of thousands wind up in the black market to be sold illegally.

Some government organizations, such as a congressional crime committee, believe that pharmaceutical companies cannot be blamed if their products are used illegally.

Do pharmaceutical companies have any moral responsibility to ensure their products are not consumed illegitimately?

How would you recognize an ethical pharmaceutical company – what are its characteristics?

Which organization should be held morally culpable for solving this issue?

Be sure to include the perspectives of social contract theory and virtue ethics in your responses.

What responsibilities do weapons makers have for how their products are used? To whom should those products be sold, and under what circumstances? Does the program convincingly tackle the full range of issues in-volved in assessing the corporation’s ultimate impact on its local,regional, national, and global communities?

Does the program specifically and effectively address the dangersof unethical leadership, of possible misbehavior among the cor-poration’s most senior executives?

Does the program take into account the dangers of organiza-tional behavior, as well as individual misdeeds?

Does the program convincingly address the needs and concerns of rank-and-file employees of the corporation?

Does the program convincingly tackle the full range of issues in-volved in assessing the corporation’s ultimate impact on its local,regional, national, and global communities?

What responsibilities do weapons makers have for how their products are used? To whom should those products be sold, and under what circumstances?

How strong is the utilitarian argument compared/contrasted to the Kantian view?  Analyze What are five (5) of the most interesting insights you gained from this section? Elaborate on each of them.

Sexual Morality

How strong is the utilitarian argument compared/contrasted to the Kantian view?  Analyze
What are five (5) of the most interesting insights you gained from this section? Elaborate on each of them.

How does this film clip’s perspective complement and/or contradict what the textbook presents?  Be specific in your response.

Which of the views do you think carry perhaps the strongest argument, with all points considered?  Why?  (Note: Think from a philosophical point-of-view.)

Do any of these statistics surprise you?  Which two, if any?  Why?  If you are not surprised, then indicate why.  Since this was taken from a 2009 poll, we might wonder if a 2019 study would be any different.  What do you think?  Why?

How could you apply categorical and consequentialist moral reasoning to the ethical questions the application raises? Do you see AI impacting your personal or professional life?Why would it be important for policies to be put in place in order to mitigate harm?

In Discussion Forum 6, post your response to the following discussion question. Make sure your initial post is substantive (200 to 300 words).
You can use the three attachments as the sources.

Consider the following questions:

What do you see as the most important ethical issue raised by a specific application of artificial intelligence (e.g., self-driving vehicles, social bots, autonomous weapons)?

Who could potentially benefit from this application of AI? Who might be harmed?

Why would it be important for policies to be put in place in order to mitigate harm?

How could you apply categorical and consequentialist moral reasoning to the ethical questions the application raises?
Do you see AI impacting your personal or professional life?

What would a utilitarian have us do in this case if we were the sheriff? In other words, should we lie, according to utilitarianism? What considerations would a utilitarian identify as important to think about in relation to this case? Would a Kantian agree with the utilitarian’s advice here? Why or why not?

Week 6 ethics discussion

Discussion Prompt

Imagine a scenario where there has been a serious crime in a town and the Sheriff is trying to prevent serious rioting. He knows that this rioting is likely to bring about destruction, injury and maybe even death. The problem is that he has no leads; he has not the slightest idea who committed the crime. However, he can prevent these riots by lying to the town and framing an innocent man. No one will miss the man and he is hated in the town. If he frames and jails this innocent man, convincing people to believe that it was this man that committed the crime, then the town will be placated and people will not riot.

What would a utilitarian have us do in this case if we were the sheriff? In other words, should we lie, according to utilitarianism? What considerations would a utilitarian identify as important to think about in relation to this case? Would a Kantian agree with the utilitarian’s advice here? Why or why not?

 

What is the business case for diversity in the workplace? It it overwhelming? Why or why not?Briefly describe what is meant by alignment of ethical culture. How can a company implement an authentic values statement?

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/facebook-failed-the-world/620479/

What’s the difference between core values and aspirational values?

What are some things that an ethical leader can use to create a work environment that supports doing the right thing and discourages unethical conduct.use the chapter and the GoDaddy article.

Briefly describe what is meant by alignment of ethical culture. How can a company implement an authentic values statement?

Briefly describe four ways in which diffusion of responsibility occurs in an organization. Provide an example of how an ethical culture might be misaligned and discuss. use the chapters and the articles – including the Wells Fargo article. Be specific.

https://qz.com/777241/wells-fargos-fake-accounts-scandal-makes-it-the-perfect-poster-child-for-when-external-and-internal-values-dont-match/

What is the business case for diversity in the workplace? It it overwhelming? Why or why not? anchor your response in data from the article.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/04/business-case-for-diversity-in-the-workplace/

What do you find most revealing/interesting about capital punishment, in general?What do you see as the greatest tension in resolving this argument?  Why?  

Capital Purnishment

PART 1 Question:
What do you find most revealing/interesting about capital punishment, in general?  State three of your observations, elaborating briefly on each.  make sure to include inserts from the book pages and the video attached.

PART 2:
Review how the moral theories we have continued to study in this course impact on our understanding of the different beliefs regarding capital punishment.  Carefully read from page 668 up through page 673.(attached)  Which of the two moral perspectives would you rank as having the strongest foundations, that is, justifications?  Why?  Identify each as you explain why you think these two moral perspectives have the greatest merit.  Explain why.

PART 3:
Finally, review the four-part argument on page 673 numbered 1-4.(attached)  What makes this argument valid?  Why?  Read the textbook’s commentary which extends onto page 674.(attached)  What do you see as the greatest tension in resolving this argument?  Why?

PART 4:
Select ONE of the readings at the end of the chapter, preferably one with which you think might directly oppose what you personally believe about capital punishment.  State three of your selected writer’s chief arguments, explaining why you personally think those arguments are flawed.
Keep in mind we need to keep our attention on “thinking” versus “feeling.”  We all acknowledge we have feelings, but we want to reason even more so from a logical perspective.  It is possible to even see merit with another’s position even if you personally disagree with it.

Explain the decision-making process. Be sure to analyze your example within the context of the differing approaches to ethics discussed in Mill, Kant and Gilligan. How did the readings help you think about the situation from a new or deeper perspective?

Ethical Decision Making

College life brings with it a new set of opportunities and challenges. You have entered a community of peers; some of you are living away from home without the everyday guidance and support of parents, family and friends. You are encountering a degree of diversity in everyday living to which you are probably not accustomed.

And academically, expectations have changed dramatically. College faculty do not see themselves as disciplinarians and there are no school principals monitoring your activities and attendance. You are on your own, managing your time, negotiating choices and relationships, and dealing with a more complicated set of academic expectations and responsibilities. In every setting – dorm, classroom, college activities and work – you must balance your needs with obligations to yourself and to others. And this means that you are involved in ethical decision making.

In a 4-5 page essay, discuss a real situation you have encountered this semester which had an ethical component or dimension – that is, where you had to negotiate your own interests, values and needs within the context of the needs and/or expectations of others.

You can use an example taken from your own experience, current events, the readings or class discussion. Do you believe the decision/action/resolution was ethical?

Explain the decision-making process. Be sure to analyze your example within the context of the differing approaches to ethics discussed in Mill, Kant and Gilligan. How did the readings help you think about the situation from a new or deeper perspective?

Discuss the implications of meat-eating nonhuman animals in relation to moral consideration.Is it morally permissible to raise and kill animals to eat them in our society, where nutritious alternatives to animal foods are readily available?

Ethics week 5 discussion

Discussion Prompt

Select one of the three prompts below to respond to in your initial post this week. You are encouraged to respond to peers that explored prompts that you did not.

Discuss the implications of moral consideration on some of the following practices involving nonhuman animals: meat-eating habits, pet ownership, the use of nonhuman animals in experimentations, and keeping animals in zoos.

In what ways, if any, do any of the above actions represent incompatible, even contradictory, moral values?
Do humans have a moral obligation to modify our lifestyle in order to recognize the moral status of nonhuman others?

Do you believe any of the nonhuman animals mentioned above (pets, farmed animals, zoo animals, etc.) would qualify as moral subjects, and perhaps even moral agents?

Which ethical theory (utilitarian, social contract, Kantian, etc.) is most consistent with your outlook on animals?
(USLOs 5.1, 5.2, 5.3)

Discuss the implications of meat-eating nonhuman animals in relation to moral consideration.

Is it morally permissible to raise and kill animals to eat them in our society, where nutritious alternatives to animal foods are readily available?

If we were somewhere where there were inadequate non-animal foods, would that make a difference to the morality of using animals for food?

Which ethical theory (utilitarian, social contract, Kantian, etc.) is most consistent with your outlook on consuming animals?

Discuss the implications of having moral obligations toward animals.

Select one philosopher discussed either in the text or supplemental materials and discuss their perspective regarding moral obligations toward animals.

Do you believe we have any moral obligations toward animals? If so, what is the extent of these obligations? Why do we have these obligations (if we do)?

Are there different obligations toward different animals? Might certain uses of some animals be morally permissible, whereas using other animals in similar ways would be wrong? (E.g., might some experiments be wrong if done on chimpanzees, whereas morally permissible, or perhaps “less wrong,” if done on mice?