Week 7 assignment
Abdulla99
10/10/19
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EE 400D Ethics and Integrity
• Ethics Recap • Issues of Current Interest • Sexual Harassment • Ethics Assignment
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Where do these “Morals” Come from? Are they Absolute or Relative? Sources?
1. Divinely ordained 2. Part of the natural order 3. Eternally valid 4. Valid without exception 5. Directly knowable by anyone who is
rational 6. Perceivable by a "moral sense," 7. Independent of us, in the sense that
they do not depend on us for their existence
8. Objective rather than subjective
9. Held in common by virtually all human beings
10. Such that they've had to be worked out by all human societies.
http://www.onlineethics.org/Resources/precollege/sciencecla ss/sectone/chapt2.aspx - publicationContent
• “Clearly there are no absolutes!” o Is this true for everyone or just
certain individuals? o Is there an example of an
absolute moral?
3Philosophically: Holding any of these views is not irrational
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Ethics Tests from Online Ethics Site
• Harm test • Publicity test • Reversibility test • Universality test • Respect for persons test • Utilitarian test • Social Justice test http://www.onlineethics.org/35691.aspx
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Finding the
Ethical Dilemma
Tests
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Syllogism: Logical Argument Applying Deductive Reasoning to Reach Conclusion • Classic 3-line form:
1. Major premise (general statement)
2. Minor premise (specific statement) 3. Conclusion
• Standard example o All men are mortal. o Socrates is a man.
o Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllogism
• Example: Valid Syllogism that is False
1. All animals are mammals
2. A butterfly is an animal
3. Therefore, a butterfly is a mammal
• The argument is logical (valid) • The major premise is false
o Or it might be unproven o That will be the case for any of the
sources of ethics 1-10 (chart 8)
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Example Scientific Method Syllogisms Imply Need to Reason from Multiple Sources
1. Divinely ordained o A rational God exists
o A rational God would only create a rational discoverable universe
o Therefore the Scientific Method produces correct results
9. Held in common by virtually all human beings o Consensus determines reality
o Nearly all humans believe that the scientific method is valid
o Therefore, the scientific method produces correct results
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Arriving at the same conclusion from multiple sources • Stronger argument • Convinces more people
Using your source to determine ethical behavior avoids memorizing lots of rules
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EE 400D Ethics and Integrity
• Ethics Recap • Issues of Current Interest • Sexual Harassment • Ethics Assignment
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Ethics Cases/Exercises
• http://www.onlineethics.org/Resources/csaindex.aspx • Root of all corporate ethics training: Malcolm Currie case
o http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-07/business/fi-270_1_hughes-aircraft
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Ethical Cases and Issues
• “Don’t date people that you work with.”
https://lbpost.com/business/female-business-leaders-share- advice-with-csulb-students-on-international-womens-day/
o Problematic for me o Almost no one I know would
follow this advice o Some corporations have strict
rules about this
• Politics affecting dating https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/429593-politics-is-affecting- dating-intimacy-expert-says
• Saying what you believe even if politically incorrect vs. “self-censorship” o Example, student disagreed
with Lecturer • http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/12/college-
student-kicked-out-class-for-telling-professor-there-are- only-two-genders.html
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“No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; but oh, thrice guilty is he who ... drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime!” Susan B. Anthony, The Revolution, July 8, 1869
Bioethics: Would You Work for a Company that made …
• 3D Printed Suicide machines for the elderly
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-03/3d-printed- suicide-machines-will-usher-silent-genocide
• Materials or medical devices for Abortion
https://www.dailywire.com/news/22380/walsh-heres-reason- why-pro-aborts-rely-worst-case-matt-walsh
• Materials, devices, or drugs for Death Penalty
• Euthanasia devices, materials, or drugs
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Google Refuses US Government DoD Projects, but aids Social Media Censorship in China
• Would you design weapons? o Are you a pacifist? o Just would rather not? o …
• Would you work for a company that: o Supports censorship o Censors social media o …
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“Fact-checking is opinion journalism pretending to be some sort of heightened objectivity.” Source Unknown
This is now NBA and Nike Supporting China Suppression of Hong Kong Protests
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“The federal government, which has Tomahawk cruise missiles and Apache, Blackhawk, Kiowa and Lakota helicopters – and used the code name Geronimo in the attack that killed Osama bin Laden, officially objects to the name of the Washington Redskins.” Source Unknown (Jay Leno?)
College and Education Issues • Dissent from Darwinism https://dissentfromdarwin.org/
• Should sports be subsidized? http://www.espn.com/college- sports/story/_/id/21437392/college-administrators-worry-funding- new-tax-plan
• Is a sports team nickname really that big a deal?
https://www.thenation.com/article/by-having-the-washington- rdskins-host-a-game-on-thanksgiving-nfl-owners-show-their-true- colors/
• Cam Newton: ESPN made a big deal out of this … ?
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21518529/carolina-panthers- quarterback-cam-newton-explains-mug-shot-posting-instagram
• Is student loan industry unethical
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/taibbi-the-great- college-loan-swindle-w510880
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Should People Lose Their Livelihood Over Current or Past Bad Behavior?
• Doomsday Prof http://www.khou.com/article/news/nation-now/doomsday- clock-professor-put-on-leave-amid-allegations-of-sexual- misconduct/465-e9e365f7-f9d3-45f3-9370-f87229d49fcc
• Silicon Valley has regular “exlusive drug-fueled, sex- laced parties o Believe they are overturning
traditions and advancing culture and freedom
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/01/brotopia-silicon- valley-secretive-orgiastic-inner-sanctum
• Chair of Africana Studies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maulana_Karenga
• What about backlash? https://nypost.com/2018/02/03/a-male-backlash-against- metoo-is-brewing/
• Adam Smith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LqoLBQ68Uw
• James Damore o Fired for memo on why
imbalance between men and women at Google
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EE 400D Ethics and Integrity
• Ethics Recap • Issues of Current Interest • Sexual Harassment • Ethics Assignment
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“James Damore” has Become a Prototype for the Left of a “Harrasser”
• Microsoft Reportedly a Hellish Workplace for Women
https://gizmodo.com/leaked-microsoft-email-chain- reportedly-describes-helli-1833817967/amp
“I know there are James Damores at Microsoft, they just haven’t written a memo like he did.”
• Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber – James Damore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%27s_Ideological_Echo_ Chamber
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9_o42QaVnA
• The infamous memo https://gizmodo.com/exclusive-heres-the-full-10-page-anti- diversity-screed-1797564320
• Google underpays men https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/04/google-found-its- underpaying-some-men-as-it-studies-wage-equity.html
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IEEE Spectrum Articles on Sexual Harassment
• Sexual Harassment is a Threat to Engineering o 11/2018 pp. 6-7
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• Sexual Harassment Prevention: What Really Works o 11/2018 pp. 12-13
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IEEE Spectrum Article: Title IX Prevents Lawsuits Not Harassment
• Training is sometimes counterproductive o Scenarios often set in cubicles o Harassment occurs mostly in
§ Labs § The field
§ Conferences
o Can reinforce gender stereotypes § Women are weak
§ Men are predators 24
• Answer: o Teach bystander intervention
Some Men More Cavalier After Training than Before
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Ethics Assignment: Research an Issue and Summarize What You Learned and Your Opinion • Pick Case or Issue
o May use one from presentation or pick something else o Read arguments on either side of an issue o Not graded on conclusion!!!
• Find a source or two on topic and producing a 4MAT covering: 1. Factual summary of issue and key positions/arguments 2. Your opinion based on tracing from your source of morality (1-10 on
chart 5) to reasons for your position at least one ethics test. Apply 1 or more tests. Also, try to craft a relevant syllogism for your position.
3. Remaining Questions you have related to the issue 4. Action plan for specific actions you plan to take as a result 27
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