CISB412 :

ETHICS & IT PROFESSIONAL

PRACTICES
CHAPTER 1:

Ethics and the Underlying

Philosophies

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 History of Philosophers
2 Introduction to Ethics
3 Society , Morality and Ethics
 FIRST,
The story of some philosopher who set the background to ethics today

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A story from long ago
source: http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Bios/Plato.html

Plato(427 BC – 347 BC)

■ Greek philosopher, a student of Socrates, a teacher to Aristotle, writer, and the founder
of the Academy in Athens.
■ (In Arabic, Turkish or Persian, he is known as Eflatun).
■ Plato wrote mainly in the form of dialogues.
■ Socrates is often a character in the dialogues of Plato. It is usually disputed how much
of the content and argument of any given dialogue is his teacher’s point of view, and
how much of it Plato's.

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Plato: Crito

■ The Crito is Plato’s well-known dialogue - a dialogue between Socrates and his follower
the rich Athenian Crito regarding the source and nature of political obligation.
■ Set after Plato's ‘Apology’ (which is another dialogue), in which Socrates was sentenced
to death for charges of corrupting the young and for impiety, Crito tries in this dialogue
to convince Socrates to escape his imprisonment and go into exile.

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Source: http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/LX/PlatoCrito.html

“The dramatic action of the Crito begins just before daybreak, in the dark prison cell where Socrates awaits his execution.
Crito, a wealthy friend of Socrates, has come to speak with him; but, finding him asleep, he waits patiently by Socrates’
bedside. On his waking, Socrates asks: “Why have you arrived at this hour, Crito? Or is it still early yet? Crito reports that he
is in “great sleeplessness and pain” and finds himself wondering at the pleasant temperament of Socrates, who must die
shortly.
It seems peculiar that while Crito is suffering and dreading the arrival of the ship from Delos – the one which determines the
day Socrates must be executed – Socrates sleeps peacefully. This contrast between the two characters establishes an important
relationship between them.
As Crito reveals his true intention for coming – to help Socrates escape – this relationship is explored and developed in the
ensuing conversation involving justice and one’s moral obligation. Crito, a man of wealth and status, regards himself above
Athenian law, a law controlled by the opinions of the many, i.e. the poor and uneducated. He finds it disgraceful that Socrates
should be subjected to their mindless and unjust judgments. Crito is fervent in his desire to convince Socrates to escape;
however, as the dialogue continues, Crito finds himself contradicting his arguments, and instead being persuaded by Socrates.
Through this refutation, Socrates establishes himself as a moral authority, an expert on matters of justice and law. With his
insightful knowledge, Socrates is able to persuade Crito to follow the laws of Athens, despite their being ruled by the
imprudent many. His later use of what he calls “the laws and the community of the city” as a defender for lawfulness
demonstrates Socrates’ skills as a politician. Such a demonstration suggests that Athens was highly mistaken in thinking
Socrates’ corrupted the young. Instead, he shows a deep desire to strengthen the attachment of Crito to the justice of the law.”

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The philosophical motivations

Crit
o

To escape OR
Not to escape
The
Socrates Law

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 The Socrates – Crito Debate
Crito's arguments for escape Socrates' responses
■ Socrates is endangering the good reputation of his friends. If Socrates is
executed, Crito will appear to honor money over friends. Crito considers
■ Public opinion is not important to the
this reputation shameful and damaging even though it will be the opinion decision, because the public as a whole
of those who do not know Socrates and Crito adequately, namely, the many. is not wise.
One must respect the opinions of the many because they can bring about
great evils. Socrates refutes this hypothesis on the basis that the many's
ignorance do not allow them to have true choice, and therefore their ■ The essential concern is whether to
opinions are of no value to the one who strives after the truth and the good. escape would be just.
■ Socrates should not worry about Crito's reputation or money. Escape from
death is more honorable.
■ One should never do injustice. (doing
■ Socrates has support in other cities, including Thessaly and exile would not
be a bad option, although Socrates said in his defense that he would rather
evil to humans/human evil = injustice)
die then be exiled.
■ Socrates would be acting unjustly by not fulfilling his parental obligations. ■ Men, especially one so old as Socrates,
■ Socrates would be acting cowardly by not resisting injustices (implying should not fear death, but welcome it.
that the court decision and Socrates' subsequent execution are unjust). He
would be joining his enemies. He is choosing the "easiest path" instead of
the courageous, honorable and virtuous path, which Crito feels is to flee
from certain, unjust death.
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 The Laws' arguments
■ The Laws are more honorable than one's parents, for they too beget, educate, and nurture their
citizens. Just as one should respect the decisions of one's parents, so should one respect the
decisions of the Laws, but to an even greater degree. There is confusion as to whether this
respect is due to the Laws or due to the fatherland.

■ Socrates tacitly agreed to obey the Laws by remaining in Athens after reaching maturity and
witnessing how the Laws are structured and how they work. (This is an early statement of Social
Contract Theory).

■ Socrates would be seen as a corrupting force wherever he went.

■ If one has the ability to choose whether to obey a law, then he is destroying the power of the law.
Destroying law is unjust, for men require a community and a community requires law.

■ It would put him in a precarious position in the afterlife.

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 NEXT,
Understanding ethics and its underlying philosophies.

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ETHICS

■ Ethics is the practice of making a principled choice between

right and wrong
■ Oxford American dictionary: Concerned with the principles of
what is right and wrong in conduct
■ More frequently we encounter ethical situations involving
computers and other forms of information technology
ETHICS
■ Is computer ethics different from regular ethics?
■ Is there an ethical difference in browsing someone else’s
computer file and browsing their desk drawer?
■ No!
■ What we have are ethical situations where computers are
involved.
■ Computers allow people to perform unethical actions faster
than ever before
■ Or perform actions that were too difficult or impossible using
manual methods
 Society
A large group of
people who live
together in an Rules: advance the
Association of
organized way, good of members
people organized
making decisions of the society over
under a system of
about how to do time
rules
things and sharing
the work that
needs to be done
 Morality

A society’s rules of What people ought /

conduct ought not to do in
various situations
 Ethics
Taken from the Greek word ethikos from ethos, which means
"custom or habit".

Rational examination of morality

Evaluation of people’s behavior

An area of study that deals with ideas about what is good and bad behavior : a
branch of philosophy dealing with what is morally right or wrong (Merriam-
Webster)
a.k.a. moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing,
defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct (Internet
Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
 Analogy Showing Difference
between Morality and Ethics

An analogy
explaining the
difference between
ethics and morality.
Imagine
society as a town.
Morality is the road
network within the
town. People doing
ethics are in
balloons floating
above the town.

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more …

Computer ethics
“Ethics is the field of study that is concerned with questions of value, that is,
judgments about what human behaviour is "good" or "bad". Ethical judgments are
no different in the area of computing from those in any other area. Computers
raise problems of privacy, ownership, theft, and power, to name but a few.”
Free online dictionary of philosophy

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©© Tefko Saracevic 17
 The Relationship
Between ethics and moral
Moral is the good or bad of a behavior / beliefs while Ethics examine the behavior to decide whether it is good
or bad
Between ethics and etiquette
Business ethics is a code or a set of standards that a business adheres to. This code essentially states what is
considered ethical, and what is considered unethical in terms of how the business is conducted in relation to
what is best for human beings, the community, the environment, and so on. Business etiquette, on the other
hand, is essentially conducting business affairs in a polite manner. For example, dinner table etiquette,
exchange of business cards etiquette, palace protocol…
Between being unethical and being illegal
Illegal is against the law. Unethical acts might be against the law, but not always. Unethical is also subjective
(sometimes a matter of opinion) whereas illegal is objective (it either is, or it isn't). Most things that are illegal
are also considered unethical. For example: Prostitution is illegal (and unethical). A married man going to a
strip club is unethical but not illegal.
Between Ethical and non Ethical
Having a favorite color or hating the taste of cheese is a non-ethical issue
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 More on Ethics

■ Ethics: rational, systematic analysis

– “Doing ethics”: answers need explanations
– Explanations: facts, shared values, logic
■ Ethics: voluntary, moral choices
■ Workable ethical theory: produces explanations that might be persuasive to a skeptical,
yet open-minded audience

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1-19
Good Ethical Theory Supports
Persuasive, Logical Arguments

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1-20
Alexis, a gifted high school student, wants to become a
doctor. Because she comes from a poor family, she will
need a scholarship in order to attend college. Some of
her classes require students to do extra research projects
in order to get an A. Her high school has a few older
PCs, but there are always long lines of students waiting
to use them during the school day. After school, she
usually works at a part-time job to help support her
family.
One evening Alexis visits the library of a private college
a few miles from her family’s apartment, and she finds
plenty of unused PCs connected to the Internet. She
surreptitiously looks over the shoulder of another
student to learn a valid login/password combination.
Alexis returns to the library several times a week, and
by using its PCs and printers she efficiently completes
the extra research projects, graduates from high school
with straight A’s, and gets a fullride scholarship to
SCENARIO
• Did Alexis do anything wrong?
• Who benefited from Alexis’s course of
action?
• Who was hurt by Alexis’s course of
action?
• Did Alexis have an unfair advantage over
her high school classmates?
• Would any of your answers change if it
turns out Alexis did not win a college
scholarship after all?
• Are there better ways Alexis could have
achieved her objective?
• What additional information, if any, would
help you answer the previous question?
Scenario summary

■ Reflect on the process you used in each scenario to come up with your answers. How
did you decide if particular actions or decisions were right or wrong? Were your reasons
consistent from one case to the next? Did you use the same methodology in more than
one scenario? If someone disagreed with you on the answer to one of these questions,
how would you try to convince that person that your position makes more sense?