Exploring Ethics and Ethical Dilemmas
23 Apr 2020
Ethics: An Overview
Ethics, specifically Western ethics, dates all the way back to ancient Greece at around 500 BC. Major ancient Greek philosophers, such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, began the study of human nature during the reign of science and astronomy, sparking a newly-found interest in the study of mind, existence, and reality. With the pursuit of philosophy came the study of morality, and from the foundation laid by these philosophers came forth a dynasty of moral thinkers who debated principles of right and wrong to better serve the human condition.
The field of ethics is a great one but for the purposes of this essay we’ll be looking at only two schools of thought: Kantian and utilitarianism.
Kantian ethics was established by German philosopher Immanuel Kant in the 1700s for the specific purpose of countering utilitarianism. Kantian can be described as being very absolute and black-and-white in thinking. A core belief of Kantian is that nothing can justify violations of moral rules. To a Kantian, lying bad no matter what. Even if that lie did only good and harmed absolutely no one, a Kantian would still view that lie as wrong. As mentioned before, this school of thought directly opposes the moral theory of utilitarianism, which, unlike Kantian, focuses more on the results of our actions and finds the intent or the action itself largely irrelevant. This means that regardless of the action, if the outcome is good, then that action is good. In the example mentioned above, a person of utilitarianism would say that lying, in that instance, would be good since it resulted in a good outcome.
Ethics today, as I see it, requires taking concepts from both Kantian and utilitarianism and applying it in accordance with the issues we face today. There needs to be a balance between adhering to moral codes and being flexible to better the common good.
How Does This Apply to Software Engineering?
Software engineering is a critical component in a lot of modern technology, and this technology is everywhere in every third-world country. To best illustrate the importance of software engineering, here’s a passage taken from What do we mean when we talk about ethics?:
How many cars or rockets are made today that do not depend upon critical software for their safe operation? How many bridges are built today without the use of sophisticated computer programs to calculate expected load, geophysical strain, material strength and design resilience?
Because of this, it is crucial for software engineers to have a strong foundation in ethics because everything they work on will affect the public one way or another. This is especially true if their work involves the safety and well-being of others. Similar to how reporters and engineers have a duty of abiding by personal and professional ethics, so do software engineers.
Ethics and Autonomous Vehicles
The importance of ethics in software engineering can’t be more apparent than in the ethical dilemmas surrounding autonomous cars, especially the dilemma of preservation versus self-sacrifice. An unavoidable accident is inevitable, and it is up to the software engineers’ to dictate how the car will behave when that time comes. In the study Autonomous Vehicles Need Experimental Ethics: Are We Ready for Utilitarian Cars, it explores the dilemma if the car were to adhere to the ideals of utilitarianism. This means that in the case of an unavoidable accident, the car would always choose the course of action which results in the fewest casualties even if this means killing the passenger in the car. However, what should happen if the number of casualties would remain the same regardless? What should the car do if one life will be lost no matter the choice? Should the car still sacrifice its passenger to save the pedestrian? And if so, this raises the issue of would people still buy an autonomous car if they knew that it will always put pedestrians’ lives over their own.
Because this ethical dilemma is so complex with such high stakes, I can’t decide on a stance that I’m really confident in. Of course, utilitarianism would give the most favorable outcome when there are multiple people at risk, but it gets immensely more difficult when it comes down to one life over the other.