Whenever we think about ethics, we must first understand the terms used in academic ethical circles and how they fit into the hierarchy of ethical construction. Likewise, it is important to acknowledge that there are different fields of ethical construction, which, although they are like each other, have different focuses.
| Ethical Framework | Ethical Principles |
|---|---|
| Rights Framework | Focused on the moral rights of those impacted by a decision. There is a (debated) list of moral rights—including the right to autonomy, the right to privacy, and the right to the truth that guides how to think about right and wrong action. These rights are different from laws but are justified by moral standards that groups of people acknowledge. |
| Virtue Framework | States that ethical action is judged based on how it aligns with virtues that lead to a fully flourishing human being. Examples of virtues might include honesty, integrity, fidelity, compassion, and self-control. |
| Utilitarian Framework | Holds that an action is morally right if it produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people. An action is morally right if the net benefits over costs are greatest for all affected compared with the net benefits of all other choices. |
| Care Ethics Framework | Fundamentally driven by relationships and how individuals should respond to others in specific situations using their capacity for empathy and care. |
| Justice Framework | Grounded in both legal and moral rights. Legal rights are entitlements that are limited to a particular legal system and jurisdiction and are the basis for citizens’ legal rights: for example, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and the right to freedom of speech. Moral (and human) rights are universal and based on norms in every society: for example, the right not to be enslaved and the right to work. |
Definitions
•Frameworks – “[A] particular set of rules, ideas, or beliefs which you use in order to deal with problems or to decide what to do” (Collins, n.d., “Framework,” Definition 1)
• Principles – “[A] set of standards or rules of personal conduct” (Collins, n.d., “Principles,” Definition 1)
• Ethical frameworks – A structured system of ethical principles and values designed to guide decision making; ethical frameworks are the culmination of specific ethical principles
• Ethical principles – A general belief of how one should behave based on the concepts of right or wrong
• Global Ethics – The code of conduct or framework intended to be universally applicable across different societies and cultures to guide the interactions of nations to be fair and equitable.
• Values – The individual beliefs that motivate personal action and human behavior; derive from our upbringing and take considerable time and effort to change.
• Morals – The standards of behavior or accepted way to do something; involves concepts of right and wrong that are created in society.
Key Differences
“Ethical principles are different from values in that the former are considered as rules that are more permanent, universal, and unchanging, whereas values are subjective, even personal, and can change with time. Principles help inform and influence values” (Bright et al., 2019, Ethical Principles and Responsible Decision-Making).
“Ethics and morals are both used in the plural and are often regarded as synonyms, but there is some distinction in how they are used. Morals often describes one’s particular values concerning what is right and what is wrong…While ethics can refer broadly to moral principles, one often sees it applied to questions of correct behavior within a relatively narrow area of activity…In addition, morals usually connotes an element of subjective preference, while ethics tends to suggest aspects of universal fairness and the question of whether or not an action is responsible” (Merriam-Webster, n.d., “Did You Know?”).
Philosophical Ethics
“Moral philosophy is standardly divided into metaethics and normative ethics. Normative ethics concerns itself with the substantive ethical questions we all face, such as ‘What has value?’ and ‘What are our moral obligations?’ Metaethics, on the other hand, asks philosophical questions about ethics, rather than ethical questions per se. ‘What is value?’ rather than ‘What has value?’ And ‘What can make it the case that we ought to do something?’ rather than ‘What ought we to do?'.
The PHL-218 course uses the term ‘philosophical ethics’ to refer to the project of integrating metaethics and normative ethics in a systematic way, trying to gain insight into what is valuable and obligatory (normatively) by understanding what value and obligation are (metaethically).
Social Ethics
“Social responsibility is an organization's duty to maximize its positive impact on stakeholders while minimizing its negative impact ([15]). Social responsibility is a contract with stakeholders to make a
positive impact. It takes an external perspective while marketing ethics takes an internal perspective ([7]). Marketing ethics is the foundation of all decisions that could be judged as right or wrong and would include decisions about social responsibility. While all AI decisions have an ethical dimension our focus has been on the ethical decisions of those managers and developers making decisions about rules in AI applications. In other words, our discussion of AI ethics has focused on the ethical decision-making process that is done internally in the organization. AI application performance can have an impact on external stakeholders that can be related to external social responsibility impact.
Social responsibility issues apply to many AI ethics decisions related to social and economic issues impacting consumers, employees, institutions, and the health and welfare of society. Social responsibility overlaps with sustainability promoting the well-being of the natural environment, including all biological entities and mutually beneficial interactions between nature and all members of society ([15]). AI applications can assist in climate change predictions, energy optimization, agricultural optimization, and especially healthcare accuracy, accessibility, and procedures. On the other hand, biased and inaccurate outputs on these issues could be negative to society” (Ferrell & Ferrell, 2024, p. 930).
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References
Bright, D. S., Cortes, A. H., Hartmann, E., Parboteeah, K. P., Pierce, J. L., Reece, M., Shah, A., Terjesen, S., Weiss, J., White, M. A., Gardner, D. G., Lambert, J., Leduc, L. M., Leopold, J., Muldoon, J., & O’Rourke, J. S. (2019). Principles of management. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-management
Collins. (n.d.). Framework. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/framework
Collins. (n.d.). Principles. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/principles
Darwall, S. (n.d.). Philosophical ethics. Yale University CampusPress. https://campuspress.yale.edu/stephendarwall/philosophical-ethics/
Ferrell, O.C., Ferrell, L. (2024). Building a Better World: The Role of AI Ethics and Social Responsibility. Journal of Macromarketing, 44 (4), 928-935.
Hutchings, K. (2018). Global Ethics: An Introduction (2nd ed.). Polity. https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781509513987
Mamgain, G. (2023, July 1). What is professional ethics? EduKedar Project. https://edukedar.com/what-is-professional-ethics/#gsc.tab=0
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Moral. Retrieved January 8, 2024, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moral