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Social Studies skills: Difference between revisions
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the defensible but undesired position to which one retreats when hard pressed.</pre> | the defensible but undesired position to which one retreats when hard pressed.</pre> | ||
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== Ethics == | |||
=== Aristotle === | |||
* by Aristotle's view, the study of ethics is essential to understanding the world around us and for finding virtue and happiness | |||
** ''ethikē'' = ethics | |||
** ''aretē'' = virtue or excellence | |||
** ''phronesis'' = practical or ethical wisdom | |||
** ''eudaimonia'' = "good state" or happiness | |||
* steps to become a virtuous person: | |||
** 1. practicing righteous actions guided by a teacher leads to righteous habits | |||
** 2. righteous habits leads to good character by which righteous actions are willful | |||
** 3. good character leads to ''eudaimonia'' | |||
=== ethical dilemmas == | |||
==== the "Trolley problem" | |||
* a dilemma created by the need to sacrifice one innocent person to save (usually given as) five others | |||
* scenario: | |||
** a runaway (out of control) trolley is heading towards a track with five workers on it (or sometimes presented as five people tied up and who are unable to move) | |||
** there is a secondary track that was not in the original pathway of the trolley and that has one person on it | |||
** an engineer who sees the situation can divert the trolley to the secondary track, thus killing the one person on it but saving the five on the original track | |||
*** the problem is that that one person was otherwise not in danger and not wrongfully on the track | |||
*** is that sacrifice ethical? | |||
* the "utilitarian" view holds that it would be ethical and morally responsible to divert the trolley as it would save more lives | |||
** by "utilitarian" we mean a choice or action that benefits the most people, even at the expense of some others | |||
*** i.e. "maximize utility" | |||
* objections to the utilitarian response include: | |||
** the engineer had no intention to harm the five but by diverting the trolley would have made a willful decision to kill the one; therefore the act would be morally objectionable | |||
*** = deliberately harming anyone for any reason is morally wrong | |||
*** = violating the "doctrine of double effect," which states that deliberately causing harm, even for a good cause, is wrong | |||
* the Trolley problem shows up in other situations: | |||
** artificial intelligence, such as driverless vehicles | |||
** Isaac Asimov explored moral and ethical dilemmas regarding artificial intelligence in his collection of essays, "I Robot." | |||
*** Asimov envisioned the '''Three Laws of Robotics''' | |||
click EXPAND to read the Three Laws of Robotics | |||
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> | |||
<pre> | |||
First Law | |||
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. | |||
Second Law | |||
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. | |||
Third Law | |||
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. | |||
</pre></div> | |||
==Standards/ Standardization== | ==Standards/ Standardization== | ||