Adam Smith and Moral Knowledge

This paper examines the contribution of The Theory of Moral Sentiments to the study of how we acquire moral knowledge. In Smith, this is associated with the moral judgment of an impartial spectator, a hypothetical ideal conjured in the imagination of an agent. This imagined spectator has the properties of impartiality, information and sympathy. I argue Smith develops this construct in the context of personal ethics, i.e., as a guide to moral conduct in personal relationships. There are limitations, however, to this model for personal ethics, as acknowledged by Smith himself and suggested by subsequent social science findings. Moreover, this model does not necessarily extend to social ethics, i.e., to moral judgment in less personal economic and social interactions, such as firms, industries and governments. Hence, I propose modifying the spectator model in light of modern social science methods and of Smith’s own insights to address its limitations for personal ethics and to provide it with a foundation for social ethics. The proposed approach is based on a quasi-spectator, i.e., the empirical analysis of the moral views of real spectators whose properties approximate those of the ideal spectator. A review of quasi-spectator studies suggests this as a promising method for informing both descriptive and prescriptive ethics.Adam Smith, ethics, moral knowledge

Professional Ethics in Information Systems: A Personal Perspective

In the Information Systems discipline, increasing attention is being paid to the issue of professional ethics. In this article, a personal perspective on the topic is offered. The academic philosophies of ethical theory are introduced, followed by detailed treatment of four fundamental issues: codes of ethics, intellectual property rights, professional accountability and data protection. The intention of the article is to arouse the interest of IS professionals and to stimulate debate. Through a discussion, future developments in the professionalism of information systems are explored, and questions are raised concerning the way in which information systems is regulated, and the role it may play in the future

What to Do When Privacy Is Gone

Today’s ethics of privacy is largely dedicated to defending personal information from big data technologies. This essay goes in the other direction; it considers the struggle to be lost, and explores two strategies for living after privacy is gone. First, total exposure embraces privacy’s decline, and then contributes to the process with transparency. All personal information is shared without reservation. The resulting ethics is explored through a big data version of Robert Nozick’s Experience Machine thought experiment. Second, transient existence responds to privacy’s loss by ceaselessly generating new personal identities, which translates into constantly producing temporarily unviolated private information. The ethics is explored through Gilles Deleuze’s metaphysics of difference applied in linguistic terms to the formation of the self. Comparing the exposure and transience alternatives leads to the conclusion that today’s big data reality splits the traditional ethical link between authenticity and freedom. Exposure provides authenticity, but negates human freedom. Transience provides freedom, but disdains authenticity

Towards Ethical IL: a thought journey: Keynote Address

In this paper I reflect on the conference topic of Epistemology, opinions, beliefs and realities, and propose that two complementary elements, values and ethics deserve additional close attention, as the conference elements could be seen as contributing aspects of an Information Literacy Ethics Framework. The development of an IL Ethics Framework is an important progression for the IL agenda as scholars and practitioners increasingly deepen and extend that domain. The IL Ethics Framework I propose assumes understandings of information literacy that permeate all aspects of disciplinary, professional, organizational, social and economic pursuits. It assumes information and other professionals developing IL programs in a range of contexts, seeking to activate information empowerment in others as well as in themselves. I present for consideration some possible elements of an IL Ethics Framework, including a) the central principles of being other focused and empowering, b) the actions of creating programs that are grounded in beliefs and c) some suggested personal values that might underpin IL programs and personal activity. Each of these elements is discussed and an invitation extended to consider their development, adaptation or application in particular contexts. To conclude, I highlight some information literacy research and scholarship and professional activity which would seem to resonate with the ethical framework proposed

Lurkers, Creepers, and Virtuous Interactivity: From Property Rights to Consent to Care as a Conceptual Basis for Privacy Concerns and Information Ethics

Exchange of personal information online is usually conceptualized according to an economic model that treats personal information as data owned by the persons these data are ‘about.’ This leads to a distinct set of concerns having to do with data ownership, data mining, profits, and exploitation, which do not closely correspond to the concerns about privacy that people actually have. A post-phenomenological perspective, oriented by feminist ethics of care, urges us to figure out how privacy concerns arrive in fundamentally human contexts and to speak to that, rather than trying to convince people to care about privacy as it is juridically conceived and articulated. By considering exchanges of personal information in a human-to-human online informational economy — being friends on social networking sites — we can identify an alternate set of concerns: consent, respect, lurking, and creepiness. I argue that these concerns will provide a better guide to both users and companies about prudence and ethics in information economies than the existing discourse around ‘privacy.

Giving patients granular control of personal health information: Using an ethics ‘Points to Consider’ to inform informatics system designers

Objective: There are benefits and risks of giving patients more granular control of their personal health information in electronic health record (EHR) systems. When designing EHR systems and policies, informaticists and system developers must balance these benefits and risks. Ethical considerations should be an explicit part of this balancing. Our objective was to develop a structured ethics framework to accomplish this. Methods: We reviewed existing literature on the ethical and policy issues, developed an ethics framework called a “Points to Consider” (P2C) document, and convened a national expert panel to review and critique the P2C. Results: We developed the P2C to aid informaticists designing an advanced query tool for an electronic health record (EHR) system in Indianapolis. The P2C consists of six questions (“Points”) that frame important ethical issues, apply accepted principles of bioethics and Fair Information Practices, comment on how questions might be answered, and address implications for patient care. Discussion: The P2C is intended to clarify whatis at stake when designers try to accommodate potentially competing ethical commitments and logistical realities. The P2C was developed to guide informaticists who were designing a query tool in an existing EHR that would permit patient granular control. While consideration of ethical issues is coming to the forefront of medical informatics design and development practices, more reflection is needed to facilitate optimal collaboration between designers and ethicists. This report contributes to that discussion

Social Studies Pre-Service Teachers’ Awareness of Environmental Ethics

Aim of this study is to determine environmental ethic perception of prospective social studies teachers. In the study, descriptive survey model was used. Research sample consists of prospective social studies teachers studying in Buca Faculty of Education at Dokuz Eylul University. "Personal Information Form” and "Environmental Ethics Awareness Scale" developed by Özer (2015) were used as data collection tools. After application of data collection tools, data were gathered, and findings about research problem and sub problems were presented. Relationships between environmental ethics awareness level and personal characteristics, such as age, gender, grade level and settlement area etc. were examined, by analyzing findings in computer via SPSS program. As a result of the significant differences obtained in the findings, it revealed that female students were more conscious of environmental ethics than male students. It is also seen that the awareness of environmental ethics has decreased with increased age. Likewise, it was concluded that the grade level was inversely proportional to the awareness of environmental ethics and it was understood that the place of residence did not have a meaningful impact on the awareness of environmental ethics. In conclusion part of the study, recommendations were made that studies on environmental ethics be implemented upon different samples by different variables, and that environmental ethics awareness level be improved

Do Information Privacy Concerns Affect Students’ Feeling of Alienation?

Organizations such as universities collect and use personal data about customers such as students. How do students feel about their university’s practices related to the collection and use of personal data? Using data collected via a survey of 187 students at a large U.S. university, we investigate the effects of these two privacy concerns on students’ feeling of alienation. Implications of the results are discussed in light of ethics, strategy, design, control and administration of personal information management systems

The teaching of computer ethics on computer science and related degree programmes. a European survey

Within the Computer Science community, many ethical issues have emerged as significant and critical concerns. Computer ethics is an academic field in its own right and there are unique ethical issues associated with information technology. It encompasses a range of issues and concerns including privacy and agency around personal information, Artificial Intelligence and pervasive technology, the Internet of Things and surveillance applications. As computing technology impacts society at an ever growing pace, there are growing calls for more computer ethics content to be included in Computer Science curricula. In this paper we present the results of a survey that polled faculty from Computer Science and related disciplines about teaching practices for computer ethics at their institutions. The survey was completed by respondents from 61 universities across 23 European countries. Participants were surveyed on whether or not computer ethics is taught to Computer Science students at each institution, the reasons why computer ethics is or is not taught, how computer ethics is taught, the background of staff who teach computer ethics and the scope of computer ethics curricula. This paper presents and discusses the results of the survey