Instructor Info

1) Erik
Jackiw
2) EJJACKIW@cpp.edu
3) EJACKIW@gmail.com
4) Office: 17-2257
5) Office Hours:
Th: 1pm-2:50pm
6) Message # (909) 869-2555

Ethical Considerations in
Technology and Applied
Science

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGOVbXF7Iog&fea
ture=fvsr

To Build a Death Star?

This Isn't the Petition Response You're
Looking For
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/isnt-p
etition-response-youre-looking
The Administration shares your desire for job
creation and a strong national defense, but a
Death Star isn't on the horizon. Here are a few
reasons:
The construction of the Death Star
has been estimated to cost more than
$850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard
to reduce the deficit, not expand it.
The Administration does not support blowing up
planets.
Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars
on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that
can be exploited by a one-man starship?

Recent Stories Involving

Ethics
Note 7
https
://consumerist.com/2016/09/15/samsung-galaxy-note-7-recall-is-finally-o
fficial
/

North Dakota Pipeline http://

www.vox.com/2016/9/9/12851168/dakota-access-pipeline-protest

Robot Ethics https://

www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/18/official-guidance-robot-et
hics-british-standards-institute

Ethics of Human Enhancement

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602342/the-ethics-of-human-enh
ancement
/

Wells Fargo

In the News 2016

http://
www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-porter-ranch-delay-2
0160102-story.html
"We need to ask questions about well construction and operation,"
Marshall said. "This well was constructed before modern standards"
were in place. Regulators also need to consider increasing the
frequency of inspections, he said.

http://
www.sciencerecorder.com/news/2015/12/31/microsoft-ibm-aimcombat-air-pollution-china/
attempting to create technology to predict high smog levels in
China

http://graphics.latimes.com/oil-operations /
What is most unfortunate, said Farrell, the Yale sociologist, is
that polarization around climate change ... was manufactured by
those whose financial and political interests were most threatened.
Even today, he added, that polarization has crippled any hopes for

Fall 2015 in the News

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/09/21/pea
nut-executive-salmonella-sentencing/72549166
/
Former peanut company executive Stewart Parnell was hit with a virtual life
prison term Monday for his 2014conviction on crimes relatedtoa salmonella
outbreak blamed for killing nine and sickening hundreds.
A federal judge in Georgia sentenced the61-year-old former head of Peanut
Corporation of America to28 years behind bars, imposing potentially the
toughestpunishment in U.S. historyfor a producer in a food-borne illness
case.

http://
spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/advancedcars/volkswagen-apologizes-for-emissions-cheating-software
-in-huge-car-recall
Most smart car features dont trigger a recall of almosthalf a million cars and
an apology from one of the worlds largest automakers. But last week, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency said it had discovereda software algorithm
designed to helpVolkswagen cars cheat on official emissions testing.

And More Fall 2015 News

http://
www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-general-motors-fine-20150917-story.html
General Motors not only failed to disclose this deadly defect, he said Thursday, it actively
concealed the truth from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the public.
Today's announcement sends a message to manufacturers: Deception and delay are
unacceptable, and the price for engaging in such behavior is high.
The price may be high in dollars, but it pales in comparison with the damage of automakers'
negligence to victims and their families, said Clarence Ditlow, executive director at the Center
for Auto Safety.
GM killed over 100 people by knowingly putting a defective ignition switch into over 1 million
vehicles. Yet no one from GM went to jail or was even charged with criminal homicide, he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/business/a-huge-overnight-increase-in-a-drugs
-price-raises-protests.html?action=click&contentCollection=Asia+Pacific&module=
MostPopularFB&version=Full&region=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article&_
r=0
The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by
a former hedge fund manager. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from
$13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of
dollars.
What is it that they are doing differently that has led to this dramatic increase? said Dr. Judith
Aberg, the chief of the division of infectious diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount
Sinai. She said the price increase could force hospitals to use alternative therapies that may

Older News Stories:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/31/business/a-year-of-record-re
calls-galvanizes-auto-industry-into-action.html?_r=0
60 million recalls in 2014!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/25/h
ow-to-teach-right-and-wrong-to-self-driving-cars/
People are likely to want to have the option to choose how their
vehicle behaves, both in an emergency and in general, so it
seems the issue of adjustable ethics will become real as
robotically controlled vehicles become more common.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2015-01-08/honda-fined-reco
rd-70-million-for-underreporting-injury-claims

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329863.700-ethical-tr
ap-robot-paralysed-by-choice-of-who-to-save.html

http://www.latinpost.com/articles/22124/20140923/hackers-th

Older News Stories:

Insurance Company Pulls Actor Rob Sc
hneiders Ads Over His Anti-Vaccine
Views
Rockefellers, Heirs to an Oil Fortune, W
ill
DivestCharity ofFossil Fuels
Tasty or addictive? Chinese restaura
nt serves noodles laced with opium p

Older Stories from Google

News:
AT&T Chief Speaks Out on Texting at the Wheel:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/technology/att-chief-speak
s-out-on-texting-while-driving.html
The smartphone, he says, is a product we sell and its
being used inappropriately. For him, that means the
company he runs has to get involved in a public awareness
campaign. We have got to drive behavior.

'Occupy' activists use iPhone line as podium for protest:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57516452-37/occupy-acti
vists-use-iphone-line-as-podium-for-protest/
A group of protestors tell CNET that they have joined the
iPhone line outside Apple's flagship New York City store to
decry Apple's labor practices, as well as commercialism and
waste.

Older Stories from Google

News:
71-year-old Cheney receives heart transplant:
http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/25/10855120-cheney
-too-old-for-transplant-bioethicist-weighs-in

In a landmark submission filed overnight the peak road

safety authority in North America recommended external
speakers become compulsory on all electric vehicles and
hybrids from 2016:
http://www.news.com.au/technology/electric-cars-and-hybrids
-could-be-forced-to-make-more-noise-at-low-speeds/story-e6f
rfro0-1226549782107
In Discarding of Kidneys, System Reveals Its Flaws
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/health/transplant-experts
-blame-allocation-system-for-discarding-kidneys.html?pagewa
nted=all

Course Objectives
(1)To develop an understanding and
appreciation of ethical theories and their
relevance to personal and professional life.
(2) To better understand blind spots and
their impact on our moral decision-making.
(3) To develop critical reading and writing
skills.
(4) To work with colleagues and develop a
reasoned consensus.

Topics this Quarter

Weeks 1-5: The importance of blind spots

and how they impact ethics and reason
Week 4: Social Contract Theory & Codes of
Ethics
Weeks 6-8: Moral Theories: Utilitarianism,
Deontology, & Virtue Ethics
Weeks 9: Reason, science, and moral
relativism
Week 10: Thinking of ourselves & others;
egoism

A Class with a Built-in Lab!

Think About
Your behavior and values
What constitutes learning
e.g., evaluating and modifying your
behavior

Professional Development
Importance of Contracts

Textbooks

Course Policy
Attendance is required; excessive absences (2 or more) will
result in a failing grade for this course.

Since this is an upper-division course, students are

expected to be alert and ready/willing to participate .
E-mail: Please include your name & section number (or
meeting time). If you dont hear back from me within 48
hours, please talk to me on Thursday.
Cell phones, laptops, mp3 players, work for other courses,
and other sources of distraction should be left at home or
be turned off and put away.
If this policy is violated, the instructor is no longer under
any obligation to assess that students work (i.e., student
fails class). Alternatively, the instructor may also choose to
give the student an oral quiz. Failure to correctly answer 2
out of 3 questions will lead to a full letter grade reduction.
This penalty is doubled for subsequent violations.
http://www.csupomona.edu/~engineering/current/integrity.htm

Grade Breakdown
1. Assignments (12%)
2. Case Analysis (36%)
[Note: failure to participate in or
complete this culminating course
project will result in a failing course
grade.]

3. Quizzes (20%)
4. Midterm Project (20%)
5. Presentation (12%)

Turning to Philosophy

What is Philosophy?

The term comes from the Greek:

Philo + Sophia = Love of Wisdom

What does that mean?

If philosophy means love of wisdom,
does that mean philosophers are
lovers of wisdom?
Must lovers of wisdom be wise?

Some mis-conceptions
of philosophy

Its *just* opinion

Typically, one who claims that
philosophy is *just* opinion, is trying
to end a conversation. On this view,
you and I may have different beliefs
but no one view is any more correct
than any other. There is no way to
adjudicate between differing views.

It may be opinion, but

We may regard philosophy as
opinion, but not in the conversationending manner previously discussed.
Philosophers offer reasons for their
views. It is in virtue of these reasons
that an opinion is thought to be
worth having.

Colbert on Truthiness

http://
www.cc.com/video-collections/ha9eov/
the-colbert-report-the-word/63ite2

Intuition
We often approach some question
with a sort of gut response.
Perhaps you already believe that we
have free will, even though you
havent done much investigating
Philosophers will often take intuition
to be a good starting point.
However, our intuitions can be
mistaken

What, then, is philosophy?

Towards a definition of
Philosophy
There really isnt a non-controversial
definition of philosophy.
Some will say that if you want to
know what philosophy is, you should
see what philosophers do.

Towards a Definition of
Philosophy
Philosophy may be viewed as both a
subject matter (e. g., the history of
ideas) and a method/activity.
In some philosophy courses, the
emphasis will be on what various
philosophers have had to say about a
topic.

Conceptual Analysis

Philosophy often consists in

conceptual analysis. We ask
questions such as:

(a) What is the claim being made?

(b)What argument is given in support
of that claim?
(c) Does the argument offer sufficient
support for the claim?

Some Virtues of Philosophy

Clarity
Carefulness & Critical Thinking
Coherence (or consistency)

Finally, a Definition!
According to Lewis Vaughn (author of
Writing Philosophy: a Students Guide to
Writing Philosophy Essays):
Doing philosophy consists mainly of the
systematic use of critical reasoning to
explore answers to basic questions, to
clarify the meaning of concepts, and to
formulate or evaluate logical arguments.
(5)

Why Should We Do
Philosophy?

1. Its mental exercise perhaps an

activity that we can enjoy for its
own sake, without respect to any
additional benefit.

Why Should We Do
Philosophy?
2.If you would like to increase your
chances of successfully navigating
about the world, you may need the
best information available. Without
it, you may be able to make choices,
but not fully-informed choices. And if
you are not able to make fullyinformed choices, there is a sense in
which your freedom is diminished.

Bertrand Russell Warns:

Those who dont do philosophy go
through life imprisoned in the
prejudices derived from common
sense, from the habitual beliefs of his
age or his nation, and from
convictions which have grown up in
his mind without the cooperation or
consent of his deliberate reason.

Tools of the Trade: Logic

Ideally, philosophers engage in a
dialogue on some issue and begin
with an agreement on correct
principles of reasoning.
If we can agree about what
constitutes correct reasoning, then
we may consider the reasons offered
for a particular claim and determine
whether or not they offer sufficient
support.

Suggestions for Critical

Reading

Active Reading: Previewing

When reading a text youre
unfamiliar with, it can be difficult to
follow.

Previewing
So, how do you go about previewing a text?
Author: sometimes knowing the identity of the
author will give you some clue as to what to
expect
Place of Publication: Sometimes knowing the
publisher of an article will give you a sense of
what to expect. An article in National Review is
likely to take a conservative stand, whereas an
article in another periodical may be more liberal.
Title: Sometimes the very title of a text will let
you know what the author intends to argue.
Problem?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNF9QNEQLA

Thesis
The thesis of an essay is the central claim being
argued for. If you think of an essay as an
extended argument, then the thesis is the
conclusion of the argument.
Authors will generally announce the thesis of the
argument in the first paragraph of the essay.
Sometimes they will also tell the reader how they
intend to show that the thesis is true.
Template for an essay: (1) Say what youre gonna
do. (2) Do it. (3) Remind the reader what you
did.

Reading with a Pencil

The authors suggest several ways in which
one can more deeply engage the text.
Underline key passages
Make annotations in the margins (if its your
book!)

You should be careful not to underline or

annotate too much. Otherwise, youll give
yourself more material to sort through
than necessary. Annotations may include
things such as doesnt follow or good
or even ??? These will provide a quick
reference when you review the essay.

Reasoning
Remember, an authors task is to
convince an audience, via argument,
of the truth of a given claim. You
should, therefore, expect to see
expressions such as:
This; therefore, that.
If this, then that
It might be objected at this point
that

Summarizing
A summary captures the main ideas of a
text in a fraction of the length. You are
focusing on the forest and not the
individual trees. One helpful strategy in
summarizing is to write a single sentence
for each paragraph in an essay.
A summary may help you to:
Understand the content of a text
See the strengths and weakness of a text

Paraphrasing
A paraphrase is a word-by-word or phraseby-phrase rewording of a text. It might be
viewed as your translation of a text into
your own language.
A paraphrase may be written for your own
convenience, so that it helps you to
understand a complex text (in which case it is
not part of the essay you are writing).
A paraphrase may also be written to help your
reader understand an important, but difficult
passage of a text.

For Next Time:

Read:

(1) B: The Gap Between Intended &

Actual Ethical Behavior
(2) B: Why Traditional Approaches to
Ethics Wont Save You
Recommended, but please bring a copy
to class:
(3) Bb: Impediments to Responsible
Action

NOW: Create Groups of

Four
(1) Give your group
a name. List all
members and group name on
assignment sheet.

(2)Answer the following:

a. On a scale of 0 to 100, how moral

are you relative to other students (or
groups) in this class? [least ethical =
0; average = 50]
b. What makes something right or
wrong? How do YOU decide?
c. Something you know is right &
something you know is wrong.
Explain your answer.