2. Applying Ethics
The best way to judge an ethical theory is through a
practical situation – when presented with an ethical
situation you have to break it down into the different
factors which have to be considered. We are going to
present you with an ethical situation later today and ask
you to make a judgment based on ethical theories and
possibilities. The situation is going to be a real one –
how should the US respond to an unprovoked missile
attack by Iran on an American Airlines plane carrying
military personnel and members of the general public to
a medical conference in Afghanistan?
West Wing Episode – A proportional response
3. The ethics of war
Wars do have ethical stances – the most famous being
the religious idea of a “Just War” – this was developed
by Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century and more
recently by the American Congress of Bishops. He laid
down certain rules which included:
War must be fought for a just cause and declared by a
recognized leader
War must be the last resort and must be fought to promote
peace
A war must involve proportionality – you cannot bomb a whole
village because you think one of the enemy is hiding inside
You must minimize damage and seek a peaceful resolution as
well as protect innocents
There must be a realistic chance that you might win
4. Practicality
The danger is not in using the wrong ethical
theory – it is really in not using any ethical
theory or reason – making uninformed decisions.
As Socrates said “An unexamined life is a life
half lived” – you SHOULD use ethics and reason
to make decisions, the more you study ethics
the more you train your brain to think through
the options rather than acting on impulse.
5. West Wing Debrief
In this episode of the West Wing we witness a newly
appointed president struggling to come to terms with the
death of one of his close aides in an unprovoked attack
Throughout the course of the episode President Bartlett
struggles to act rationally and instead reacts with
emotion
In the area of ethics emotion is not a good way to react
although it is an understandable way to react – notice
also how his Chief of Staff Leo points out his use of
language “don’t keep referring to “him” being blown up”
“It’s what our fathers taught us to do” – there is also an
element here of propositional knowledge – knowing that
there is a right thing to do in dreadful circumstances
6. Did Bartlett do the right thing?
The clear answer is we don’t know….. A major problem
with all ethical theories is that we don’t know the future-
how do we know that his course of action is not going to
have an adverse effect? Are proportional responses
working in the world today?
In line with TOK we have to offer a personal opinion…. I
want to live in a civilised world where people behave as
I would want them to/ expect them to – Bartlett
eventually did the right thing, we can’t have
superpowers going round bullying other countries – not
in a world where we only have one superpower left.
BUT you may disagree……….
7. Why and how does ethical
knowledge matter in conflicts
? An action should be a considered action – can
you think of examples in history where leaders
have not acted with “consideration” but instead
have acted from other motives:
Political motivation
Economic motivation
Personal gain
Publicity
Instead of a fictional situation let us consider the US
and its allies invasion of Iraq on the basis that they
have weapons of mass destruction – did George Bush
and Tony Blair act with consideration?
8. Is George Bush an ethical man?
George Bush is said to “loathe the intellectual
avatars of complexity and doubt” ,he has a
strong belief in intuition and a sense of right and
wrong “America is in a conflict between good
and evil and America will call evil by its name” .
In a Newsweek article a former aide states that
“Bush has satisfied himself that Iraq would be a
Just War. But he didn’t do it through combing
through texts or presiding over disputation, He
decided that Saddam was evil and everything
followed from that” . Bush is also quoted as
saying that “moral truth is the same in every
culture, in every time and in every place”
9. The Role of Religion
The White House is said to “hum to the
sound of prayer” – both Bush and Blair
according to Newsweek “are religious men
– but the simple American faith with
heaven and hell, good and evil, right and
wrong – is better suited to these present
conditions” This is opposed to the religious
version of Aquinas who believed in faith
combined with reason – should faith alone
be a moral guide?
10. Two ways of looking at the issue
Saddam Hussein used force, corruption and Saddam Hussein was the leader of his
fear to maintain his position as leader of country and was supported by a majority of
Iraq its people
Saddam Hussein had already demonstrated Saddam had put down fractions of his
a willingness to use weapons of mass country which were causing trouble and
destruction against innocent people threateneing the stabiltiy of the country
Saddam Hussein tortured his own people Saddam Hussein invaded a country which
and refused to have free and open was orginally part of Iraq until foreign
elections powers re drew the boundaries
Saddam Hussein had invaded another Saddam Hussein was seen as a hero
country before without provocation amongst Middle Eastern countries for
Saddam Hussein would not allow UN standing up to the US
weapons inspectors into this country inspite Saddam Hussein could not see why his
of a UN resolution country could not develop weapons of
mass destruction like other countries had
e.g. Israel and India
11. Presentations
Fifty percent of your TOK grade will go on your
presentation. You can work alone or in a group
with each person having to provide a 10 minute
presentation on an issue of their choice. You
must include reference to the WOKs and AOKs
as well as demonstrate a variety of view points
and a personal stance at the end of the
presentation using examples from real life and
experiences. Today we are going to do practice
presentations of 5 minutes only in larger groups
of 3 or 4.
12. A template
On Lionel – in the TOK area – you will find a
blank template for your presentation which
includes the following….
What is the ethical situation you have identified
What would a deontologist do?
What would a teleologist do?
What issues do these ethical theories raise?
If you were omnipotent how would you solve
the situation?
Do ethical theories help us solve the ethical
issue?
13. What is the ethical situation?
Should the US and its allies use pre emptive
force to prevent other countries
developing weapons of mass destruction?
14. What would a deontologist do?
A Deontologist who believes it is the duty
of world leaders to protect and promote
peace would state that it is right to invade
another country to prevent a greater evil
as long as the evidence indicates that the
country is creating weapons of mass
destruction and that this principle is
upheld consistantly.
15. What would a teleologist do?
A teleologist would look at all the possible
outcomes:
Are there wmd?
Have warnings been given?
Has diplomacy been tried?
Is there an exit strategy?
Will the outcome bring more securtiy than
there is now?
16. What issues do these ethical
theories raise?
Deontology doesn’t work as people are
not predictable – how can we ever know
things for certain?
Teleology doesn’t work as there are too
many possible outcomes and the voice of
the minority is never heard
17. If you were omnipotent how would
you solve the situation?
I would want to take us back to a time
when there was no possibility of making
wmd! If that’s not possible I would want
to ensure that all means of making wmd is
controlled by the UN which is run by all
nations and not just the security council.
18. Do ethical theories help solve this
ethical issue
There is no solution…. But there is the
possibility that we “think” through our
solutions and not just act on instinct or
faith in that what we want is right. A
considered response is needed so that we
can justify it when it goes wrong!
19. Group Task
We have looked at one ethical situation – in groups of 4
or 5 you are to pick a real life situation and present the
following to the class:
What is the situation
What are the different ethical viewpoints of looking at
the situation i.e. is there a deontological principle behind
the issue, should we be judging on the consequences, is
there a religious dimension, is there an intuitive sense of
what is right and wrong, are there any other factors
If you were omnipotent (could do anything) for the day
what would you do?
Do ethical theories work?
20. Possible areas to look at
Several staff have agreed to offer back ground workshops for 30
minutes on the following areas of ethics in order to help you with
your presentation:
Medical Ethics – Mr Pritchard in P8
Ethics of leadership – Mr Nainie in P7
Ethics of cheating and plagiarism – Mr Turver in P6
Ethics of social network sites – Mr Jabal in P10
Ethics and animal rights – Dr Chau in P9
Or you can pick an area of your own choice – ideas such as “reality
TV”. Torture of suspected terrorists, charity begins at home, free
speech, same sex marriage etc etc.
The following computer rooms are available from 11.30 – 1.30pm
for you to use for your presentation: BS1/ K1/ Library. K4 is
available period 3 and K3 is available period 4
21. What you have to do
A minimum 5 minute presentation to your
house TOK groups on your ethical issue
followed by a 5 minute Q and A from the
group
Your presentation will be assessed by your
peers
Blank presentation and mark schemes
available on TOK area of Lionel
23. Plenary – follow up task
? TOK Journal - to be completed for
homework
Is there a point in studying ethics?
Is it possible to lead an ethical life?
What role does ethics play in the world today?
Should ethics play a larger role in the world
today?
