Plaisance, Chapter 2

“Ethics in Media”

A Systematic Approach to Making Ethical Decisions

– The Multidimensional Ethical Reasoning and Inquiry Task Sheet (MERITS)

• Conflicting values• Normative frameworks• Discussion

Conflicting Values

• Description of facts• Identification of principles and values

– Privacy– Conflicts of interest– Justice– Truth telling– Transparency– Harm – Etc.

• Statement of a specific ethical issue

A: analysis: the application of philosophical ethical theories

• The Greek tradition of moral absolutes– Aristotle’s virtue ethics

• Duty based ethics (deontology)– Kant’s categorical imperative– Ross’ prima facie duties– Feminist ethics

• Benhabib

• Consequence based ethics (teleology)

Consequential ethics, continued

• Utilitarianism– Bentham and Mill

• Social contract– Hobbes– Locke– Rosseau– Rawls

Decision

• Decide what to do

• Defend based upon a philosophical ethical theory– All approaches may arrive at the same

decision, but for different reasons– Different approaches may arrive at

different decisions