Values and Ethics STUDY NOTES

UEMK | HU 301 | 2017

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Values

Value

• abstract concepts of worth

• guiding principles which determine and govern our actions and decisions

Origin

Characteristics

• The feelings and attitudes we have about the relative worth or importance of

things make up our values

• They are Generalized Standards — determine good/bad, right/wrong

• A value in itself is neither good nor bad

• Formed through experiences over time. Influenced by parents, siblings, friends,

teachers, religions, organizations, the media, etc.

• Non static; subject to change

Universal values: static

Personal values: non static

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Value Spectrum of a Good Life

• Societal

• Aesthetic

• Psychological

• Material

• Ethical

• Spiritual

• Human

Societal Values

— for the benefit of society

• Secularism

• Democracy

Aesthetic Values

— perception and appreciation of beauty

Psychological Values

— mental health, integrated personality

Material Values

— worldly things (assets/objects)

Ethical Values

— dos and don’ts of life

Spiritual Values

— transcendence of physical self to benevolent forces

Use keyword SAPMESH to

remember!

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Human Values

— values concerned with goodwill of humanity (eg. generosity, kindness, love, respect)

Value Crisis

— disintegration of values (a universal epidemic)

Levels of Value Crisis

• Individual/personal

• Family

• Society

• Intellectual

• Cultural

Q. What are the measures we can undertake to remove value crisis?

• Socio-economic factors

• Rewards for moral values

• Role of mass media

Process of value education

Proposal

↓

Self verification, experiential validation

↓

Natural acceptance and understanding

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Instrumental values (means)

Those set of values which are used as tools, agents or means to achieve something.

(e.g. honesty)

Terminal values (ends)

The values sought after through instrumental values.

(e.g. peace or happiness)

Intrinsic values

Those values which are associated with its own intrinsic/internal/inherent qualities.

Extrinsic values

Those values which are associated for their own worth.

Personal Values

Personal values are the individual set of values. They vary from person to person. It is a

subset of core values.

Core Values

Core values are the universal set of values important to all.

Values enshrined in the Indian Constitution

http://www.nios.ac.in/media/documents/SecSocSciCour/English/Lesson-15.pdf

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Utilitarianism

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism]

• Utilitarianism is an ethical theory which states that the best action is the one that

maximizes utility.

• Utility = sum of all pleasure that results from an action minus suffering of anyone

involved in the action.

• Founded by Jeremy Bentham.

• Book by John Stuart Mill.

• Utility value — satisfies majority.

Ethics

Ethics

A normative science of conduct of a human being. It can also be defined as a branch of

philosophy that seeks to resolve questions of morality by systematizing, defending and

recommending concepts such as good vs evil, right vs wrong, virtue vs vice.

Types of Ethics

• Virtue ethics

• Ethics of Duty

• Ethics of Responsibility

• Ethics of Moral Judgement

Virtue Ethics

— it is concerned with general ethical qualities

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Ethics of Duty

— it pertains to the relationships within the private domain

Ethics of Responsibility

— it pertains to the relationships within the public domain

Ethics of Moral Judgement

— judgement of moralities

— keeps a check on the moralities, assures they’re ethical

— acts as a moral police

Difference between values and ethics

Values Ethics

1. Deals with what is important and why it is

important.

1. They are moral dos and don’ts.

2. Varies from person to person. 2. Universal across the world.

3. It motivates the person. 3. It constraints the person.

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Profession

Attributes

• Sophisticated skills, exercise of judgment

• formal education

• professional societies

• serve humanity

Whistle Blowing

Protesting against any wrong doing/any unethical activities.

• Internal Whistle blowing

Stays within the periphery of the organization.

• External Whistle blowing

The matter does not remain within the periphery of the organization.

Third parties are also involved.

Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2011 Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2011 is an Act in the Parliament of India which

provides a mechanism to investigate alleged corruption and misuse of power by public

servants and also protect anyone who exposes alleged wrongdoing in government bodies,

projects and offices. The wrongdoing might take the form of fraud, corruption or

mismanagement. The Act will also ensure punishment for false or frivolous complaints.[1]

Q. How is engineering different from other courses? Q. What do you mean by professional ethics? Q. What do you mean by code of ethics?

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Some Whistle Blowers

• Edward Snowden

• Satyendra Dubey

• Lalit Mehta

• Shanmugam Manjunath

• Vibhishana

Engineering Failure

— when an engineer fails to fulfill his engineering ethics.

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Technology

Technology

— Collective use of some skilled abilities.

Technology transfer

— The shift of technology from its place of origin.

Mechanisms

• Technical know-hows

• Training personnel

• Equipments

Sustainable Development

“ Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present

without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

— Our Common Future (Brundtland Commission Report, 1987)

Q. What two ideas are getting important through this definition?

• We need present economic development and development of society

• Resources are finite

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3 E’s of Sustainable Development

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Club of Rome

• International NGO

• Global think tank dealing with a variety of issues

• founded: 1968, by Aurelio Peccei and Alexander King.

A description of Club of Rome from www.clubofrome.org.

“The Club of Rome is an organisation of individuals who share a common concern

for the future of humanity and strive to make a difference. Our members are

notable scientists, economists, businessmen and businesswomen, high level civil

servants and former heads of state from around the world.” (sic.)

Limits to Growth

In 1970, an international team of researchers, who were members of the Club of Rome met

at MIT and conducted a research. The factors were:

• Population increase

• Agricultural production

• Non-renewable resource depletion

• Pollution generation

• Industrial output

They fed them into a global computer model and tested the behavior of the model under

set of assumptions to determine alternative patterns for mankind’s behavior. (study:

graphical representation)

In 1972, Limits to Growth was published.

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Authors: Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jørgen Randers, William W. Behrens

III.

Appropriate Technology Movement

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriate_technology]

Appropriate technology is a movement (and its manifestations) encompassing

technological choice and application that is small-scale, decentralized, labor-intensive,

energy-efficient, environmentally sound, and locally autonomous.[1]

Originally given the term, Intermediate Technology by Dr. Ernst Friedrich "Fritz"

Schumacher in his work Small is Beautiful.

Appropriate Technology

• EF Schumacher was associated with the British National Coal Board.

• In 1955 he acted as an economic adviser to the Govt. of Burma. He brought out a

paper: Economics in a Buddhist Country, a critique of the effects of western

economics on developing countries.

• In 1962, report to Indian Planning Commission:

“India is long in labor but short in capital. So the best thing for India to opt

for would be intermediate industrial technology that harness India’s surplus labor.”

• Schumacher, George McRobie, Mansur Hoda, Alfred-Lotham King and Julia Porter

formed a group — Intermediate Technology and Development Group (1965)

• In 1967 the group published a publication to enunciate the appropriate technology

concept, Tools for Progress: guide to small-scale equipment for rural development.

• They also formed panels of experts and practitioners around specific technological

needs to develop intermediate technologies to address those needs.

• In 1968, at a conference hosted by ITDG, the term Appropriate Technology was

used and the word Intermediate Technology was criticized as suggesting the

technology was inferior to advanced and did not include social and political factors

included in the concept as put forth by the proponents.

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• In 1973, EF Schumacher came up with the book: Small Is Beautiful: A Study of

Economics As If People Mattered.

Brain Drain

Drainage of intellectual resource from a country.

Problems in Technology Transfer

• Tech knowledge

• Raw materials

• Personnel required (lack of efficiency)

• Mutual understanding and coordination

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This document has been assembled from various sources. A major portion of the

information has been taken from the lectures of Prof. PD. Other sources include Ethics

and Values for Engineers and Managers by Subrata Chattopadhyay and Saumya Singh.

Some definitions have directly been copied from Wikipedia, which in turn might have

been copied from sources referenced in the footnotes of their respective Wikipedia pages.

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