Some Ethical Considerations

The " Trolley Dilemma " (or the "Trolley Problem") consists of a series of hypothetical scenarios developed by British philosopher Philippa Foot in 1967. Each scenario presents an extreme environment that tests the subject's ethical prowess. In 1985, American philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson scrutinized and expanded on Foot's ideas in The Yale Law Journal. The Trolley Problem is a thought…

Let us look at an hypothetical  example in which several people are involved: the development of new fire-resistant material using new materials. There are four people involved: Person A is working in the laboratory and is doing fundamental research into the atomic properties of this new material; Person B is hired by the fire brigade to design a new outfit for the firemen with this promising…

Individual Responsibility In this lecture, you'll learn how to distinguish between several different notions of  individual moral responsibility  and how to apply them in different concrete circumstances.  Our illustrative case is that of a chemical plant operator and the question whether he or she might be responsible for different scenarios of accidents that occur at his or her plant.  As an…

Now let's discuss a problem of collective action, which is sometimes called the " tragedy of the commons ". In the lecture, you will learn what a collective action problem is, and the conditions in which they arise. You will also learn how collective action problems can be addressed by cooperative schemes. The example which we will use is sustainable fishing. But you can apply this to various…

The following web lecture is about moral dilemmas and the moral overload of trying to satisfy these dilemmas.    The most basic definition of a moral dilemma is the following: The agent ought to do A.   The agent ought to do B.   The agent  cannot  do  both  A and B. Moral problems in science and technology often take the form of such moral dilemmas.  Scientists, engineers and designers often…

As you have seen,  risks arising from technologies   raise important ethical issues for people living in the 21st century. Although technologies such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, ICT, and/or nuclear energy can potentially improve human well-being, they come with serious risks. Consider the possibility and disastrous consequences of accidents, pollution, occupational safety or even…