The main point from this week’s reading, Chapte5 in the TCT, is the discussion of ethics of peoples motives what is socially and culturally acceptable and how to incorporate proper use of other people’s legal property.
I find that the example of the Einstein letter was useful in understanding how ethics can be good and bad. With all intentions Einstein wanted to help prevent the Nazis from creating and using the atomic bomb by helping the US crating the atomic bomb before the Nazis.
Knowing what is ethical and what isn’t varies between each person. Everyone has their own personal opinion about ethics. From the reading it describes how each person’s personal ethics are reflected by their family and culture. Where as for social ethics come from rights, justice, utility, and care.
From this week’s readings, I find it important to know about social ethics while using information from the internet to use on our White Paper project, smart phones. Making sure to ask and properly use the published information that other people have created. From the TCT, there is a section that discusses the way to properly ask for using information by using the current copyright laws to avoid plagiarism. Since most of us are using out side resources for the White Paper project it is a good idea to credit those who are responsible for creating the information we use.
One of the most informative parts of this chapter is about how after your information is in a written form that it is legally copyrighted. This is useful information when you have a thought that you would like to publish for yourself. I will be using this knowledge in future references.
Overall, from this reading I have gained a better understanding of a variety of ethics. How social ethics differ from personal ethics.
Ethical decisions.
I also thought that Einstein’s letter was helpful in showing me how ethics can be good and bad all at the same time. He was trying to help but created a monster in doing so. Like you said, personal ethics tend to be passed down from parents and learned through everyday experiences. This means that everyone will generally have a different opinion on what these personal ethics consist of. Your fourth paragraph tends to be a serious problem, especially in colleges. It seems that the older people get the more they want to just get things done fast in terms of research and they don’t really pay attention to copyright laws and things like that.
Major ethical dilemma
Zeb, I also thought that the example of Albert Einstein helping the American’s to develop the atomic bomb was a great example of an ethical dilemma. The funniest part of the entire thing to me, if there is anything funny about this subject, is the fact that Albert Einstein was actually born in Germany and fled haven to the United States before the war. But Albert was still stuck with a great question, does he help to create the largest and most powerful bomb in history or does he abstain from creating a device that has the ability to kill hundreds of thousands of people and let the enemy make it first? That might just be one of the greatest examples of an ethical dilemma ever. Although it looks like he did make the right decision after all.
I agree with you that there
I agree with you that there can be some differences in what some people feel is ethical and what other people think is ethical. I think on many things there is a definite right or wrong way, but on some things there is a gray area. What seems very ethical to one person might seem very unethical to another. I think that the five questions from the text were helpful in determining if something is ethical or not. I like that you chose to make sure your white paper is socially ethical but you also may want to think about conservation ethics, since nearly every company today is finding a way to go green.
A question that deals more with ethics
I'm not sure I agree with Einstein....i'm kidding -- it just felt good saying that. I guess I just don't understand how encouraging the US to develop nuclear weapons would stop the enemy from doing so. Even if the US did it first, why can't the Nazi's do it too? I think a better ethical dilemma involving nuclear weapons would be "Is it a better choice to kill 220,000 enemies (almost all civilians) or even more American soldiers in an old fashioned war?”