Lecture 08: Ethics - What is Good?

Ethics, sometimes known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematising, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct, often addressing disputes of moral diversity.

Plato and Aristotle use ethics in there philosophy. 

First Things First Manifesto - Ken Garland. Argued that visual communicators where wasting their talents working jobs within advertising/trivial jobs that do not benefit the world. Adbusters Manifesto, 2000 (anit-capitalist) endorsing a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and act. Reversal of priorities- in favour of more useful, lasting and democratic form

"We, the undersigned, are graphic designers, art directors and visual communicators who have been raised in a world in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented to us as the most lucrative, effective and desirable use of our talents"
Adbusters promote political practice (culture jamming) using their skills as visual communicators promote political cause, such as 'buy nothing day'.

A meme is an idea that is central to every advert. Which is why meme warfare has become the geopolitical battle of our information age. Whoever has the memes has the power.

Victor Papanek - was a designer and educator who became a strong advocate of the socially and ecologically responsible design of products, tools, and community infrastructures.
'most things are designed not for the needs of people but for the needs of manufacturers to sell to people' (Papenek, 1983:46) 

Papanek Beer can automobile can bumper, 1971. Before the technology of bumpers, a giant american car company decided that they would keep their dangerous bumpers as replacing them would be too much. And so Papanek designed his own bumper for less then $50, and drove it into the senate building in his home town , he was put on trial , but the car company still denied the making of a new bumper saying it would add $500 onto each car unit.
how do we determine what is good? 

ethical theories

subjective relativism 
-there are no universal moral norms of right and wrong
-all persons decide right and wrong for themselves

cultural relativism
-the ethical theory that whats right or wrong depends on place and/or time

divine command theory
-good actions are aligned with the will of God
-bad actions are contrary to the will of God
-the holy book helps make the decisions

Kantianism (enlightened period) 

Kantianism is defined as a branch of philosophy that follows the works of Immanuel Kant who believed that rational beings have dignity and should be respected.the philosophy of Kant, who held that the content of knowledge comes a posteriori from sense perception, but that its form is determined by a priori categories of the mind: he also declared that God, freedom, and immortality, although they cannot be proved or disproved, are necessary postulates of a rational morality

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) a German philosopher. People's wills should be based on moral rules. Therefore its important that our actions are based on appropriate moral rules. To determine when a moral rule is appropriate Kant proposed two categorical imperatives, one way of thinking whether an action is moral or not

Two Formulations of the Categorical Imperative
Act only from moral rules that you can at the same time universalise - if you act on a moral rule that would cause problems if everyone followed it then your actions are not moral

Act so that you can always treat both yourself and other people as ends in themselves, and never as a means to an end - if you use people for your own benefit that is not moral.

If everyone makes mindless advertising, it is unethical.

Utilitarianism, or consequentialist ethics (John Stuart Mill) 

Principle of Utility (also known as the greatest happiness principle)
-an action is right to the extent that it increases the total happiness of the affected parties
-an action is wrong to the extent that is decreases the total happiness of the affected parties 
-happiness may have many definitions such as : advantage, benefit, good or pleasure. 

Rules are based on the principle of utility
-a rule is right to the extent that it increases the total happiness of the affected parties
-the greatest happiness principles is applied to moral rules 

similar to kantanism- both pertain to rules 
-but kantanism uses the categorial imperative to decide which rules to follow

Social contract theory 

Thomas Hobbes (1603-1679) and Jean Jacques Rousseau. An agreement between individuals held together by common interest. avoids society degenerating into a 'state of nature' or the 'war of all against all' (hobbes)
'morality consists in the set of rules, governing how people are to treat one another, that rational people will agree to accept, for their mutual benefit, on the condition that others follow these rules as well.'
we trade some of our liberty for a stable society.

Toolbox of moral/ethical theories

whether presented with problems that are easy or difficult to solve, the four workable ethical theories,
-kantianism
-act utilitarianism
rule utilitarianism 
-social contract theory
could provide us with possible solutions to many of the problems that are raised by the 'first things first' manifesto. 

Criteria for a workable ethical theory
-moral decisions and rules-based on logical reasoning
-treat everyone equally
-cultural netual deisgn 

social tithe