Midterm Prep

Christopher L. Holland

Saint Louis University

October 10, 2024

Midterm Questions with Key Concepts from Rehg

Midterm Question 1

Identify the moral triggers. 

  • Is there anything of concern with regard to character or virtue? Explain.
  • Is there anything of concern in terms of human well-being or other consequentialist concepts? Explain.
  • Is there anything of concern in terms of deontology: rights or duties violated, etc? Explain.

Moral Triggers

Morally problematic uses and effects of ICTs in social-institutional domains and practices, those places where new cyberpractices call for moral inquiry. An ICT should trigger moral reflection not only if it creates injustice or doubts about right conduct, but also if it threatens virtuous character or flourishing. (Rehg 2017, chap 1., p. 19)

Moral Triggers

For the midterm, consider a concrete example of the CP to discuss the concerns surrounding it.

Cyberpractice
Use an algorithm to monitor your competitors’ prices and automatically raise your prices when the algorithm predicts that they will match your increase. Reset price (or match lowest competitor price) after failed predictions.
Concrete example
Amazon’s Project Nessie (described in the FTC complaint pp. 123–126 (¶¶426–432))

Midterm Question 2

Identify the stakeholders in the case and describe the relevant consequences for each group. (Include a table like the one you built for the DCE in-class assignments.)

Suggested Table Columns

Stakeholder group
A group of people affected by the cyberpractice.
Values
Specific stakeholder values (e.g., food, shelter, right to property, entertainment, profits). For more examples, see the center column of Rehg’s Typology of Values.
Moral Force
How important is the stakeholder value (morally speaking)? E.g., a value with overriding moral force—like having an adequate amount of food or the right to free expression—takes precedence over anything without overriding force—like entertainment or profits. See the last column of Rehg’s Typology of Values. You may also want to consult the UN Declaration on Human Rights.

Suggested Table Columns

Impacts
Will the CP and its reasonably foreseeable consequences on the stakeholder’s autonomous pursuit of values be positive, negative, or mixed?
Likelihood
How likely are reasonable foreseeable consequences for stakeholders pursuit of the value? You don’t have to put a number to this—so, you can use words such as “likely,” “very likely,” “unlikely,” etc.
Level
How strongly will the impact the stakeholders’ pursuit of the value? (Again, you can use words like “strong,” “weak,” “moderate,” etc.)

Table Strategy

Fill out the stakeholder groups and values first. Then fill out the rest of the table as you work on questions 3 and 4. Question 3 will help you refine the values column. Question 4 will help you fill out the remaining columns. Use questions 3 and 4 to help explain/justify your table.

Midterm Question 3

Clarify key concepts and values affected by cyberpractice. Are there any conceptual muddles? Explain them. (See Cogent Cyberethics, chap. 1, pp. 9–11.)

Conceptual Muddle

New cybertech creates a conceptual muddle when it changes a social practice or activity in such a way that some concept or set of concepts connected with the practice or activity becomes unclear or contentious for members of the practice.(Rehg 2017, chap 1., p. 19)

Conceptual Muddle

Moor’s original example deal with policies for protecting computer programs.(Moor 1985, 266–67) The muddle takes place when we try to categorize computer programs. Can you own a computer program? That is, are they like written works, a form of intellectual property covered by copyright? Or are they more like an idea or algorithm—which cannot be owned? If you can own a program, is it the expression of an idea (copyright) or is it a process (patent)?

Conceptual Muddle

In Moor’s example there are muddles related to the tech.

What is it?

But there are also muddles related to our values.

What does property mean in this context?

Answering Question 3

Q3: Clarify key concepts and values affected by cyberpractice. Are there any conceptual muddles? Explain them. (See Cogent Cyberethics, chap. 1, pp. 9–11.)

Look at the values you’ve identified in Q2. What needs to be explained? What about the CP complicates our understanding of the value? Finally, clarify your use of the value concept by giving a definition for the value, why it is important to the stakeholder, and how the value relates to the CP.

Midterm Question 4

In the context of CP, which values have the greatest moral force? Why?

Answering Question 4

Which values have a high or overriding moral force? Consider the impact, likelihood, and level of the values you’ve listed. What stands out? How do these factors relate to or affect the moral force of the value.

Midterm Question 5

Is CP morally acceptable? Use the standards of DCE and provide a cogent argument to support your judgment.

Building your argument

Use the material you’ve gathered in questions 1–4 to build an argument for the moral acceptability or unacceptability of the CP. Use class notes on stage IV and Rehg’s DCE outline as a reference.

Midterm Questions 6 and 7

  1. Who would disagree and why?
  2. Are there any problems in information or argument travel that explain the disagreement? (See Cogent Cyberethics, chap. 7, esp. p. 10.)?

Public Merits

Look to the news articles to help answer the last two questions. What stakeholders do they represent? What would they think of your argument? Is your disagreement based on moral considerations or non-moral facts surrounding the CP?

Use class notes on Public Merits Assessments to guide your answers.

Sources

Moor, James H. 1985. “What Is Computer Ethics?” Metaphilosophy 16 (4): 266–75. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9973.1985.tb00173.x.
Rehg, William. 2017. Cogent Cyberethics. Unpublished manuscript.