In order to explore the ethical problem presented in the “Hacking into Harvard” case, the meaning of ‘ethical problem’ must first be understood. The word ‘problem’ can be easily described and is defined in the oxford dictionary (n.d) as “A matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome”. However, what makes a problem ethical is less clear. Ethics are about conduct, they are defined by cultural expectations and shaped by our philosophical values of right and wrong. Assessments of the ethical dimension of a problem are therefore impacted by cultural beliefs, the conduct expected by societies and the morals of the individual (Koehler, 2003; Navran, 2015). The hacking incident studied presents an ethical problem because the applicants’ act of gaining unwelcome access to university files did not conform with cultural expectation and because the universities response will have had effects that were deeply felt by many.
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An ethical dilemma exists when a choice between competing values is required and choosing in favour of one value will forfeit the other (Navran, 2015). A situation can therefore only be described as a true ethical dilemma if there is a choice between different actions that must be made and if every action available to choose from will result in an outcome that conflicts with a principle of ethics (Allen, 2012). When the university applicants of the “Hacking into Harvard” case
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Egoism is a theory that can be used to solve personal and interpersonal dilemmas using consequentialist criteria to assess the “moral rightness of an action” (Shaw et al., 2013, p.62). Roth (2005) explains that with egoism there is “no obligation to others and that altruistic behaviour is justified only as a means to self-interest”
At times in a person’s life, they might come across a few situations that leave them with a major decision between two or more options that challenge what they believe or what they might think is wrong or right. These are known as ethical dilemmas. Be it seeing a friend steal something and choosing between being honest and speaking up or letting it go. It can also be getting paid more than you earned and deciding if you’re going to be greedy and keep the money or return it. We run into these situations in our lives, some bigger and more influential on our destiny’s while others are small with no real consequences.
We have studied the two major theories that answer the question, “who should I be?”. These theories are egoism and altruism. In this paper, I will argue that the correct moral theory lies in-between the theories of egoism and altruism.
“Most people in the U.S. want to do the right thing, and they want others to do the right thing. Thus, reputation and trust are important to pretty much everyone individuals and organizations. However, individuals do have different values, attributes, and priorities that guide their decisions and behavior. Taken to an extreme, almost any personal value, attribute, or priority can “cause” an ethical breach (e.g. risk taking, love of money or sta...
In chapter six of the text it explained the hacker code of ethics and the issues associated with it. An ethical hacker is defined as a computer and networking expert who systematically attempts to penetrate a computer system or network on behalf of its owners for finding security vulnerabilities that malicious hackers could infiltrate. American journalist Steven Levy established six principals for hacker code of ethics. The six principal are limited computer access, free use of information, mistrusted- authority, examination of hacker, creation, and support in life for advancement. These principal has been controversial to many based on personal moral. As for creating appropriate set of guidelines for non-malicious hackers without becoming
Ethical egoism is a normative ethical position that focuses morally right action that promotes the individual own self interest. It states that actions whose consequences will benefit the doer can be considered as ethical. It differs from psychological egoism in that because ethical egoism says we ought to be selfish while psychological states we should be selfish (Frankena, 1973. 18). The theory in itself says we are hard-wired to be selfish and focus on what type of actions promote use and is self serving. The moral appraisal of things assumes our curiosity, necessitates and even contentment of others should factor in a stability of what we perceive morally and what is in our self-interest. What is morally right and
Ethical egoism is arbitrary and puts ourselves above everybody else for no apparent reason. Ethical egoism splits everybody into two groups, ourselves and everyone else, and says that we are the morally superior. This brings up the question, why are we, ourselves, morally superior to everyone else? Failing to answer this question, means that the ethical egoist has no rational reason to choose ourselves over anybody else. So, with similar rational, it could just have been that everyone else is morally superior to ourselves. The ethical egoist seems to be completely arbitrary in this decision. This theory doesn’t even know why it is putting us, ourselves, above everybody else. One can compare this to a racist who says white people are more superior to blacks (Rachels). Several decades ago they would rationally argue that blacks are intellectually inferior and a threat to the world peace but today there is substantial amount of evidence to refute these claims. Now the racist has no reasons for the racial discriminations and white people and black people are equal, meaning that being racially against black people is arbitrary and has no rational reasoning. Indeed, ethical egoism is just as arbitrary as racism is, but once again, utilitarianism
Ethical Egoism A rear assumption is that the needs and happiness of other people will always affect our moral ethics. If we accept this assumption, we think that our moral ethics balance our self-interest against that of others. It is true, that “What is morally right or wrong depends not only on how it makes us feel, but also how it affects others”. The idea that each person ought to pursue his or her own self-interest exclusively to do in his lifetime for others is known as Ethical Egoism.
• Once more, the ordinary science’ proves itself as the master of classification, inventing and defining the various categories of Egoism. Per example, psychological egoism, which defines doctrine that an individual is always motivated by self-interest, then rational egoism which unquestionably advocates acting in self-interest. Ethical egoism as diametrically opposite of ethical altruism which obliges a moral agent to assist the other first, even if sacrifices own interest. Also, ethical egoism differs from both rational and psychological egoism in ‘defending’ doctrine which considers all actions with contributive beneficial effects for an acting individual
Life is not a contest between each and every person, but a test. Just because someone believes that always making a decision that is in the best interest of themselves is right doesn’t mean that they are out to make the decision that worsens others around them. Personal ethical egoism is the idea that people should act in the best interest of themselves. I believe in altruism and that ethical egoism is an unacceptable theory because it’s proven to be inconsistent and incoherent.
With the development of modern society, many people say that the society has become miserable, and people only care their own profit. The self-interest is becoming the object of attacking. Thereupon, when we mention self- interest, people always mix up the concept of self-interest with selfishness. As we all known, the idea of selfishness is, “Abusing others, exploiting others, using others for their own advantage – doing something to others.” (Hospers, 59) Selfish people have no ethics, morals and standards when they do anything. At the same time, what is self – interest? Self- interest can be defined as egoism, which means a person is, “looking out for your own welfare.” (Hospers, 39) The welfare people talk about is nothing more than
Egoism is a teleological theory of ethics that sets the ultimate criterion of morality in some nonmoral value (i.e. happiness or welfare) that results from acts (Pojman 276). It is contrasted with altruism, which is the view that one's actions ought to further the interests or good of other people, ideally to the exclusion of one's own interests (Pojman 272). This essay will explain the relation between psychological egoism and ethical egoism. It will examine how someone who believes in psychological egoism explains the apparent instances of altruism. And it will discuss some arguments in favor of universal ethical egoism, and exam Pojman's critque of arguments for and against universal ethical egoism.
[2] An Ethical dilemma is defined as “a situation that arises when all alternative choices or behaviours have been deemed undesirable because of potentially negative ethical consequences, making it difficult to distinguish right from wrong” (Samson and Daft, 2005, p.158)
This case study paper will examine the Hacking Into Harvard Case where actions executed by college students jeopardized their potential opportunities to further their education at selected universities. The purpose of this study is to look at the moral issue that raises concern; which is whether the college students unauthorized actions should qualify as unethical behavior amongst the business schools or should the actions of the students be justified by shifting the blame of unethical behavior to the arms of the business schools and their third party application software.
An ethical dilemma is only examined in a situation which has the following conditions; the first condition takes place in a situation, when an individual has to make a decision on which course of action is best. The second condition is there must be more than one course of action to choose from. The third action is no matter what course of action is taken, certain ethical principles are conceded. In other terms, there is no perfect result. When defining what forms an ethical dilemma, it is important to make a division between ethics, morals, values, laws and policies.
Hacking was a term established in the 1960s. This word is the concept of unauthorised intrusion of a computer or network with malicious intentions behind them. This includes any technical effort of manipulating or damaging the normal behaviour of network connections/systems or stealing information. In this generation, hacking has become evidently significant and the debate of hacking being considered ethical or unethical arises. Therefore, will hacking ever be justified? The justification (reasonableness) of hacking has become a disputation of mixed opinions and emotions amongst society. These opinions range from hacking being considered immoral due to it being illegal activity and the vast negative impact it has on people. This includes the affirmative opinions on hacking; such as hacking being considered ethical due to the “white hat” hackers.