h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.h2g2.com/A468920

The question of where ethics come from came up in a forum on h2g2 recently, and since the guide is devoid of such information I thought I might make a stab at adding such. It's got two parts - ethical problems, which talks about the kind of tricky problems that need to be answered, and ethical theories, which talk about what philosophers have thought was a good way to determine moral behaviour.

Ethics is a notoriously subjective subject, so I would welcome any alternative viewpoints, comments, criticisms. If I've inadvertantly offended someone's view on life, the universe, and everything, or if I've missed out some hugely deep and important ideas, then I'll want to change that.

Well?

Excellent article, I like it. I'd be quite interested to read some of the "moral truths" professed by various groups (e.g. thou shalt not kill) and how they complement / contradict one another. I think that might make an interesting addition to your article.

I agree, an excellent entry. I hope that it gets approved. Personally I still think that the word ethics should be abolished and any question considered on its merits, in its context.

Hi, Very thought provoking! As a doctor, I come across big ethical dilemmas quite a lot. I think that you should mention the dilemma of the siamese twins that have just been separated, along with the issues raised in this conversation: http://www.h2g2.com/F48488?thread=64417 :-) - Adam

I especially like it because my name irl is Fred.

Fred says the article is good, and Fred is bigger than you (probably not). Therefore the article is good.

Fr...I mean...Wampus

Okay, since this is about ethics, I've got an ethical problem for you to debate:

Today I received my paycheck, as usual. However, today's paycheck is over $100 more than it usually is. Doing a few calculations, I figured out that my pay is for 38 hours of work, when I in fact only did 32 hours (which is my usual schedule). I don't think I recorded anything different, which means the error is probably due to a clerical recording error, or similar situation.

So the question is, do I bring up the error to someone in authority (supervisor, payroll clerk, etc.), or do I keep quiet about it and cash the check?

Wampus

Easy. Do whatever you want to, but don't moan if you get sacked for embezzlement.

Let's assume I'm not going to get caught. I assume if someone audits the payroll accounts, and finds my error, I can claim that I hadn't read my paycheck very closely, and had assumed that I was getting paid extra money for extra work. I have a very bad short term memory; maybe I did work that extra six hours.

It depends who your employer is and whether or not you're ripping off someone who can't afford it. If you're working for a small company it might make some difference, but if you're working for a big company it probably won't, you may as well keep it. My dad had a similar dilemma with a bank once, the teller gave him £50 too much and he decided to give it back to her because he'd heard that they deduct it from the teller's wages if there is a discrepancy at the end of the day. Afterwards he asked her if it was true and it turns out that it isn't, hundreds or even thousands of pounds go missing every day but the banks spread the rumour that they take it out of the tellers' wages to make people give it back.

This is a great article. The only possible suggestion for improvement I can come up with is a simple cut & paste reorganization. I think the parables section would more logically fit after the ethical theories section. Beyond that, it is very insightful and thought provoking, and wonderfully written besides.

As for the money issue, I would say don't worry about it. It's a rather small clerical error, and won't do the company any noticeable harm, nor will it do you any great amount of good. "Don't sweat the small stuff" is my motto, and this is small stuff. If you tell the company about it, it will probably take all kinds of time you can't afford to get the problem corrected, and you'll likely be without pay for some time, which you may or may not be able to afford. If you let the company discover it, you can pay it back quite readily, or else let them deduct it from your next check. And if they don't discover it, consider it to be a well-deserved bonus.

I'd just like to say that I found this a very interesting and informative entry.

gosh. What nice feedback

I'll just repeat CS's advice on the money thing - reporting it will only land some poor secretarial type in trouble...

dogster - I'm not sure quite what you mean, I'm afraid.

wampus - do you think my chances would be improved if I changed 'fred' to 'Mark Moxon'?

colsellers - I originally wrote it as you suggested. Then I thought that it would be better to talk about the kinds of problems that arise in ethics, before looking at the different ways people have used to try and decide amongst them. What does everyone else think?

wonky - for the benefit of the others, and myself so I have a record, these are the things discussed on the linked conversation.
:euthanasia
:stealing to survive
:whether it is fair to punish hate crimes more harshly than non-hate crimes
I think the siamese twins were a harsher (and real life) example of the unlucky traveller problem - can we treat one person badly if it benefits benefits the greater good.
euthanasia, stealing to survive, and hate crimes, are all examples of the question of whether the motives of a crime should be taken into account when punishing or judging - which is the same as the communist spy. I think the question of motives for stealing is a better example, though, so I've replaced the communist spy with that one.

I second Joanna(etc)'s comment. I like the order you've got it in and I think the examples you've chosen encourage a more objective reading of a subjective topic.

One typo, if you want typos; in the social contracts paragraph, agress = agrees?

On the money thing Wampus, you might want to consider which of your choices, if found out, will affect your reputation. If you work in finance "not realising there was an error" might not add to your reputation!
You can avoid the responsibility of getting the secretarial type in trouble by reporting the mistake to him/her (so passing the ethical dilemma on to him/her).

I've added a section on 'ethical controversies' at the end, talking a little about some of the big issues of the past, present, and future. I think it's a nicer way to finish it than the rather abrupt ending there was before.

I definately want typos - and gramos - and any other nits you can find. It's the only way I learn...

http://www.h2g2.com/A468920

In response to all the discussion about my paycheck, I did end up reporting it to the payroll people. Turns out that one Friday morning I accidentally wrote "10" for hours instead of "4." I notice, though, that although working 10 hours is completely opposite my usual work habits, no one questioned the change in hours. I could probably write down 10 hours every day for quite some time before anyone caught it.

As for having my pay withheld (sp?), they told me to cash my check anyway and they'd take the difference out of my next paycheck.

My thinking on the matter is that had I kept the money, I would gone wondering if I'm going to get caught for it. I figure the extra anxiety isn't worth the free bonus. Besides, it's not my money to begin with, so I'm no better or worse off than before.

OK, you asked for typos, two more among the controversies;
Valhalla....we kill ourselves at the -earlies- opportunity?
Genetic Engineering is a -mindfield- already
?should be minefield or is mindfield what you intended, it's rather appropriate!

The controversies addition does make a good ending, leaving readers thinking, but I think it loses some of the objective feel of the rest of the entry. It's gets away from the theory into the practicalites - which readers won't be objective about, so you finish reading with your head full of all your own subjective opinions on the issues raised. Or your own pet issue which wasn't covered.

My pet issue is ethical/socially responsible investment. Are we responsible for what the money we are responsible for is used for? Whether it's our current account, savings or pension fund.

Wampus, peace of mind is worth $100 .

Generally pretty good, but you left out entirely the "situational ethics" approach, which is a very practical way to deal with a lot of the difficult problems. A big problem that didn't get mentioned was "when has a community got the right to impose it's view on the individual", and it is one of the keystone problems.
A good way to sidestep many of the ethical considerations is demonstrated in the abortion thread off my researcher page, where a "pro-lifer" and myself had a good discusion of practical approaches to abortion. (I will add the link to it when I have looked it up).
I think that in general, this would also be a good place to link off to an open page and/or forum including as many of the fundamental philosophical & ethical problems as we (h2g2 researchers in general) can find.

The above mentioned abortion thread is http://www.h2g2.com/F52172?thread=72432 which I think covers most of the moral and practical ground of that issue.

Don't forget to add a reference to the other home counties:
Thuthex, Thuffolk, etc.

I do apologise.

I'll add a bit to the parables section to deal with the community versus individual point, as soon as I can think of a good one...

What the heck is situational ethics? Never heard of it...

I'll leave the question of a forum for ethical problems to the editors: They've done it before, so they'll have a better idea of the style of such things. They may decide that askh2g2 is more appropriate...