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Problem-Solving or Decision-Making Framework: Analogy between ethics and design

15 January, 2016 - 09:08
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Traditionally, decision making frameworks in professional and occupational ethics have been taken from rational decision procedures used in economics. While these are useful, they lead one to think that ethical decisions are already "out there" waiting to be discovered. In contrast, taking a design approach to ethical decision making emphasizes that ethical decisions must be created, not discovered. This, in turn, emphasizes the importance of moral imagination and moral creativity. Carolyn Whitbeck in Ethics in Engineering Practice and Research describes this aspect of ethical decision making through the analogy she draws between ethics and design problems in chapter one. Here she rejects the idea that ethical problems are multiple choice problems. We solve ethical problems not by choosing between ready made solutions given with the situation; rather we use our moral creativity and moral imagination to design these solutions. Chuck Huff builds on this by modifying the design method used in software engineering so that it can help structure the process of framing ethical situations and creating actions to bring these situations to a successful and ethical conclusion. The key points in the analogy between ethical and design problems are summarized in the table presented just below.

Analogy between design and ethics problem-solving

Design Problem

Ethical Problem

Construct a prototype that optimizes (or satisfices) designated specifications

Construct a solution that integrates and realizes ethical values (justice, responsibility, reasonableness, respect, and safety)

Resolve conflicts between different specifications by means of integration

Resolve conflicts between values (moral vs. moral or moral vs. non-moral) by integration

Test prototype over the different specifications

Test solution over different ethical considerations encapsulated in ethics tests

Implement tested design over background constraints

Implement ethically tested solution over resource, interest, and technical constraints