Ethical Engineering: Definitions, Theories and Techniques - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 18

actually behave in accordance with their own ethical theories. However, it seems to
me that there is little value in ethical theories that are not applied in practice.
Ethical principles can also be classifi ed either as universalist or absolutist
and situation based. Absolutist approaches assume that a particular set of ethical
principles is always valid, regardless of the surrounding circumstances. Both deon-
tological and consequentialist approaches can be absolutist. In the deontological
case, there are absolute obligations or duties which are generally binding, though
they can be challenged by competing moral obligations. In the consequentialist
case, consideration of consequences or utility is an absolute rule with no exceptions.
Situation-based ethics modifi es ethical principles or prioritises them differently, to
take account of the particular situation. Although situation-based approaches are
often more realistic, care has to be taken to ensure that situation-based ethics is not
used as an excuse to avoid the hard ethical issues.
The following subsections discuss a number of different theories and philosophies
of ethics. Monist approaches only apply one theory, whereas pluralist approaches
apply several theories. There has been some criticism of pluralist approaches in that
they generally do not indicate how the different theories, approaches and philoso-
phies should be weighted against each other or decisions made when the different
theories are in confl ict. However, if, like me, you consider that the aim of the differ-
ent theories is to structure situations, highlight problems and issues and support
ethical thinking and decision making rather than tell you what to do in particular
situations, then this is not a problem. The different theories can then be considered
to be complementary rather than mutually exclusive alternatives. Since different
theories will sometimes lead to very different conclusions as to what is and is not
ethical, a pluralist approach based on a combination of several different theories is
likely to give a much clearer picture of the ethical issues involved than any monist
approach on its own. This is particularly relevant to both consequentialism and
deontology, which should be considered complementary approaches.
Thus, it is possible to categorise ethical theories and principles in a number of
different ways, including (1) monist or pluralist, (2) motivations/processes or con-
sequences/outcomes (means and ends), (3) absolutist or situation based and (4) tech-
nology centred, human centred and/or environment centred. A useful categorisation
of the different theories and principles can be obtained using the fi rst three of these
categories and is presented in Table 2.1 . Absolutist or situational and monist or
pluralist are pairs of opposites, whereas motivations/processes and consequences/
outcomes are not mutually exclusive, giving three options, in this case, process
oriented, outcomes oriented and process and outcomes oriented.
The theories in Table 2.1 are presented in slightly more detail in this section, with
a brief overview given for each theory. The table is also used to order the material
in the chapter. It should be noted that, in addition to the materials referenced specifi -
cally in the text, the descriptions of the ethical theories are taken from the topics
Babcock ( 1991 ), Beauchamp ( 2001 ), Beauchamp and Leroy ( 1978 ), Kuhse and
Singer ( 1998 ), Madu ( 1996 ) and Martin and Schinzinger ( 1996 , 2004 ) and the web
page http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/phil/blphil_eth_index.htm . A further
table (Table 2.2 ) at the end of the section summarises the details of each theory and