Posted: May 13th, 2018

Mode -1 Discussions Deontological Ethics in Organizations

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for ‘Deontological Ethics in Organizations’
Here is
the question. You are an expert security software programmer who works in top
secret for the national government of the country of Zulu. Late one afternoon,
you come across an ominous email in which you learn that a small group of
sinister government officials from Zulu plan – in exactly one hour – to unleash
a nuclear attack on the neighboring country of Delta. This same group of four
government officials is at odds with the neighboring country because of vastly
different political and economic views. The bot***** *****ne? You are aware
that if this missile is launched, the event will spawn World War III.
Because
you are the only person in the country of Zulu who has knowledge of the
specific program code that will be used to trigger this devastating missile
launch, you alone are the one individual who has the capacity to de-program the
event — that is, you could choose to cancel the launch altogether, or you
could otherwise divert the nuclear missile to a neutral zone. In short,
millions of innocent lives are now in your hands.
However,
you are a strict deontologist. On the day that you assumed your role as a
top-secret national security programmer, you took a solemn oath swearing that
you would never intervene in any government action, no matter its consequences.
In short, your duty is limited to software programming — and to programming
alone. Indeed, your oath entails that you have an explicit duty never to make a
decision that extends beyond your software programming role. Moreover, you are
sworn never to discuss your programs with any other human being – except for
communication that may be required with a limited number of superiors. On any
given day, these few superiors of yours are easily found somewhere in the
building. But alas! … on this day, you are unable to find even one superior
for advice (are they perhaps bound and gagged somewhere in this massive
building?).
What
would a strict deontologist do? Why?
To whom
or to what is your duty? This is not an easy question…(which make philosophy
so much fun)!
What
would Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative suggest you do here?
In this
situation, would a strict deontologist be at odds with the thinking of Immanuel
Kant? Explain.

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