| About ½ of our activities will be scientific in nature. Almost every one of these will ask you to apply forensic science to some evidence in order to determine whether it is a match, an exclusion (a definite non-match) or inconclusive. The other ½ of our activities will be ethical in nature. Is it ethical to use forensic evidence such as DNA, faces, etc. collected from other sources than directly sampling a suspect, in an investigation? If so, when? Is it ethical to use hardware (breathalyzers), software (facial recognition), or techniques (forensic odontology) that have an error rate? If so, how much error is acceptable? Does it matter more if the error is consistent (10% error, no matter who is being tested) or small (1% error for group A, but 5% error for group B, so more accurate but less fair)? But before we get into the specifics, let’s figure out where you stand, more or less, with respect to morality, values, and ethics, even if you don’t know the fancy names of utilitarian vs. Kantian (deontological) vs. … There are a couple ways to figure this out. (Side note. You are probably not unique. If you claim you don’t fall into one of these categories, you probably are not thinking hard enough/ reading carefully enough). Read various ethical perspectives and see which one appeals to you most (although a bias from the author could emphasize the bad traits of one and the good of another, or have a bias for business, public relations, etc. due to the source). Here are a couple links to give you a start https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/ (I like this site, but you need to go to the site and then click on each individual link for the 8 different Types of ethics, instead of having it all on 1 long page.) https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/thinking-ethically/ https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_law-for-entrepreneurs/s05-02-major-ethical-perspectives.html Pay particular attention to social justice/social contract as that is unique to this site. You are not limited to the above, these are just the most common (historical) ethical perspectives so worth starting there. Some seem a little light on actual social justice. Many of these can be broken down further – example Act Utilitarianism vs. Rule Utilitarianism. Consider Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations. Take the moral foundations test: and when you get your results, read about the different moral foundations. No registration required: https://www.idrlabs.com/morality/6/test.php Official site, registration required: https://www.yourmorals.org/ For more info watch this Ted talk, I find him hilarious, even if he is potentially a little insulting and crude: https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_the_moral_roots_of_liberals_and_conservatives?language=en Consider Kohlberg’s stages of moral development (i.e. people often develop morally with age and experience … although about 80+% stop short of developing truly moral reasoning). 3 question quiz to determine where you are https://www.playbuzz.com/toddsi10/what-is-your-stage-of-moral-development Explanation of stages (and some interpretation of what the question is getting at, so if you are going to do the quiz, do it first): https://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html After completing the above, write a 500-word (hard minimum, which is about 2 pages double spaced) paper describing your starting moral/ethical position. Note – 500 words is not enough to waste long paragraphs on introductions or conclusions that restate the meat of the paper. Citations and other words that are not part of the writing itself do not count towards the word count. If you have 500 words, but do not adequately cover the requirements, you can still fail. Some ground to cover, in order of importance: *What is your major ethical perspective from one of the above sources? Explain/illustrate with an example when you applied ethics to a situation. Why do you think you see the world this way?* What moral foundations or values are most important to you? How are these consistent with your ethics? What do you think your current Kohlberg stage of moral development is based on the quiz or reading? Can you explain a time when your ethics changed? Can you imagine a scenario that might change it in the future? Side note. I originally followed these directions with my own answers to the above questions, because in my other classes, if I ask for a bio from you, I provide a bio, if I ask you to write a philosophy of education, I provide mine after, etc. However, after consulting with someone wiser, I was informed that this always leads to disaster and never do it under any circumstances, so for the good of the class, I will not be sharing directly … so don’t ask. |