SAQ 4 -1

1. Which of the finalist theories appeals to you the most?

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics impresses me most. Unlike Mill’s Ethics and Kant’s Ethics, which only focuses on happiness and good will respectively, Aristotle’s Ethics “considers” wider concept of ethics.

Aristotle’s Ethics adopted the concept of Utilitarianism but of a different way. Actions are utilized as instruments not just for other ends but that are regarded to be of greater value. Aristotle also put into account that man, as a rational being is capable of living a life of reason. Since we endowed with rationality, he pointed out that the life of reason is the happiest.

Central to this ethics is virtue that is categorized in to two types: moral virtue, which is the virtue of character and intellectual virtue, which is the virtue of thought. Both virtues were identified, as activities of the soul that comprises rational and irrational parts.



2. Which do you think seems to predominate in the world of computing, as you know it?

I think Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics has predominated the world of computing. In the world of computing, IT professionals and users are stakeholders that interact with each other. These stakeholders are rational beings, which are separated by their reasons want to achieve good lives. Also, computing is a human action and it follows that the norms and standards of morality apply to it. As a result, moral ideals such as righteousness, fairness, goodness and justice apply in the evaluation of computing as human action.