Applying Four Ethical Theories to Automation

This essay applies four classical ethical theories namely utilitarianism, deontology, virtue and contract to identify ethical issues in the case of automation in vehicles of Australia. The paper deals with the proposal to introduce driverless trucks in Australia and identifies the ethical issues associated with it. The theories are applied to the case study to identify the benefits and limitations of automation in the transport industry.

Running head: APPLYING FOUR ETHICAL THEORIES TO AUTOMATION
Applying four ethical theories to automation
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1APPLYING FOUR ETHICAL THEORIES TO AUTOMATION
This essay will choose a media article where ethical issues can be identified. The
topic that is chosen is about proposal to introduce driverless trucks in Australia. Australia is a
huge country and its economy revolves around 200 billion dollars in transport and logistics
industry ("The jobs killer is coming", 2018). The main objective of the essay is to identify
ethical issue in the chosen case with the help of four classical ethical theories namely
utilitarianism, deontology, virtue and contract. An ethical issue can be defined as a problem
or a situation which requires a human to choose between choices which must be evaluated as
unethical (wrong) or ethical (right) (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014). In this essay, the general
idea is about automation in vehicles and whether there are ethical issues in it.
The first theory is utilitarianism. This is a classical ethical theory which determines
right from wrong by only focusing on the outcomes and can be considered as a form of
consequentialism ("Utilitarianism - Ethics Unwrapped", 2018). The main idea behind
utilitarianism is that the most ethical choice will produce for the greatest number the greatest
good. It provides a moral framework to justify action. This is used as the most common
approach for moral reasoning in business since it accounts for benefits and costs. Let’s apply
the theory to the case study. In the chosen case study, where driverless trucks are talked
about, the main benefits for our action (i.e. implementing automation) will bring some major
benefits. Artificial intelligence will control the trucks and it does not need sleep or food.
Goods will be carried at tremendous speed and this will cut time and also costs. This is a
good thing since humans will save time and money. However, the main limitation of
utilitarianism theory is that it cannot predict the future. By applying this theory, a person
would not be able know whether his actions will have consequences in the future. In the case
of driverless truck, it is properly implemented then lot of people will lose their job and this
ethical issue cannot be ignored. There are other business based on transport and logistics
business such as motels and hotels on the road side and that business will suffer heavily. The

2APPLYING FOUR ETHICAL THEORIES TO AUTOMATION
main thing is that individuals will lose their job and their earning source. Utilitarianism
theory does not answer what will their family do.
The next theory is deontology. This ethical theory places a special focus on the
relationship that exists between duty and morality of human actions. This term ‘deontology’
is derived from a Greek word ‘Deon’ ("deontological ethics | Meaning & Examples", 2018).
The general idea is that an action can be considered as morally good because of some
characteristic of the action. It does not place focus on if the product of the action is good.
This ethics hold true for the fact that some acts can be morally obligatory even when
consequences for human welfare are not taken into account (Letwin et al., 2016). There is a
formalistic approach for application of this theory since the core value is based on conformity
of action due to some law. From, the outline it appears that there is a similarity between the
limitations of both deontology and Utilitarianism theory. In case of automated vehicle, the
moral is that with the help of these advanced technologies fatalities or accidents will be
reduced. Individuals are so busy nowadays so by implementing automation a person will save
time and cost. The limitation of this theory is that it does not account for the loss of jobs that
can happen, businesses will be hit. Also a machine is not that evolved to take a decision when
rational thinking is required and only humans can take it. These fears are not addressed by
this ethical theory.
The next theory is virtue ethics theory. This theory is bit different from the above
theories. The above two theories are principal based where as the virtue theory is character
based. Virtue ethics is considered to be person based and not action based ("BBC - Ethics -
Introduction to ethics: Virtue ethics", 2018). To be clearer, it basically looks at the moral
character of a person carrying out an action rather than actions and what consequences it
brings. In this following case, virtue ethics can be considered useful. It not only deals with
wrongness or rightness of individual actions but also provides a sort of guidance for good

3APPLYING FOUR ETHICAL THEORIES TO AUTOMATION
people. Rather than looking at small episodes and actions, it looks at an individual’s life.
From the essence of this theory, it can be assessed that for building a good society it is
imperative that help the members to be good people (Ferrero & Sison, 2014). It can be argued
that, in the automated vehicles case by applying virtue ethics theory, a greater good for the
mankind will be done since it will reduce accidents and bring happiness to individual’s life
by cutting cost and time. In order for doing greater good too, there is a need to address the
concerns of job reduction due to automation as this will lead to a breakdown in the financial
economy. Individuals would not be happy if their jobs are gone. This introduction of high end
technology can have reverse impact. There are security issues too. A driverless truck will be
run by complex software with connection to the internet. A system can be hacked and this
cause chaos in people’s lives. Virtue theory is concerned about the wellbeing of others and
that is the reason why these problems can also be addressed by this theory.
The last theory is contract theory. This theory is also known as social contract theory.
This theory basically states that individuals live in society in accordance to agreement which
in turn establishes political and moral rules of behavior. There are many who believe in social
contract. Social contracts are explicit such as laws. In case of the United States of America
social contract is their constitution ("Social Contract Theory - Ethics Unwrapped", 2018).
This theory has the potential to address concerns regarding implementation of automation in
auto industry. Many people’s lives depend on the auto industry and the full-scale
implementation will take away lot of jobs and this has to be addressed. Coming to security,
the security of the software used in the vehicle cannot be termed as impenetrable. Recently,
hackers were able to remotely hijack a Tesla vehicle and this clearly demonstrates a major
flaw. The social contract has the ability to frame laws that will address this issue.
It can be concluded from the above essay that all four theories address some critical
part. The first two theories were principal based. The third one was character based. The

4APPLYING FOUR ETHICAL THEORIES TO AUTOMATION
fourth one talks about social contract which is more or less like framing of a constitution or a
law. The first two theories had certain limitations because of the fact that they were principal
based and did not take into account the consequences of an action. However, both virtue and
contract theory sort of addresses both ends. It will be more useful to apply virtue and contract
theory rather than using deontology and utilitarianism ethics theory.

5APPLYING FOUR ETHICAL THEORIES TO AUTOMATION
References:
BBC - Ethics - Introduction to ethics: Virtue ethics. (2018). Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 29 April
2018, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/virtue.shtml
Carroll, A., & Buchholtz, A. (2014). Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and
stakeholder management. Nelson Education.
deontological ethics | Meaning & Examples. (2018). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 29
April 2018, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/deontological-ethics
Ferrero, I., & Sison, A. J. G. (2014). A quantitative analysis of authors, schools and themes in
virtue ethics articles in business ethics and management journals (1980–
2011). Business Ethics: A European Review, 23(4), 375-400.
Letwin, C., Wo, D., Folger, R., Rice, D., Taylor, R., Richard, B., & Taylor, S. (2016). The
“right” and the “good” in ethical leadership: Implications for supervisors’
performance and promotability evaluations. Journal of Business Ethics, 137(4), 743-
755.
Social Contract Theory - Ethics Unwrapped. (2018). Ethics Unwrapped. Retrieved 29 April
2018, from http://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary/social-contract-theory
The jobs killer is coming. (2018). NewsComAu. Retrieved 29 April 2018, from
http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/travel/the-jobs-killer-is-coming-how-
driverless-trucks-could-change-australia/news-story/
4f5b8a42b0452703d62e00f3e7644d7b
Utilitarianism - Ethics Unwrapped. (2018). Ethics Unwrapped. Retrieved 29 April 2018,
from http://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary/utilitarianism

6APPLYING FOUR ETHICAL THEORIES TO AUTOMATION
Ethics Technique:
1.What is going on?
 This paper deals with the case of automation in vehicles of Australia.
 Government is looking to implement automation in trucks to save time and costs.
2. What are the facts?
 With the introduction of smart trucks fatalities will be reduced.
 Transport industry will be able to make more money because of automation.
3. What are the issues?
 It can prove to be fatal for country’s finances.
 Truck drivers will lose their jobs and the business associated with roadside and truck
drivers will take a serious hit.
4. Who is affected?
 Truck drivers and their families are the ones most affected.
 Business linked with them will also suffer.
5. What are the ethical issues and implications?
 Virtue ethics theory is not followed.
 Contract ethics theory is also not followed.
6. What can be done about it?
 Full-scale implementation of automation should be stopped.
 Government must frame rules to protect the jobs of truck drivers or those affected by
automation.

7APPLYING FOUR ETHICAL THEORIES TO AUTOMATION
7. What options are there?
 Government must frame a law protecting the rights of truck drivers.
 Software that will be used to run trucks must comply to a basic standard.
 Human intelligence should take precedence over artificial intelligence.
8. Which option is the best?
 Framing of rules option is the best since it will create barriers to the full scale
implementation of automation.