Applying Four Ethical Theories to Automation

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