POLSC401: Ethics and Public Policy

9a. Identify ethical dilemmas that policymakers may face in dealing with issues of science, technology, and commerce

• From an ethical perspective, why did the U.S. federal government support the automotive bailout in 2008? 
• Describe the ethical concerns policymakers face regarding laws that enforce mandatory vaccination.
• Define and describe some ethically-based arguments for and against net neutrality.
• Define and describe some ethically-based arguments for and against genetic screening and privacy concerns related to social media? 

With advances in technology and science, policymakers face complex questions about widespread economic loss, health and medicine, access to the Internet, and Internet privacy issues.

For example, should President Barack Obama have used public money to save the U.S. automotive industry when it threatened to collapse in 2008. Millions of American jobs were at stake since the industry affected so many additional small and large automotive suppliers and vendors. In this case, the industry eventually repaid the money it had borrowed from the government, but what if it had not survived despite the bailout? Did the policymakers who supported the president act ethically?

Should local governments and school administrators force parents to vaccinate their school-age children against contagious diseases that once plagued our communities, to protect infants and other vulnerable populations that cannot take these preventative medicines?

Should the Federal Communications Commission require Internet Service Providers to allow free and unfettered access to the Internet, including those who cannot afford to pay higher fees to use more bandwidth, under the auspices of net neutrality? Will charging higher rates to nonprofit organizations and other users who cannot afford to pay more cause the Internet to collapse and ruin this vital public communication tool for everyone?

What about privacy rights issues related to genetic screening and the way social media networks track and store our personal information. Alan Wertheimer defines exploitation as a situation where someone takes unfair advantage of another person and uses their vulnerability for one's own benefit. We generally assume this practice unethical, but what about when an individual or government uses the information it obtains for the common good?

For example, should policymakers allow police investigators to use what they learn through genetic screening and social media to solve crimes or anticipate where criminal activity may occur? Do you think your opinion would change if you happen to be a member of the minority group they happen to target?

How about when insurance companies use the health information they obtained through this genetic screening or your social media account to calculate your annual insurance premium? Does it matter that if the news they obtained is good, they may charge you a lower insurance rate, but they may charge you more if the news is bad?

Review these questions from the framework of someone who supports 1. virtue ethics (Aristotle), 2. deontology (Kant), 3. utilitarianism (Bentham and Mill), 4. the common good and 5. a fairness approach (Rawls).

Review Should the Big Three Car Manufacturers Be Bailed Out by the US Government?; Mandatory Vaccinations: Precedent and Current Law by Kathleen Swendiman; Net Neutrality by Bill Moyers; The Ethics and Politics of Search Engines from Santa Clara University; Exploitation by Alan Wertheimer; Privacy: Electronic Information and the Individual by Joseph Westfall; and What We Know Outstrips What We Can Do by Margaret McLean.

9b. Analyze ethical dilemmas involving issues of science, technology, and commerce

• What is the meaning of exploitation in the context of the free market?
• Define and describe some ethically-based arguments for and against genetically-modified food.
• What is one ethical concern with today's pharmaceutical industry.
• What is one way that advanced genetic screening could be used for good and one way it could be used poorly? 

Analyzing ethical problems in the fields of medicine, privacy, and the economy requires policymakers to understand complex technical details and maintain a big-picture view, so they do not lose sight of the human concerns in play.

For example, making an informed decision about the legality of stem cell research, requires policymakers to understand how stem cell research works, what the research scientist hopes to achieve, and the potential benefits and costs to the community.

As we explored above, exploitation describes a situation where someone takes unfair advantage of another person and uses their vulnerability for one's own benefit. We generally assume exploitation is unethical, but what about when an individual, scientist or the government uses the information it obtains about one person to support the common good, whether to support the free market or a medical treatment? Does the end justify the means or deem the practice ethical?

Review these questions from the framework of someone who supports 1. virtue ethics (Aristotle), 2. deontology (Kant), 3. utilitarianism (Bentham and Mill), 4. the common good and 5. a fairness approach (Rawls).

Review Exploitation by Alan Wertheimer; the video Ethical/Policy Challenges of Advanced Genetic Screening by Edward McCabe; perspectives on cloning in Double or Nothing by Robin Sterns; the pros and cons of genetic testing in Neuroethics: The Neuroscience Revolution, Ethics, and Law by Henry Greely; and creating trust in business relationships in How Trust is Achieved in Free Markets by Daniel Klein.

Unit 9 Vocabulary

• Advanced genetic screening
• Automotive bailout
• Exploitation
• Free market
• Genetically modified food
• Genetic screening
• Mandatory vaccination
• Net neutrality
• Pharmaceutical industry
• Privacy rights issue
• Required genetic screening
• Social media networks
• Stem cell research