Design Context: OUGD501 - Lecture 5: Ethics

First things First manifesto - Garland, 1964

Frustration that talented designers were wasting their talents flogging pointless products
Waste of designers in a capitalist society
Produced in a 'boom' time for consumerism
Unethical to waste talent in pointless products

Replaced by First things First manifesto2000 - Adbusters

Republish and update
Tone of voice changes - much more critical
Advertising gets a lot more criticism
Accusing you of being involved in a meaningless consumer system - complicit in a system of global exploitation
Affecting the way people interact with people and feel about themselves
By who's standards do you decide what design work is worthy to be ethical?
If you work to advertise, market or brand companies that make any sort of consumer item, you are somehow being unethical
Should be using talents to stop consumerism and 'start a revolution'

The original 22 who signed the first manifesto - the majority were famous and had a large wealth - it's easy to sign something ethical when you have the luxury of choosing who you work for - an unfair judgement to look down your nose at everyone - Ken Garland, Milton Glaser, Rick Poyner, Kalle Lasn
To be an ethical designer - aim to use your talents to do more with your life

Culture Jamming/Mem warfare - Adbusters & Kalle Lasn

"A meme is a unit of information that leaps from brain to brain to brain. Memes compete with one another for replication, and are passed down through a population much the same way genes pass though a species. Potent memes can changes minds, alter behaviour, catalyse collective mind shifts, and transform cultures. Which is why meme warfare has become the geopolitical battle of our information age. Whoever has the memes has the power"

Victor Papanek

'Design for the real world' (1971)
Makes the argument that most design was wasteful, a lot of design was exploitative & harmed the world - behind this book is a cry for ethics
Wants people to use their skills to do something more important
"Most things are designed not for the needs of the people but for the needs of manufacturers to sell to people" (Papaneck, 1983:46)
Papanek Beer Can Automobile Car Bumper (1971) - he thinks people are ignoring design solutions for the profit
He thinks the designers just tinker with the top of the problem - making them look better/more desirable instead of actually sorting the problem
Design for benefitting all

How do we determine what is good?

Ethical Theories

Subjective relativism - there is no universal normal norms of right and wrong - all persons decide right and wrong for themselves
Cultural relativism - the ethical teary that what's right to wrong depends on place and/or time
Divine Command Theory - good actions are aligned with the will of God - Bad actions are contrary to the will of God - The holy book helps make the decision

Kantianism

Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804) a German philosopher
People's will should be based on moral rules
Therefore its important that our actions are based on appropriate moral rules
To determine when a moral rule is appropriate Kant proposed two Categorical Imperatives

Two formulations of the Categorical Imperatives

Act only from moral rules that you can at the same time universalise - if you act on a moral rule that would cause problems if everyone followed it then your actions are not moral
Act so that you always treat both yourself and other people as ends in themselves, and never only as a means to an end - If you use people for your own benefit that is not moral

Utilitarianism

John Stuart Mill
Utilitarianism
Principle of utility - an action is right to the extent that it increases the total happiness of the affected parties - an action is wrong to the extent that it decreases the total happiness of the affected parties - happiness may have many definitions such as: adverting, benefit, good, or pleasure
Rules based on the principle of utility - a rule is right to the extent that it increases the total happiness of the affected parties - the greatest happiness principle is applied to moral rules
Similar to Kantianism - both pertain to rules - but Kantianism uses the categorical imperative to decide which rues to follow

Social Contract Theory

Thomas Hobbes (1603 - 1679) & Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778)
An agreement between individuals held together by common interest
Avoids society degenerating into the 'state of nature' or the 'war of all' (Hobbes)
"Morality consists in the set of rules, governing how people are to treat one another, that rational people will agree to accept, for their mutual benefit, on the condition that others follow those rules as well"
We trade some of our liberty for a stable society

Criteria for a workable ethical theory?

Design Context