1. Ethics

2. What are ethics?

3. Table activity
In groups of four – agree on a definition for ethics and write it on one of the large strips of paper. Please post it on the wall – we will revisit at the end of the unit!

4. The capsizing of the Herald of Free Enterprise

5. The story…
March 6th 1987 Townsend Thoresen’s 8 deck roro car ferry capsized shortly after leaving the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium en route for Dover in the UK.
The immediate cause of the disaster was that the ship set sail with its bow doors still open.
The ship took on water which flowed the length of the car deck which had no watertight compartments
The free surface effect of water flowing over the open car deck caused the ship to lose stability and capsize.
193 passengers and crew were killed

6. The events
Assistant B/S Mark Stanley was asleep in his cabin when he should have been on hand to close the bow doors before the ship set sail
Captain David Lewry gave the order to sail because he believed the doors were closed because the ship was built without a bow door status indicator on the bridge and the design of the ship prevented him from visually checking the status of the bow doors from the bridge
First Officer Leslie Sabel was required to stay on deck G to ensure that the doors were closed. He saw they were open but assumed that Stanley would close them shortly so made his way up to his harbour station on the bridge
B/S Terence Ayling, who was the last person on deck G, could have closed the doors but did not. He claimed that it was not his duty
The ship was owned by Townsend Thoresen. The company was not keen to implement expensive changes to the ship’s design
The ship was built by Schichau-Unterwesen of Bremen

7. Knowledge Issues Where do our ethics come from? Religion?
Human nature?
Sense perception and reason
Emotion
Social and political norms?

8. Where do our ethics come from?
Jonathan Haidt on the origins of moral thought…

9. Theory of ethics!
Consequentialism – act governed by consideration of consequences
Duty Ethics – act performed out of motivation of duty
Virtue ethics – Aristotle – we should develop traits that are helpful for the common good
Christian ethics - obedience and God’s will
Enlightenment morality – purely reason based

10. Questions for discussion
Who is morally responsible for the sinking?
Sailor Stanley, Captain Lewry, First Officer Sabel, Sailor Ayling, Townsend Thoresen, Schichau-Unterwesen???
What action of this person or group of persons makes them responsible?
What do we need to know in order to answer these questions?
What is moral luck and moral unluck?

11. And next…
NOW:
Respond to the questions for discussion at your table group and share on Friday
For homework:
Select two ethical theories and bring the results of your research to share on Friday