Ethics For The Information Age Summary

In Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age, Quinn details several ethical theories, along with the cases for and against them. In his presentation of these theories, there are many useful ideas he passes on to his readers. Four of the most prominent of these ideas are outlined below, along with the reason for their importance. When discussing virtue ethics, Quinn stresses the role that emotions play in the lives and decision-making skills of people. He believes that a major advantage in following virtue ethics is the ability to consider emotional connections and relationships as morally relevant to difficult decisions. In his mind, the case for virtue ethics hinges on the idea that this ethical theory “recognizes that humans are not dispassionate, …show more content…
For example, in the case against act utilitarianism, he states that “it is not practical to put so much energy into every moral decision” (Quinn 76). If the consideration that act utilitarianism or even Kantianism calls for was put into every decision that a person made, that person would go nowhere, for they would spend more time thinking about whether their actions are moral than actually doing anything. Quinn makes sure to state that this is a problem with several ethical theories, which is important to make clear. He also reminds his readers that utilitarian calculus is difficult as it is nearly impossible to know when to stop adding up the costs and benefits. In summary, it is clear to see that the previous two ideas that Quinn imparts on his audience are both his way of saying that ethical theory is very different from actual ethical practice. There is a more sensitive aspect to humanity that is not often taken into account in ethical theories, that makes cold calculations hard to process and difficult decisions hard to make without regard for …show more content…
While this might seem obvious, as the chapter has been dedicated to detailing their differences, it is actually a very important statement to get across. Quinn clearly writes that different ethical theories might, and often do, disagree on what is moral and what is not moral. As he states in the conclusion of his example situation regarding illegally copying a CD, “there is nothing intrinsically immoral” about the act (Quinn 98). Therefore, the readers are left with the notion that nothing is intrinsically moral or immoral. This is a good concept for Quinn to reiterate, as it shows the readers that there is not always one “right” course of action to take. Instead, the morality of all decisions depends on the viewpoint of the