The humankind society has highly regarded integrity as a precious virtue that needs to be venerated by all people. This veneration does not just end with the human population; it is also extended to other species of the universe. In contemporary society, many people have equated lack of integrity to involve activities such as; general unethical behavior, especially financial dishonesty and misuse of organizational facilities (Kay, 2005 cited in Poel and Goldberg, 2009, p.126). Generally, integrity has been viewed as acting virtuously, for example; showing courage, loyalty, commitment, honesty, respect and concern; therefore, integrity can be said to be “a way of behaving as to what holds together the commitment one has to certain ways of behaving” (Poel and Goldberg, 2009, p.126). At the same time, society expects individuals to be morally upright in their daily life interaction with fellow humans and the entire environment. Hence, to have moral status accepted by society is largely to be morally considerable or to have moral standing (Warren, 2000, p.3). Moral status therefore is exercised towards entities which moral agents have or can have; if an entity has moral status, then people may not just treat it the way they please but they are much obliged to give weight in their deliberations to its needs, interests and the well-being simply because their needs have moral importance in their own right (Warren, 2000).
The moral questions that compound the society today and are likely to persist into the future are the questions on the: morality of euthanasia; whether women have a moral right of access to safe and legal abortion under certain circumstances; whether human beings are entitled to use other animals for food, biomedical research and other functions; and lastly, whether humans have moral obligations towards natural plant or animal species, populations and ecosystems and which are threatened by human activities (Warren, 2000).
Innovation as a concept
Innovations have been regarded as the key drivers of economic development in the society and are the source for competitive advantages that have allowed many societies and organizations to take lead in particular areas for economic gains (Hanekamp, 2007, p.1). Basically, innovation results into establishment of new products, species, systems and structures that correspond to new means for specific ends. Because they take place in society, they are regarded as social phenomena which constantly change and modify aspects of everyday life of people and other species. Such innovations have occurred in the field of medicine, for example, the development of antibiotic medications, introduction of personal computing in medical services, nanotechnologically facilitated drug delivery, converging technologies and the pervasive computing, all these have seen vast changes in the field of medicine (Hanekamp, 2007).
New technologies continue to excite the human society while at the same time being the means of developing the society. Discovery and experimentation with various things in life has been with the humankind since time immemorial when man would use crude tools to manipulate the environment to his advantage. During that early period, adoption of new technologies was very slow until the time of Renaissance when formal and organized science was developed (Bedau and Parke, 2009, p.19). From then on, the rate at which discovery and innovations have taken place has been fast. Interestingly, the discovery and innovation has not in wholesome led to acceptance and adoption of the products of a new technology. The people have demonstrated varied attitude and perception in accepting or adopting any technological innovation (Bedau and Parke, 2009).
Mills and Utilitarianism
The concept of ethics is largely concerned with investigating the ‘ultimate good’ of man and the means of attaining it sometimes is not applied universally, while morality may be seen as intuitional; according to which conduct is held to be right when conformed to certain precepts or principles of duty (Sidgwick, 1981, p. 3).The underlying principle of utilitarianism is, ‘the greatest happiness for the greatest number’ (Peil, 2009, p. 555). “An act is right if the sum total of utilities produced by that act is greater than the sum total of utilities produced by any other act the agent could have performed in its place” (Velasquez, 1998 cited in Peil, 2009, p. 555). Sidgwick (1981, p. 10) concurs with this and state that, “the constantly proper end of action on the part of any individual at the moment of action is his real greatest happiness from that moment to the end of his life.” In applying utilitarianism the basic procedure is of cost-benefit analysis for example, when an individual decide whether to perform action A, the rule is he must perform if the benefits for present and future populations exceed those of the next best alternative course of action and if this is not the case then the individual should not perform A (Peil, 2009, p. 72). Utilitarianism has the practical value since it is consistent with the value of efficiency and in harmony with how policies are made by looking at the beneficial and harmful consequences of a particular act. Consequentialism in regard to utilitarianism states that;
“Actions, choices or policies must be morally exclusively in terms of the resulting, or consequent, effects, rather than by any intrinsic features they may have. Outcomes matters-not process, intention or motivation. Since the consequences of an action are almost always uncertain, most utilitarianism speak of the expected outcomes of actions. The expected outcome of actions is calculated by multiplying the value of the outcome by the probability of its occurring. In consequentialism argument, the entire focus is therefore on future consequences of choice, actions or policies. Utilitarianism does not look back to the past in order to judge whether a certain policy can be justified” (Peil, 2009, p. 556).
The second characteristic of utilitarianism is what is known welfarism. Welfarism is concerned with answering the questions: what are good consequences? What is the value of an outcome? In many cases welfarism requires that goodness of a state of affairs be a function only of the utility or welfare obtained by individuals in that state (Peil, 2009). Furthermore, there exist different varieties of utilitarianism where some people have regarded welfare to be a mental state of happiness or pleasure and since all pleasures and all pains are structurally similar sensations it should be possible to calculate a net total sum of utility. The promotion of happiness is at the heart of the principle of utility and as Mills asserts “by the principle of utility is meant that principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the tendency which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question: or, what is the same thing in other words, to promote or to oppose that happiness” (Arrington, 1998, p.320).
Ethics and the issue of Genetic Engineering (GE)
Bio-technology has become a dominant force in business and scientific research activities which in turn has posed many ethical questions concerning it. The GE has resulted into many benefits to the humankind and also other organisms, for example, GE is being used for the production of vaccines and medications for various killer diseases, but at the same time, it has resulted into unimaginable dangers and threats such as; danger of experiencing and having troubling methods of human reproduction and the possible world of “designer babies” (Kolb, 2007).
The commercial and market pressure to move forward quickly with products based on the technology has been met by concerns about potential long-term impacts with ethical issues focusing on plants used in food production or the genetic engineering of humans (Kolb, 2007, p.190). The scientist body has been willing to push a head with the technology but those questioning the ethics of GE have emphasized the need for the scientists to slow down. Those fighting for the observance of ethics are advocating for greater patience claiming that given the level of ignorance on the possible long-term effects, the society risks a great deal by releasing genetically manipulated organisms (GMOs) or cloned organisms into the environment (Kolb, 2007).
Utilitarianism requires that the people have some idea of the potential outcomes of their actions, their likelihood and the value of their costs and benefits but in many instances they do not do that (Kolb, 2007). The cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of utilitarianism suggest that people need to come up with a number of alternative behaviors to choose from, determine the potential consequences of each alternative, establish probabilities for each set of consequences, assign a value to the benefits and costs associated with each set of consequences and finally compare the economic outcomes as a means of choose from among the alternatives (Kolb, 2007).
Conclusion
Innovation and technological development are aspects that are going to characterize and shape the human world. More innovations will lead to solving and mitigating human problems while at the same time attempting to make things better. All in all, the effects of these innovations will touch the very existence of humankind. Therefore ethical and moral guidance need to be paramount among the people when spearheading these developments. Ethics of innovations in all field needs to be comprehensive and guiding principles of undertaking any innovation intended for humankind and other organisms.
References
- Arrington, R. L. (1998). Western ethics: an historical introduction. MA, Wiley-Blackwell. Web
- Bedau, M and Parke, E. C. (2009). The ethics of protocells: moral and social implications of creating life in the laboratory. MA, MIT Press. Web.
- Hanekamp, G. (2007). Business ethics of innovation. NY, Springer. Web.
- Kolb, R. W. (2007). The ethics of genetic commerce. MA, Wiley-Blackwell. Web.
- Peil, J (2009). Handbook of Economics and Ethics. Indiana, Edward Elger Publishing. Web.
- Poel, V and Goldberg, D. (2009). Philosophy and Engineering: An Emerging Agenda. NY, Springer. Web.
- Sidgwick, H. (1981). The methods of ethics. Hackett Publishing. Web.
- Warren, A. M. (2000). Moral status: obligations to persons and other living things. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Web.