"Ethics- What is Good?"
Richard Miles
Facts:
The assets of the worlds top 3 Billionaires are greater than 600million people
1/3 of people live on $2 a day
1.2 Billion live on $1 a day
Black Poverty is double that of White Poverty in America
Living in a fundamentally unjust society based on inequalities
- how can we exist within this system whilst holding up the ethics of society?
- equation of advertising being the cause alongside the rest of the worlds problems
"First Things First Manifesto" (1964) by Ken Garland:
- Signed by famous Creatives of the time
- Produced in the Boom time of post-war affluence and mass production
- Frustration of Creative Talents being wasted on marketing pointless, trivial commodities
- Call for Designers to do something more
- Celebration of the Designer but a sigh at the waste of Talent for this purpose
- Ethical turn as it is Unethical to waste talent for the profit of others and talent should be used for
more wholehearted means
First Things First Manifesto (2000) by Adbusters:
- Anti-Capitalist Magazine calling for abolishing of Consumer System hence the Name
- Political Group Journal
- Republish and Re-draft the original Manifesto
- Change of Tone of Voice- Critical and Venomous
"Advertising have persistently been presented to us as the most lucrative, effective and desirable use of our talents"
- Adbusters (2000)
"This, in turn, is how the world perceives Design. The profession's time and energy i sussed up manufacturing demand for things that are inessential at best"
- Adbusters (2000)
- We are all indoctrinated into a profession that makes people buy things they don't need with money
they don't have- creatives are complicit with this exploitation and should be blamed for this as well
- Affecting the way people think and react towards each other
"Unprecedented environmental, social and cultural crisis demand our attention"
- Adbusters (2000)
- Tone becomes very preachy and dictoral as the Manifesto goes on
- If you work to market or brand companies who make any items, you are being UnEthical as you are
perpetuating consumerism which is ultimately ruining the world.
- Designers should be challenging this and starting a revolution against this society- show your talent
in this way by Culture Jamming/Meme Warfare
Meme:
- Is a Unit of Information that sticks in your head
- Circulating around the world virally
"Potent Memes can change minds, alter behaviour, catalyse collective mind shifts and transform cultures"
- Kalle Lasn of Adbusters
- Just because you work for a certain company doesn't mean that you are unethical
- To be an ethical designer doesn't mean you have to be fundamentally anti-capitalist
- Rich, Successful Designers signed the original manifesto- It's ok to stick your nose up at others
when you have money- Emerging Designers don't have the luxury of choosing who to work for and
can't afford that choice.
- The system of Exploitation is what is Unethical, not the people who brand them or shop there
- To be an Ethical Designer is to do more with your life then just take a job
Design for the Real World (1971) by Victor Papanek:
- Argues the same as The First Things First
- Design is wasteful and exploitative- harming the world with their Designs rather than helping it
- The designers job should be to help others
"Most things are designed not for the needs of the people but for the needs of manufactures to sell to people"
- Victor Papanek (1971)
- There is a grander purpose for Creative Individuals- use skills to do something more important in
the world
"Papanek Beer Can Automobile Can Bumper" (1971)
- Cost him 5 Dollars to make and drove it into the Senate Building
- Proving that a Company can make a car safe
- Poeple are ignoring Design Solutions for profit
"The Design Problem" Diagram
- Designers only deal with the ti[ of the iceberg making it aesthetically better whereas The Real
Problems with the world are not being dealt with.
- There are more urgent things that need our attention that we could be solving
Ethical Theories on How do we Determine What is Good?
Subjective Relativism
- There are no universal moral norms of right and wrong
- All persons decide right or wrong for themselves
- This would cause the breakdown of Society
Cultural Relativism
- The Ethical Theory that whats right or wrong depends on place and/or time
- Society will have a series of shared values
- Not all Cultures are the same which will cause a clash of ideologies
Divine Command Theory
- Good actions are aligned with the Will off God
- Bad Actions are contrary to the Will of God
- The Holy Book helps make the decisions
- Not based on Reason
Kantianism:
- Immanuel Kant (1724- 1804) German Philosopher
- Peoples wills should be based on Morals
- Therefore its important that our actions are based on appropriate general moral rules
- To determine when a meal rule is appropriate Kant imposes 2 Categorical Imperatives. If followed
and you answer these questions you can determine if its ethical or not. This is based on logic and not
on emotion.
2 Catagorical Imperatives:
- Act only from moral rules that you can at the time universalise
(If you act on a moral rule that would cause problems if everyone followers 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)
Adbusters is not ethical under this second definition as it is using Advertisers to make its point
Utilitarianism (John Stuart Mill):
Principle of Utility (AKAGreatest Happiness Principle)
- An action is right to the extent that it increases the total happiness of the affected parities
- An action is wrong if it decreases Happiness
- This is known as Consequentialism as you could do something wrong and it could make everybody
happy
- Based on the use of your actions for society
- None of these are really workable and are all flawed as you are giving up your liberty for the good of everyone else
Social Contract Theory:
- Thomas Hobbes (1603-1679) and Jean- Jacques Rousseau (1712- 1778)
- An agreement between 2 individuals held together by common interest
- Avoids society degenerating into the 'state of nature' or the 'war of all against all'
- We trade some of our Liberty for a stable society
- Thinking about the common good rather than individual gain which is a good way to formulate ethics
Whether presented with Problems that are easy or difficult to solve, the 4 workable theories could provide us with possible solutions to many of the problems in the First Things First manifesto
Criteria for a Workable Ethic Theory:
- Moral decisions and rules
- Based on Logical reasoning
- Comes from facts and commonly held or shared values
- Culturally Neutral
- Treat Everyone the Same
AIMING FOR SOCIALLY AND ECOLOGICALLY RESPONSIBLE DESIGN
Design for the Real World (1971) by Victor Papanek
- Social Tithe- The Model for Ethical Practise
- Tithe is something that you give away from free
- Something that you give up for the common good of society
- 10% of our time should be given to worthwhile ethical causes like Pro Bono or Ethical Causes or
Charities
- If everyone did this, the world would be improved and would benefit everyone
- More productive manner for changing the world whilst living within this System
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