Abstract
This chapter covers the construction of ethical hypotheses and four different types of ethical hypothesis testing. Visualization tests are thought experiments used to test hypotheses in simple hypothetical environments. Virtue analysis uses exemplars in order to inspire ethical behavior. Utilitarianism-based analyses utilize different rules in order to maximize aggregate levels of utility. Respect for Persons tests hold the tiers of rights of any person to be paramount, often in conflict with utilitarian analyses.
“I cannot give any scientist of any age better advice than this: the intensity of a conviction that a hypothesis is true has no bearing over whether it is true or not.”
~Peter Medawar (1990)
The method of science is “the method of proposing bold hypotheses, and exposing them to the severest criticism, in order to detect where we have erred.”
~-Karl Popper (1974)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Delicious epistemological questions about whether the true ideal car is an objective “truth” or the truth as constructed in your own head (i.e., what if you are wrong in your perception of Porsches) is not going to receive the treatment it deserves here. I applaud you for your philosophical prowess, but you’ll need to read another book to get into that.
- 2.
There is also another popular viewpoint that the null hypothesis is simply that property or assumption that is being tested, regardless of whether this statement does or does not reflect the current state of reality. Grounded in context as we are, however, we will use the status quo interpretation.
- 3.
For reasons on why you should always ask yourself about the real-world implications of your assumptions, we suggest beginning with Berk and Freedman’s (2003) excellent chapter “Statistical Assumptions as Empirical Commitments.” When you’re ready for a stronger dose, we recommend the McCloskey and Ziliak (2008).
- 4.
The formal name for what we are referring to as “Respect for Persons” is deontology and it refers to ethics that are duty-based (i.e., your duties to others, like respecting others’ rights for example).
- 5.
You can see the switch from proscriptive to aspirational in approach for example in the Christian teachings between the Old and New Testament approaches to ethics . As stated before, lists of rules like the Ten Commandments are proscriptive, relating what you shouldn’t do, whereas the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament are more aspirational; for example, love thy neighbor as you love yourself (Mark 12:31). The approach has evolved from telling you what evils not to do to what character traits (love) you should be aspiring to express in your character.
- 6.
Some of you may remember the WWJD (What would Jesus Do?) meme that swept through the American Christian community in the 1990s that is essentially this exact same kind of approach.
- 7.
The concept of non-monetary currencies is a relatively modern one which expands upon the argument that money is not an adequate proxy for utility for many people. Social status, responsibility, honor, and social justice are examples of other ‘currencies’ that people trade in, often at the expense of their available monetary currency (Searing, 2009).
- 8.
Though some philosophers reading this text may shudder at the inclusion of cost-benefit as a utilitarian philosophical approach, in truth it is. As defined here, it is a utilitarian analysis utilizing only a monetary currency to measure well-being or utility . Additionally, the cost-benefit analysis is a tool that is readily accepted and used by economic and policy professionals.
- 9.
This single decision is often referred to as a situation and thus this type of focused analysis on the outcomes of this single action are referred to as situationalist. So more formally, the Act utilitarian analysis is a consequentialist and situationalist analysis.
- 10.
This case summary is based on the case study, “#34 Pinto,” from Harris et al. (2000). The authors would highly recommend this book or its subsequent editions as a great source of ethical case studies presented in a format amenable to classroom discussion. While the main focus of that book is engineering ethics , most of the cases are quite controversial and thus interesting not only from an engineering standpoint but from a societal and policy point of view.
References
Berk, R. A., & Freedman, D. A. (2003). Statistical assumptions as empirical commitments. In Law, punishment, and social control: Essays in honor of Sheldon Messinger (2nd ed.). Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
Driver, J. (2009). The history of utilitarianism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Summer 2009 edition). http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2009/entries/utilitarianism-history/
Gigerenzer, G., & Selten, R. (2002). Bounded rationality: The adaptive toolbox. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Harris, C. E., Pritchard, M. S., & Rabins, M. J. (2000). Engineering ethics: Concepts and cases (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Hursthouse, R. Virtue ethics. In E. N. Zalta (Ed), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Fall 2013 ed.). http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2013/entries/ethics-virtue/
McCloskey, D. N., & Ziliak, S. (2008). The cult of statistical significance: How the standard error costs us jobs, justice, and lives. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Pfaff, D. W., & Wilson, E. O. (2007). The neuroscience of fair play: Why we (usually) follow the golden rule. Chicago: Dana Press.
Popper, K. (1974). Unended quest: An intellectual autobiography, Karl Popper. London: Routledge.
Searing, E. A. (2009). Casuistry: The tape measure in the cognitive toolbox. Unpublished manuscript, Atlanta.
Taleb, N. N. (2010). The black swan: The impact of the highly improbable fragility. New York: Random House Digital.
Tännsjö, T. (2013). Understanding ethics. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1991). Loss aversion in riskless choice: A reference-dependent model. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 106(4), 1039–1061.
Viscusi, W., & Aldy, J. (2003, February). The value of a statistical life: A critical review of market estimates throughout the world (NBER Working Paper No. w9487). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: Design and methods. Los Angeles: Sage.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Searing, D.R., Searing, E.A.M. (2016). Hypothesis Testing. In: Searing, E., Searing, D. (eds) Practicing Professional Ethics in Economics and Public Policy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7306-5_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7306-5_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-7305-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-7306-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)