Philosophy of Applied Ethics

SDS 410

Ben Baumer and Sarah Susnea

2025-03-05

An Impossibility Theorem

Generally, it is not possible to simultaneously satisfy these three statistical criteria for fairness (Kleinberg, Mullainathan, and Raghavan 2016):

  • balance for the negative class
  • balance for the positive class
  • well-calibration
  • What does this mean for algorithmic fairness?

Branches of Ethics

The Situation

Imagine you’ve been waiting in a long lunch line at one of the dining halls. You’re up next to grab a plate when someone cuts in front of you. They turn to you and explain they have a meeting they need to run to in 10 minutes.

  • How would each of the branches of applied ethics inform your response to this scenario?

Consequentialism

  • What we consider moral depends on the consequences of an action
  • An action is moral if it makes the world better in the future

A consequentialist might challenge the line cutter because although they immediately improved their future, they simultaneously worsened the futures of all the people behind them.

Deontology

  • What we consider moral depends on if that action follows social rules
  • An action is moral if the actor’s intentions were good, regardless of the consequences

A deontologist might challenge the line cutter because their actions didn’t follow the established social rules of waiting for your turn.

Virtue Ethics

  • What we consider moral depends on the actor’s character and virtue
  • An action is moral if virtues guided the actor in making the choice—people should aim to be virtuous.
  • Virtues include discipline, selflessness, justice, and honesty

A virtue ethicist guided by selflessness, you might let the line cutter go ahead. (If you centered a different virtue, you may consider acting differently.)

Your turn

  • On the back of your sheet, you have been assigned a branch of applied ethics
  • Find your like-minded teammates and split up into two groups
  • First, discuss the question about which statistical criteria for fairness you would prioritize
  • Next, apply your ethical philosophy to the COMPAS algorithm. Is it ethical? If not, how might you change it?

References

Kleinberg, Jon, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Manish Raghavan. 2016. “Inherent Trade-Offs in the Fair Determination of Risk Scores.” arXiv Preprint arXiv:1609.05807. https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.05807/.