s4h-ethics-council

Ethics Council

You ask one advisor about an ethical question, you get one moral framework's answer. Utilitarian calculus says yes. Deontological reasoning says no. You have no way to navigate the tension because you only heard one voice.

The council surfaces that tension deliberately. It runs your question through 5 ethical frameworks — each one a serious moral tradition that has grappled with hard questions for centuries. Then they peer-review each other. Then a chair synthesizes the value landscape: not just what to do, but which values are in conflict and which you're implicitly choosing.

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When to Run the Ethics Council

The council is for decisions where the moral stakes are real.

Good council questions:

• "Is it ethical to A/B test on users without explicit consent if the variants are minor?"
• "We're collecting this data. Should we?"
• "We're about to lay off 20% of the team — is this the right way to do it?"
• "Our algorithm deprioritises certain demographics. Is this acceptable?"
• "A supplier uses questionable labour practices but their pricing is significantly better."

Bad council questions:

• "What's the best database for this use case?" (technical, not ethical)
• "How do I write a good commit message?" (no stakeholder impact)

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The Five Ethical Frameworks

Each framework is a lens — not a job title or personality. They are genuine moral traditions that generate fundamentally different answers to the same question. That divergence is the point.

1. Utilitarian

Evaluates outcomes. The right action maximizes benefit and minimizes harm across all affected parties — users, employees, third parties, society. Aggregate wellbeing is the measure. Willing to accept harm to some if the net benefit to all is greater. Asks: who is affected, how much, and is the total welfare positive?

2. Deontological

Evaluates duties and rights. Some actions are wrong regardless of their consequences — because they violate rights, break promises, treat people as mere means, or cross inviolable principles. The right action respects what people are owed. Asks: are there duties being violated or rights being overridden here, independent of outcomes?