Abstract

Jim Moor not only wrote about practical ethical issues, but also about theoretical ones. In one of his most famous articles, he presents his carefully crafted theory of just consequentialism. What is offered here is an attempt to elaborate and defend a unifying ethical model that can serve as a guide for identifying just ethical policies for different information technologies. In this paper I review this model and offer some refinements to Moor’s theory of the good which is the centerpiece of his moral analysis. We demonstrate how his order of goods is instrumental in weighing the beneficial versus harmful consequences of IT policies, and why consequentialism must be supplemented by an explicit consideration of rights and justice. Finally, we review when exceptions to moral rules that protect rights are warranted on the basis of the “blindfold of justice.”