The Ethical Planning Practitioner

Question 1

Two essential standards of an ethical planning practitioner

Answer 1

Competency and integrity

Question 2

Two approaches to ethics

Answer 2

1. Appropriateness of some action
2. Intrinsic value of the underlying goals

Question 3

Politicization of the planning process

Answer 3

Planning is now value-laden instead of value-neutral

Question 4

Examples of changing social context and values in planning

Answer 4

1. New populations coming to Canada
2. Aging urban infrastructure
3. New technologies

Question 5

Changes to Policy Content

Answer 5

Policy is now being seen less from a solely land use element

Question 6

Client or Impacted Party Oriented

Answer 6

Planners must now consider an approach that addresses the importance of evaluating specific impacts on users, clients, or other impacted parties.

Question 7

Refocusing on the scale of the problem

Answer 7

There’s increasing acknowledgement of the increased spatial scale and multi-faceted nature of planning problems.

Question 8

Redefining the role of government

Answer 8

For the past decades, financial challenges have cause governments to reassess their role in providing services.

Question 9

Role of the Planner Being Scrutinized

Answer 9

There is no increasing uncertainty with what the role of the planner should be

Question 10

Altruistic claim of public interest

Answer 10

Professional bodies now claim they subordinate their own personal and professional self interests to the public good in meeting the obligations of their work.

Question 11

Fiduciary Duty

Answer 11

The legal or ethical relationship of confidence between two or more parties.

Question 12

What does fiduciary duty require

Answer 12

It requires a professional to value and protect the client’s financial interests and assets.

Question 13

Ethical Duty

Answer 13

Obligation to engage in appropriate conduct.

Question 14

Principles of ethics need to be

Answer 14

Objective not subjective, rational and clear, not intuitive or based on emotion.

Question 15

Morals

Answer 15

Subjective value judgements we use to guide our behavior and to judge the behavior of others.

Question 16

What kind of system are morals

Answer 16

Normative system

Question 17

Two ways morals play a role in our thinking

Answer 17

1. They govern our judgements about the rightness or wrongness of actions.
2. They direct us to act in conformity with them.

Question 18

Conventional morality

Answer 18

Set of moral beliefs, norms, rules, and practices that are endorsed within a given community.

Question 19

Utilitarianism

Answer 19

Individuals and governments have to do whatever will have the best consequence. Actions are judged by their consequence and not what’s right/wrong, eg. Doing a cost benefit analysis

Question 20

Kantian

Answer 20

Rights. Someone can do as they wish as long as it doesn’t harm someone’s ability to do the same thing.

Question 21

Rawlsian

Answer 21

A concern for disadvantaged people. Find ways to engage them. This wording is often built into planning codes.

Question 22

Communitarian

Answer 22

Recognizing the values of the community as a whole

Question 23

Environmental ethics

Answer 23

The environment is valuable as it is, or is it valuable to the benefit of humans?

Question 24

Feminist ethics

Answer 24

Eradication of oppression and empowerement of marginalized peoples.

Question 25

Critical thinking

Answer 25

Practice of observing, evaluating, and making logical inferences in order to arrive at a sound judgement or accurate conclusion.

Question 26

6 conditions that assist in critical thinking

Answer 26

1. Conceptual Clarity
2. Information
3. Impartiality
4. Valid Moral Principles
5. Rationality
6. Calmness

Question 27

Conceptual Clarity

Answer 27

Planners must clearly understand the actual meaning of the concepts they use to guide practice.

Question 28

Information

Answer 28

Knowledge of the real world setting

Question 29

Impartiality

Answer 29

Need to be objective in their professional judgement

Question 30

Valid Moral Principles

Answer 30

Need to have valid Moral Principles as well as expertise and experience

Question 31

Rationality

Answer 31

Applications of the rules of logic and the recognition of connections among different ideas.

Question 32

Calmness

Answer 32

Professional coolness or dispassionate to create objectivity and impartiality.

Question 33

Forms of Flawed Reasoning

Answer 33

1. Faulty Analogy
2. Faulty Generalization
3. Red Herring
4. Proving a Negative
5. Begging the Question
6. Equivocation
7. Argument Ad Populum
8. Argument Ad Hominem
9. Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

Question 34

Faulty Analogy

Answer 34

Each case should be assessed independently. No case is exactly the same as a previous one.

Question 35

Faulty Generalization

Answer 35

Treating all members of a class or category as if they were defined by criteria that only applies to some members.

Question 36

Red Herring

Answer 36

When a new piece of information is introduced that has no bearing on the matter, to confuse the audience.

Question 37

Proving a Negative

Answer 37

Claiming that if you make a decision, this negative consequence will happen.

Question 38

Begging a Question

Answer 38

Unproven assertions prefaced by assurance phrases like “obviously”

Question 39

Equivocation

Answer 39

Use terms in differing senses in an attempt to deceive others.

Question 40

Argument Ad Populum

Answer 40

An attempt to appeal to people. This form of argument is used as a diversionary tactic to advance an argument or oppose the arguments of others unfairly.

Question 41

Argument Ad Hominem

Answer 41

Attacking someone personally as a means of attacking that person’s point of view.

Question 42

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

Answer 42

“After this, therefore because of this.” assigning cause and effect without an established mechanism of how it works