The Things I Think About… Morality, Ethics and Context: For Photographers and You
When issues of morality and ethics pop up in conversation, many people have a tendency to jump to examples painted purely in black and white. I’m guilty of it myself. While such can be useful as a thought experiment, most examples tend to ignore something very important: context.
Without context, useful information is immediately lost which often leads to logical fallacies. Here’s one of the most succinct examples I’m aware of, provided by the Fallacy article on Wikipedia:
Argument: Cutting people is a crime. Surgeons cut people. Therefore, surgeons are criminals.
Problem: Cutting people is only sometimes a crime.
Without context, poor conclusions result. Consider the following example which photographers will immediately relate to how one exposes a photo.
Imagine a piece of paper divided in half. One half is stark white and the other is pitch black.
Now shine a light on that piece of paper.
A dim light will ensure that black is indeed black—but now the white side appears gray.
A bright light will ensure that white is indeed white—but now the black side appears gray.
The light is context. Vary the brightness of the light and you’ll get different outcomes. Without light we are lost in the darkness, able only to interpret situations with simplified thought experiments held in isolation. Always consider the light.
Tags: Ethics, Morality, Philosophy, Photography
