Ethics Engineering: Modeling of ethical systems

Modeling of systems, e.g., communication systems, involves identification of their basic components and the interrelationship between them. This paper proposes a model of ethical systems based on the notion of flow. The flow of ethical rules, e.g., ought not lie, are conceptualized to trigger the flow/blockage of other flows, e.g., information flow. In this scheme different types of mechanisms can be identified for classifying systems. Lying is used as a sample ethical issue for the proposed approach.