Where does our situation there is a flaw, customers are not informed, and the magnitude of the problem is minimized it on this line?
There is a long history of the improper use of this technique. In its early days, a precursor to this method was known as “casuistry,” a term that eventually came to be pejorative. In the Middle Ages, casuistry was often used in religious debates to reach false conclusions. Indeed, one of the defi nitions of casuistry from the American Heritage Dictionary implies the use of false and subtle reasoning to achieve incor- rect solutions. Because of this negative connotation, the term “casuistry” is rarely used any more. This emphasizes the hazards of using line drawing: It is useful only if properly applied.
4.3.1 Application of Line Drawing to the Pentium Chip Case In 1994–95, it was discovered and widely reported that the latest version of the Intel Pentium chip had fl aws. At fi rst, Intel sought to hide this information, but later came around to a policy of offering consumers chips in which the fl aw had been corrected. We can use line drawing to get some insight into this problem.
For our positive paradigm, we will use the statement that “products should per- form as advertised.” The negative paradigm will be “Knowingly sell products that are defective and that will negatively affect customers’ applications.” A few examples that we can add to the line are as follows:
1. There is a fl aw in the chip, but it truly is undetectable and won’t affect any cus- tomer’s applications.
2. There are fl aws in the chip, the customer is informed of them, but no help is offered.
3. A warning label says that the chip should not be used for certain applications. 4. Recall notices are sent out, and all fl awed chips are replaced. 5. Replacement chips are offered only if the customer notices the problem.
Of course, there are many other possible examples. One view of the line, then, is as follows:
Negative paradigm (NP) Positive paradigm (PP)
Sell defective products Products should be as advertised
Figure 4.4 Application of line drawing to the Pentium case. Negative and positive paradigms are provided along with the examples.
62 4.4 Flow Charting
Where does our situation—there is a fl aw, customers aren’t informed, and the magnitude of the problem is minimized—fi t on this line? One possible analysis is the following:
According to this line-drawing analysis, the approach taken by Intel in this case wasn’t the best ethical choice.
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