Ethics in Modeling

by William A. Wallace

The use of mathematical models to support decision making is proliferating in both the public and private sectors. Advances in computer technology and greater opportunities to learn the appropriate techniques are extending modeling capabilities to more and more people.

As powerful decision aids, models can be both beneficial or harmful. At present, few safeguards exist to prevent model builders or users from deliberately, carelessly, or recklessly manipulating data to further their own ends. Perhaps more importantly, few people understand or appreciate that harm can be caused when builders or users fail to recognize the values and assumptions on which a model is based or fail to take into account all the groups who would be affected by a model's results.

This volume provides a setting for a dialogue about ethics and shows the need to continue and define a vocabulary for exploring ethical concerns. It will become increasingly important for model builders and users to have a clear and strong code of ethics to guide them in making the ethical decisions they surely will have to face.

276 pages, Hardcover

First published May 27, 1994

About the author

Fr. William Augustine Wallace, O.P. taught at a number of institutions throughout his life, including the Dominican Houses of Studies in Springfield, KY, Dover, MA, and Washington, DC, the Catholic University of America, and the University of Maryland. In addition to his teaching and publishing, Fr. Wallace served as the Director General of the Leonine Commission for the editing of the Latin texts of St. Thomas Aquinas from 1976-1987.