I attend a university with an honor code. Professors assign take-home exams (books, notes, and the web aren’t allowed) and leave answer keys in unlocked offices. I’ve never violated this trust, but I think the honor code may tempt struggling students to cheat. Should people avoid creating situations that make it easy for others to behave unethically? —ILANA WALDER-BIESANZ, BOSTON
WHAT MAKES THE HONOR CODE meaningful is the fact that you can so easily cheat: Instead of policing you, the university is placing students in a position where they must consciously choose to be honest. What you perceive as a problem is actually your university’s way of creating a real-life lesson in ethics and morality. But as it relates to people outside a school setting, your question is more complicated. It suggests that part of being an ethical person involves making it easier for other people to be ethical. If a shop owner totally ignores shoplifting, is he being unethical by making things easier for potential shoplifters? There’s no easy answer, but I will say this: If you’re certain that people will behave unethically in a given situation, you have a social responsibility to take that opportunity away from them. But that’s an almost impossible thing to be certain of.
—Adapted from “The Ethicist” in The New York Times Magazine