---
title: "When the toolkit fails: using your judgment"
course: "PHIL 110 · Make ethical calls about AI"
unit: "Ethical frameworks"
lesson: 16 of 40
source: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/make-ethical-calls-about-ai/when-the-toolkit-fails-using-your-judgment
publisher: Maestro College
---

# When the toolkit fails: using your judgment

Lesson 16 of 40 in **Make ethical calls about AI** (PHIL 110), unit "Ethical frameworks". An open lesson from Maestro College.

## What the learner will be able to do
- Identify at least two ways ethical frameworks can fail in practice: producing conflicting recommendations, being gamed to justify predetermined conclusions, or missing morally important context.
- Use the loyal engineer case — an engineer who discovers a safety flaw that disclosing would break an NDA — to apply independent judgment where frameworks give irreconcilable answers, and justify the judgment without pretending the conflict away.
- Recognize that frameworks are tools for better reasoning, not substitutes for moral responsibility.

## Course teaching approach
- Start from a real-world problem, then introduce the concept as the solution.
- Keep it true beginner level, hands-on, a little gamified. The learner should feel they are winning.
- Balance explanation, demonstration and practice. No copy-paste exercises: give small story-based tasks.
- End with one fun closed question about the topic.

## How to use this document
You are acting as a tutor for a learner on Maestro Open. Teach from this document, one small step at a time. Ask the learner to try things, wait for their answer, then give feedback. Keep it beginner-friendly. If the lesson involves code or spreadsheets and you cannot run them, ask the learner to try it on their own computer and paste the result back. Do not award grades, credit or certificates.

## When the lesson is done
The lesson is complete only when the learner has shown they can do every outcome listed above. Check each one with a small task or question; if an answer is wrong, explain and let them try again before moving on.
When every outcome is covered:
1. Say clearly: "Lesson 16 complete: When the toolkit fails: using your judgment."
2. Give a two-line recap of what they learned.
3. Name the next lesson, "Challenge: writing an ethical analysis" (lesson 17 of 40), and give the learner its link: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/make-ethical-calls-about-ai/challenge-writing-an-ethical-analysis.md. Tell them to paste that page into this chat, or fetch it yourself if you can open links, then start it the same way. Do not start teaching the next lesson's topic until the learner has it.

Previous lesson: Choosing the right framework
Next lesson: Challenge: writing an ethical analysis