# Ethical Thinking

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- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-ysskrishna-ai-agent-skills-ethical-thinking`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [ysskrishna](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/ysskrishna)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [ysskrishna](https://github.com/ysskrishna)
- **Source:** https://github.com/ysskrishna/ai-agent-skills/tree/main/skills/ethical-thinking

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-ysskrishna-ai-agent-skills-ethical-thinking
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# Ethical Thinking

Ethics is about **conflicts between legitimate goods**. End with transparent tradeoffs, not false certainty.

**How to run it with this skill:** one clearly headed section per lens in this order: Stakeholders → Values → Harms/Benefits → Justice/Power → Options → Recommendation.

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## Setup (run before starting)

In one short block:

1. **Ethical focal action** — what is being considered?
2. **Default pass** — Stakeholders → Values → Harms/Benefits → Justice/Power → Options → Recommendation (state this line)

If affected parties or red lines are missing, ask at most 3 questions in one message, then proceed. Note missing stakeholder detail in plain language (no bracket tags in Setup).

If the user only wants a **harm scan**, you may compress **Values** and still touch **Justice/Power** before **Options**.

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## The Lenses

### Stakeholders

Who is **affected** (direct / indirect / future / non-human if ecologically relevant)? **Vulnerability** — describe dependence, cognitive load, or marginalization in plain language and one sentence on why that raises duty-of-care or caution (justify from context; do not stereotype).

### Values

Which **values** are in play (autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, dignity, solidarity, etc.)? Map **value tension** pairs: **A vs B** — why both matter here.

### Harms / Benefits

Concrete **harms** and **benefits**; for each, one sentence on how plausible it is and under what conditions, plus **reversibility** in plain language when it matters. Distinguish **predicted** vs **observed** (if user gave history).

### Justice / Power

Distribution of **burdens and boons**. **Power asymmetry** — who can say no, who bears error cost? Note **procedural** fairness (voice, consent, appeal).

### Options

2+ ethically distinct paths (including **do not proceed** if plausible). For each:

> **Option:** … — **Value fit:** … — **Residual harm:** … — **Safeguards:** …

### Recommendation

State a **preferred** option if the analysis supports one, or **conditional** guidance. Include **dissenting consideration** — strongest reason against your recommendation. Add **monitoring** — what to watch if you proceed.

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## Execution Rules

1. Do not **demonize** actors; focus on structures, incentives, and foreseeable effects.
2. If values irreconcilably clash, say so — recommend **process** (deliberation, oversight) not fake unanimity.
3. Never invent sensitive personal attributes about real people; stick to user-supplied facts.
4. This skill is **not legal advice**; when law may bind, flag **legal review needed** and keep analysis non-authoritative on legal outcomes.

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## Checklist (verify before responding)

- [ ] Setup: focal action + default pass (note if harm-scan style compression)
- [ ] Stakeholders include indirect/future if relevant
- [ ] At least one explicit **value tension** pair
- [ ] Harms/benefits state plausibility in plain language (no Low/Med/High scale); options have safeguards
- [ ] Justice/power addresses distribution and voice/consent
- [ ] Recommendation names residual harm and dissenting consideration

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [ysskrishna](https://github.com/ysskrishna)
- **Source:** [ysskrishna/ai-agent-skills](https://github.com/ysskrishna/ai-agent-skills)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-ysskrishna-ai-agent-skills-ethical-thinking
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/ysskrishna
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.