...egoism: * It is easier for egoists to know what is in their own self-interest than it is for other moralist, who are concerned about more than self-interest, to know what is on the best interest of others. It is easier for egoists to know what is in their own self-interest than it is for other moralist * It encourages individual freedom and responsibility and fits in best, according to egoists, without capitalist economy. Ethical Egoism encourages individual freedom and responsibility. * It can work successfully as long as people are operating in limited spheres, isolated from each other, thereby minimizing conflicts. Limitation of this advantage of ethical egoism: * It offers no consistent method of resolving conflict if self-interests. Its not help resolving self-interest. * We do not live in isolated, self-sufficient communities, but rather in increasingly crowded communities where social, economic, and moral interdependence are facts of life and where self-interests conflict and somehow must be compromised. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism. Utilitarian maintains that everyone should perform that act or follow that moral rule which will bring about the greatest good or happiness for everyone concerned. Act utilitarianism Act utilitarianism states that everyone should perform that act which will bring about the greatest good over bad for everyone affected by the act. * The act utilitarian believes that one cannot establish...
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...performance of affirmative action using logical arguments ethical theories, and perspectives. This paper will examine in what way a Utilitarian, Deontologist, Virtue Ethicist, Relativist and an Ethical Egoist would debate against the use of affirmative action. The case will be made by demonstrating why this practice is unquestionably unethical and discriminatory. Affirmative action is frequently used to give subgroups a benefit when applying for jobs, colleges or other organizations. In some cases, companies are financially incentivized to be racially diverse and in other instances extra points are given for test results. The result of these practices enables candidates, which could be less experienced to satisfy a position, to be chosen in order to achieve minority quotas. Affirmative action was passed to push back opposed to racism after segregation was viewed unlawful in order to get the government and employers to employ minorities; however, it is twisted by issues. In order to comprehend how an ethical perspective or theory would deal with affirmative action, it is necessary to first comprehend the view or approach. Utilitarianism is acknowledged as an important ethical theory, which only means that it centers on the expected result of an act, instead of the principles of the act itself or the agent involved in the action. The Utilitarian may endorse using the motto, “the ends justify the means”. The most fundamental evidence of Utilitarianism is that the agent must choose...
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...issue and discussion for ages. The most vital factor is its ethical implications. When an egoist is asked about this topic, he presents his own valuable ideas. According to the ethical egoist, selling blood is not at all unethical. He presents a strong notion that if an action produces positive consequences for the doer, then it must be considered as ethical because it meets his own self-interest (Blackburn, 2003). If a person offers his blood to some patient in return of some money, then it should be important to analyze the type of consequences. The money or other benefits that he gains or achieves, exclusively meet his needs and produces good results for him. Therefore, from the egoist’s point of view, putting someone’s blood for sale is absolutely ethical and it does not violate any moral implication. The basic concept of Utilitarianism is that every action should be guided by a sense of emotion, focusing on the well-being of others. Utilitarian theory tries to ensure that we should act in such a way that would produce the utmost happiness for all from an overall perspective. Every action must be guided by forecasting the consequence of it. Utilitarianism also argues that human beings are primarily rational. Therefore, it is quite obvious that we will act from a rational perspective rather than from an emotional one. This theory is certainly ambiguous to some extent. The utilitarian holds a dual-fold view. Presenting the basic concept of utilitarianism, he says that if a...
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...Pornography & Its Ethical Issues SOC 120 Introduction to Ethics & Social Responsibility February 3, 2014 Many argue that pornography is degrading, and believed that it denigrates women and in some cases even men. Feminists argue that it’s harmful to society promoting rape, violence, and sex discrimination. Pornography is often seen by others as an erotic art that has been around for thousands of years. Technology today makes access to pornography very easy by video, text, and the internet. Pornography raises many moral questions, but mainly, are pornographic materials morally offensive or not? The ethical issues pertaining to pornography are abundant, considering protecting personal privacy, computer crimes, materialism and cultural expansionism. Anti-pornographic believe that it’s immoral and that pornography should be censor. Pro-pornographic, believe to be education and inspirational, and argue that by taking away the constitutional rights are begging violated. Even though there are many different opinions about pornography, does not seem to be an accurate definition. Some argue that porn is violent, portrays unequal power in sexual relations and showing that many of its acts are judged as immoral. What does pornography mean in the dictionary? Pornography stems from the Greek word porno, meaning prostitutes and the word graphos meaning writing. Pornography is defined to include the definition of actual sexual contact, meaning hard core, and portrayal...
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...pay the terrorists. They of course had the option to pull its business out of Columbia, which they opted, willing not to do. They also could have pursued help from higher powers, such as the government here or the government in Columbia. It also could have gotten its employees involved and considered their opinions on the situation. 3. When using the Four Methods of Ethical Reasoning I believe that Chiquita was behaving unethical, especially once they found out what they were doing was illegal. Although they did make some decisions based on good ethics. Using the Virtues method Chiquita did base its decisions based on their values and personal character. They show they have good character traits by just caring about the well being of their employees. Using the Utilitarian approach to analyze the ethics of Chiquita, the company needed to compare the costs and benefits of their decision and actions taken. For a utilitarian, the alternative where the benefits most outweigh the costs is the ethically...
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... 2 Abstract Have you ever asked your self what the definition of Ethics is? I myself have never thought of that question until this quarter. Ethics to me was always something that was moral and right. I would constantly hear people speaking with one another saying, oh no that is not ethical or yes that sounds ethical to me. I figured that they knew what they were saying and just went along with it. Before taking my ethics class I would also speak to my peers and say things like, that does not sound ethical or yes that is a very ethical thing to do. The question is; what is truly ethical? Isn’t everything ethical in a way, and according to who might this be ethical? These are the questions that we are thought to ask and to learn in ethics. I have learned that there are many types of ethics and they are all very different from each other and often disagree with one another. This paper clarifies some of the differences between different types of ethics that exist among us. WHAT IS ETHICAL 3 What is Ethical, and According to Whom? People all around the word are constantly using the word ethics or ethical incorrectly. This has started because most common people do not know the true meaning of ethics. I was one of those people who thought of ethics as one single certain way of thinking. Something ethical to most people means something that sounds good and right...
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...CHAPTER 1: THE IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS ETHICS Ethics- Inquiry into the nature and grounds of morality where the term of morality is taken to mean moral judgments, standards and rules of conduct. The American Heritage Dictionary- Ethics- The study of the general nature of morals and of specific moral choices, moral philosophy, and the rules or standards governing the conducts of the members of a profession. Applying Ethics to business: 1.To survive, business must earn a profit 2. Business must balance their desires for profits against the needs and desires of society. Business ethics comprises the principles and standards that guide behavior in the world of business. CHAPTER 2: STAKEHOLDER RELATIONSHIPS, SOCIAL RESPONDSIBILITY, AND CORPERATE GOVERNANCE. In a business context, customers, investors and shareholders, employees, suppliers, government agencies, communities, and many others who have a “stake” or claim in some aspect of a company’s products, operations, markets, industry, and outcomes are known as stakeholders. These groups are influenced by business, but they also have the ability to influence businesses; thus, the relationship between companies and their stakeholders is a two-way street. Stakeholders provide resources that are more or less critical to a firm’s long-term success. These resources may be both tangible and intangible. Primary stakeholders are those whose continued association is absolutely necessary for a firm’s survival; these include...
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...CHAPTER 1 WHAT IS ETHICS?* Stories about “unethical” behavior in business abound. The recent scandals permeating the financial services, savings and loan, and other industries have caused a growing concern about ethics in the workplace. Success often appears to be measured in only dollars. The claim that “greed is good” seems to reflect the behavior of many people in our society. Indeed, the desire to possess more and more seems pervasive—and business, like other institutions, reflects the values, beliefs, and personal goals of our society. Time, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, and countless other magazines and newspapers have called attention to unethical practices, bemoaning the “sleaze, scandals, and hypocrisy”1 undermining our moral bearings. In short, there is a great deal of concern about ethics in general, and business ethics in particular. This reading will examine what ethics is and how people decide what is “right” and “wrong.” The word ethics has a number of meanings. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary gives several definitions of ethics, including: ● the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation ● a set of moral principles or values ● a theory or system of moral values 2 ● the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group. Ethics, in all of these definitions, is concerned with right or wrong behavior. This reading focuses on the discipline or study of ethics. 1. THE DISCIPLINE OF ETHICS This discipline consists...
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...Old Smoke in the Workplace By: Jennefer Paddock BUS 309: Professor Handel Smith February 26, 2012 Old Smoke in the Workplace “Old Smoke” is a case where there is a file room, where Alice and Frank smoke, that smells of cigarette smoke. In this case, Charles Renford, office supervisor for Redwood Associates, assigned a task to one of his employees, Darlene Lambert, to help him with a report that was due right away. When the office supervisor asked his employee to go into the file room to start assembling the data needed for the report, Darlene refused the task claiming that the file room smelled like smoke and it was too bad for her to be in there. Darlene has worked in the file room before, and she has never went to her supervisor and complained about the smoke smell. This case shows that Alice and Frank are considerate as they were always considerate of Darlene, as well as nonsmokers, by opening the windows to air the room out ahead of time if they knew that Darlene was going to be working in there. Companies have implemented a non-smoking policy in places of employment, and according to this case smokers have rights, and the office supervisor reminds Darlene that their state law does not ban smoking in the workplace. Due to Darlene not going into the filing room, the office supervisor is concerned with the report that is currently due. With this case, Charles Renford could have handled the situation better than what he did, and Charles Renford should implement a policy...
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...to the use of medical marijuana. At Will Employment and Medical Marijuana: Analyses based on Legal, Ethical and Social Responsibility There is controversy over the rising issue of employment at-will and medical marijuana off company property. There are 22 states that allow the use of medical marijuana, but these states’ medical marijuana laws do not explicitly provide protection status to patients. Should this be legal and is it worth it for the organization to continue this practice? This paper will discuss the issue of “zero-tolerance” drug policies in organizations located in states that allow the legal use of medical marijuana, and the issues that arise will be analyzed and broken down into the “3 value” analysis of the law, ethics, and social responsibility. According to a report done by CNN there is a case concerning a Michigan man named Joseph Casias, 29, who was fired from his job at Wal-Mart after failing a drug test. Joseph has a rare form of brain cancer that causes him daily pain. His doctor prescribed him medical marijuana, which is legal in Michigan. In fact, medical marijuana is legal in 22 states to date. It is just as unfortunate that the law only protects against criminal penalties and not “sanctions imposed by employers. So...
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...THREE ETHICAL APPROACHES BASED ON VIRTUE, DUTY AND CONSEQUENCE Three ethical approaches have evolved as the focus of those who study moral philosophy: virtue ethics, duty ethics and consequential ethics. Virtue ethics, associating ethics with personal habits, is associated with Aristotle. Duty ethics is associated with religious beliefs, although Kant tried to create a system of duties independent of belief in God. Consequential ethics is associated with the quest for rationalism during the Enlightenment, and especially with the Utilitarians. Virtue Ethics Plato and especially later Aristotle described moral behavior as “what the moral or virtuous person does.” The virtuous person develops a sense of right and wrong. This idea endures. We look to people we think of as ethical to give us advice on an ethical issue because such people have a sense of right and wrong. Aristotle tried to take the idea further, with less success. He thought that virtuous behavior meant people realizing their potential. He suggested that virtue was tied to moderation, a middle way between excess and deficiency. This idea is in practice not proven so helpful because where the midpoint is depends on where we put the extremes.[2] For example if an extreme drinker is someone who drinks six liters a day of vodka, then is three liters a day a moderate drinker? Markets operate without depending on the virtue of the business people who trade in them. But in practice ethical behavior is admired...
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...Human Cloning Table of Contents: Advantages and Disadvantages Human Cloning and Divine Command Theory Human Cloning and Naturalism Human Cloning and Religion Human Cloning and Utilitarianism Human Cloning and Ethical Egoism Human Cloning and Kantianism Advantages and Disadvantages Like any other controversial topic, human cloning has numerous advantages and disadvantages, and based on these, one ought to decide whether to condemn human cloning as ethically right or not. On the one hand, there are several advantages for human cloning. These are mostly medical and political advantages. From a medical point of view, cloning can serve to improve the human condition. As a matter of fact, it provides cures to various diseases. With human cloning legalized, doctors would no longer treat cancer by chemotherapy; they would rather replace the affected cancerous organ by a new cloned one. Another way human cloning can serve to improve the human condition is by improving future generations. Some traits in human beings are unwanted and undesirable and can therefore be genetically dismissed in clones. Thus, future generations will not bear these unwanted characteristics. Furthermore, human cloning can serve to provide solutions to problems such as infertility and aging. Although Human cloning has a good number of advantages, it also has a lot of drawbacks. First of all, human cloning is the act of creating a new human being using technology and not the traditional way. This causes a...
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...The control and manipulation of genetic material has become common place in our society. What was once the dream of science fiction authors and fans has become reality. Such topics as stem cell research, in vitro fertilization, and cloning have created quite a stir in scientific communities. However, these advancements do not come without a cost, or without ethical dilemmas. First, a definition of these terms is required. Following that, we will explore some topics and the ethics associated with them. Stem cells exist in all living things. These cells go on to either produce more stem cells or specialize to become different types of living tissue. Stem cells can be broken down into two main classifications, embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cells, as the name would imply, are only found in developing embryos. These cells are the most versatile. On the other hand, adult stem cells are only able to transform into a select few types of tissue. (Bongso & Lee, 2005) In vitro fertilization involves the fertilization of an oocyte outside of the female reproductive system. Fertilization occurs in a Petri dish, after which time the embryo is reintroduced into a female uterus where it is allowed to implant and develop. (Seibel, 2008) Cloning is a scientific method of producing an offspring that is genetically identical to the parent. In cloning, only one parent is required, therefore it is considered to be asexual reproduction. (Rugnetta, 2012) All of these...
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...Assisted Suicide PHI 200: Mind and Machine Physician Assisted Suicide Physician assisted suicide is the common term whereby a physician, at the request of a terminally ill patient, assists the patient in voluntarily ending their own life. Assistance can mean providing one with the means (drugs or equipment) to end their own lives, but may extend to other actions. There are currently three states in the US which allow physician assisted suicide as well as a handful of countries. Global public debate has been ongoing for decades, centering on legal, religious, and moral conceptions of suicide and a personal right to death. “In some religious contexts, while a suicide is considered to be an offense made out of unknowing, confusion, or despair, assisted suicides are ostensibly actions made in faith, with no expectation of incurred sin or such that would bar transcendence to an afterlife”. In certain religious denominations, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, suicides are considered a serious sin. So, many Catholics oppose the practice of assisted suicide. For years, doctors have been prohibited from assisting patients to end their own lives. There are many arguments for and against assisting terminally ill patients to remain in control of their own destiny. Should a terminally ill patient be able to commit suicide? Proponents of patients’ rights argue that patients have the right to die...
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...companies moral agents?” is quite a debatable question among various thinkers. With the raised level of awareness of consumers regarding the impact of corporate activities on environment and society at large, corporations are obliged to put serious efforts towards execution of environmental, social and ethical procedures in their actions (Lombardi et al, 2015). At various times, various issues had been raised by the consumers or competitors of various corporations which has led to adoption, development and implementation of various code of ethics to be followed by companies in order to evolve ethically in business world. History has many evidences of rise and fall of various major corporations, by means of involving in various unethical activities and frauds, such as, HIH insurance, One.Tel, Enron etc to name a few. One of the renowned MNCs, Nestle, has been in the conflicts since long regarding the issues of corporate social responsibility and ethics. Nestle has faced severe criticism for its marketing and business strategies, for transgressing human and workforce rights and environment. Nestle had a bad name in history with its infant formula controversy, as the company involved in marketing, promoting and selling its product unethically in underdeveloped nations, due to which it had to face a global boycott ( Post, 1985). This led to new international code of marketing by WHO, for breast milk substitutes and also raised various issues and concerns regarding human rights and commercial...
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