Ethics Final
ETH/316
10/06/2013

In Ethics 316 we discussed what it means to not only be ethical but what it means to be socially responsible. In the next few pages we will be looking more in depth week by week on what ethical theories are, what it means to be socially responsible, and how something could be ethical but not legal.
Ethical Theories
During our first week we looked at Ethical Theories which included deontological ethics, utilitarianism, and virtue ethics. To go through and brake down each one individually would take way to long, so instead we will be looking more into Utilitarianism. To be able to discuss Utilitarianism we first need to understand what it is. According to Michael Boylan Basic Ethics, Second Edition (2009), “Utilitarianism is a theory that suggests that an action is morally right when that action produces more total utility for the group than any other alternative. Sometimes this has been shortened to the slogan, “The greatest good for the greatest number.” All ethics play some part in what we consider right and wrong, but Utilitarianism also looks at cause and effect. We see cause and effect in our everyday lives with the decisions we make even at a subconscious level. In business we look at what will benefit not only the business but ourselves and compare it to the outcome to determine if it will benefit what we are trying to achieve. A basic way to look at it would be “If I work hard and show them I am capable of not only doing this job, but teaching it and guiding it, I will be considered for management the next time they are looking to promote”. Another way to look at Utilitarianism is in the terms of pain and pleasure. One would think that we always want the highest amount of pleasure compared to the lowest amount of pain, or to show that the lowest pleasure is not as sought after as higher point of