...Examine how Bentham’s utilitarianism may be applied to one ethical issue of your choice Organ donation Utilitarian's believe that humans are motivated by the pursuit to maximise happiness and minimise pain, which is called a hedonist view. Utilitarianism is an ethical principle, a philosophical system which takes into account consequences of an action rather than motives, where the happiness of the greatest number should be the result, as it is therefore morally right. Jeremy Bentham's understanding of the utilitarian principle is called Act Utilitarianism. His approach states that the rightness or wrongness of an individual act is calculated by the amount of happiness that results from the act. His view is also a hedonist view, which proposes that the main good is pleasure, whilst the main evil is pain. He therefore proposed that all humans pursue the maximisation of pleasure and minimisation of pain. Bentham believed in the greatest good for the greatest number, and believed that quantity (rather than Mills belief in quality) played the main role in deciding whether an act was good or not, as the one providing most pleasure for most people, whilst providing least or no pain, is seen as the best choice by Bentham. To decide the value of happiness created with such act, Bentham would apply the Hedonic calculus, with 7 criteria which help to calculate pain and pleasure generated by the act. Intensity would be applied to see how intense the pleasure or pain is, duration...
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...type of problem that is addressed by philosophers. 2. Explain how ethical norms help address ethical issues that arise in accountancy. 3. Contrast the views of Mills, Machiavelli and Kant. 4. Describe what is meant by a social contract. 5. Analyze a given situation and tell why it would be appropriate or inappropriate to lie. 6. Explain the views of Kierkegaard and contrast him from other existentialists. 7. Discuss the concept that ethics cannot be based on religion. 8. Explain the use of ethical reasoning and how it can be used in your professional life. Introduction The major ethical principles accepted in the western world follow guidelines and rules that must be universally applied in all situations. These ethical principles are established primarily on the basis of teachings set forth by philosophers throughout the ages, starting with the great Greek thinkers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. As you might expect, there have been many alterations 修改 to these moral principles throughout the years. What was considered ethically correct by some was rejected by others and replaced with their own concept of what constituted moral or ethical behavior. A Comment about Philosophy: Philosophy, unlike science, addresses issues that cannot be solved. In fact, some philosophers state that if a problem can be solved, philosophers will not even address the issue, feeling that it should be considered by other disciplines. One of the...
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...Discussion Question #2 Week 1 How might you apply ethical philosophies and principles that summarize what you perceive to be the top five ethical issues challenging health care delivery today? What I perceive to be the top five ethical issues challenging health care delivery today are the following: * Avoiding conflicts of interest * Balancing profits with quality of care * Equal treatment of all patients * Managing decision making capacity of the elderly and very young patients * Addressing nurses moral distress when providing care with minimal benefits The ethical philosophies and principles that would summarize these issues for me would be a combination of the Natural Law ethical theory, and the Utilitarianism ethical theory. These theories would summarize the top five ethical issues I perceive to be a challenge in health care today. Describe at least two ethical principles discussed in this week's reading material. Apply those principles to two examples of ethical challenges that exist in the delivery of health care today. Do these principles assist in overcoming the challenge or do they create more of an ethical dilemma? Why? Natural Law Ethical Theory- This principle of ethics is defined as the position that rational reflection on nature, will yield principles of good and bad that can guide human action toward fulfillment or flourishing. Utilitarianism- This principle of ethics is defined as acting so as to do the greatest good for the greatest...
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...To Stay or to Leave? Christine Amargo SOC 120 Intro to Ethics and Social Responsibility Denise Antoon April 21, 2014 In the United States of America, we face many different ethical problems each and every day. Some of the ethical problems that we have to deal with are hunger, war, poverty, crime, and terrorism, but the biggest ethical issue the United States has to deal ethical with is immigration. There are many issues dealing with immigrations, such as immigration laws. Many questions come up about this topic in today's society, like how do we stop immigration or do we even stop it? Not all immigrants are bad some are useful to the United States; we have to remember that the first people in America were immigrants. We do not have the right to deport others back to their native land. Many people from different countries try so hard to get to United States looking for a better life. There are many reasons why immigrants migrate to different countries, especially the United States of America home of the free. Some reasons are employment opportunities or careers that are not available in their native land, improved quality of life, and refuge from war. Most immigrants focus on making sure their children have a better life they had; those people show the theory of utilitarianism. "Utilitarianism argues that, given a set of choices, the act we should choose is that which produces the best results for the greatest number affected by that choice" (Mosser, 1.6). These immigrants...
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...Treatments last around 10–12 weeks and repeating the treatment every few months will allow for treatment of new growth. Depending on the treatment used downtime, after it is performed ranges from no-wait to a 72 hour period in which the recipient cannot wash or wet the hair, exercise, tuck the hair behind the ears, or pin it up with any hair clip, pony tail holder or headband, as doing so may compromise the result of the treatment. The treatment on average cost about $150–$600 depending on the hair length. FDA states that Brazilian Blowouts are hazardous to the health of the women who use them and hairdressers who apply them. The concern is over the “alleged” presence of formaldehyde in the hair smoothing products which centers around three issues: nomenclature; method by which formaldehyde concentration is measured; and measurements of formaldehyde concentration in bottles of the product. The reported concentration is dependent upon both the method of measurement and nomenclature. American Chemistry Society noted that formaldehyde content-in both gaseous and aqueous forms-should be accounted for...
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...accountants will increasingly be asked to design systems to control, evaluate, interpret or apply ethical judgement. The following develops the basis for forming ethical judgements. The management accountant fulfils four broad roles concerning ethics: 1. to ensure that management has developed and installed a comprehensive and internally controlled code of ethics. 2. to verify that the code of ethics and its controls are comprehensive and that everyone in the organization understands and complies with it. 3. to report to management any deviation from the code of ethics and its control systems. The Board of Directors may ultimately have to address any failures in the code or its controls. 4. to act in accordance with the code of ethics in making personal decisions. What are Ethics and Morals? Ethics are the rules people use to define and regulate moral behaviour. Morals distinguish right from wrong. Descriptive ethics are codes of ethics as actually practiced. Descriptive ethics provide no value judgements. Normative ethics, or moral reasoning, develops statements about whether a practiced ethical system is good or bad and suggests how ethical dilemmas, which are conflicts between individual systems of ethics ought to be resolved. Metaethics questions the meaning and universality of ethical statements. There is wide agreement that there is no basis for making universal normative ethical statements. A popular, but not universal, view is that ethics are the principles that people...
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...Many of these companies get scrutinized because ethical decisions are involved relating to the testing of getting a drug approved. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) require that a drug be tested on healthy humans to make sure it is safe for use. This creates a problem though because a reasonable individual will not take an unapproved drug unless they are substantially compensated. To combat this issue, pharmaceutical companies started testing unapproved drugs on homeless people in exchange for money and other benefits. Eli Lilly started to use this approach in the 1980s and discovered that homeless male alcoholics desperate for money would take unapproved drugs for payments of up to $4,500 a month, a warm bed, food, and good medical care. To make sure that these individuals are not exploited, the FDA requires that individuals participating in these tests give their “informed consent” and make a “truly voluntary and uncoerced decision.” (P. No. 73). This creates an ethical issue because people question whether being broke, homeless, and an alcoholic can have an effect on making an uncoerced decision. On the other hand, people would argue that these homeless men were given the chance to become addiction free, they would receive other benefits, and they were helping to get a drug approved that could be used to potentially save thousands of lives. This is a complex case involving an ethical issue, but the utilitarianism theory and rights theory can be applied to...
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...is based on each person's own situation, experience and views. As such, there are different ways in which one can judge whether or not different behaviors are ethical or unethical. Three areas that display this variance include virtue theory, utilitarianism and deontological ethics. While most examination of ethical validity comes through analysis of a particular action or idea, virtue theory places an emphasis on the ethical standing of the source. It examines whether the person committing the act is behaving in a manner that exhibits good character and is of high moral standing. A common display of where virtue ethics have a place can be found in a student standing up for his or herself and others by pushing away a bully who was tormenting others. While the specific action of pushing another student may be ethically questionable, most would likely find virtue in the courage displayed by standing up to the bully. Utilitarianism takes the approach that the greater good is best served when the majority benefit from an action. As such, actions that provide positive outcomes for a larger group than those that feel a negative burden are deemed to be ethical under utilitarianism. Utilitarianism can be easily seen on almost every commercial for pharmaceutical drugs. Each medication promises to cure major issues for patients, ranging from depression, to restless leg, to seasonal allergies. Most also list a small number of side effects that will impact a portion of the...
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...Ethical dilemma: Indirectly Using Child Labor Child labor now becomes a complicated problem, which affects all regions of the world. According to the telegraph online, “Even at big company, as Apple, said that 91 children under the age of 16 were discovered to be working last year in ten Chinese factories owned by its suppliers. “ The company did not examine the suppliers, and the suppliers squeezed the child labor, finally, the company gets more profit. The ethical dilemma in this essay is that whether it is ethical for a company not to examine if they indirectly use the child labor. I will apply two ethical theories to this ethical dilemma, the Kantian ethics theory and the Utilitarianism theory. In the Kantian ethics theory, he says, “we should do the right thing regardless of reward or loss”, which is core ideas of his ethics theory. Furthermore, in his famous work Groundwork Metaphysics of Morality, he says, “Nothing is good in itself but the good will.” Additionally, in the Utilitarianism theory, it is roughly based on calculating or measuring benefits versus burdens. There are two core philosophers in the Utilitarianism theory, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. I will explain this two theories and how the company fall into the dilemma as follows: Firstly, there is no doubt that it is an unethical matter. As for the Kantian ethics, he thinks there is no relationship between the purpose and ethics; whatever effect of the purpose is content, happy, or kind. We only...
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...strange. When faced with an ethical dilemma in real life situations they tend to shy away from it, or attempt to go around the issue. In movies however, ethical dilemmas seem to captivate audiences and drag them in. It is enjoyable to sit around and argue with friends about the moral situations presented in movies and many can be interpreted different ways. One of these movies is 10 Cloverfield lane. The movie is both an excellent example of utilitarian ethics and as it ends becomes a brilliant argument against them. The main issue revolves around John Goodman’s character, Howard, and if he is morally in the right for what he does. 10 Cloverfield Lane seems to suggest that based upon utilitarian ethics he is right in what he does. The movie is set almost completely in an underground bomb shelter. It revolves around Michelle, who, after getting into a car wreck, wakes up in the bunker with news of a widespread attack on US soil. Howard informs her and another farm boy, named Emmett, that they cannot leave the bunker or...
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...aim of businesses is to make profits. However during the recent decades, businesses have had to invest their funds to be ethical in their operations so as to avoid controversies due to law breaks (Shlomo 2011, 98). Stakeholders have to be taken into consideration so that they are not affected by the business’s functioning. However many businesses have to face ethical dilemmas which is an immoral doing (Noland and Phillips 2010, 39). Ethical perspectives have been developed to help people to identify and categorise problems from ethical dilemmas, compel them to think thoroughly, encourage them to examine issues from many different angles, and provide them with decision-making strategies (Eyal, Berkovich and Schwartz 2011, 396). The main ethical perspectives include utilitarianism, libertarianism, deontology and virtue of ethics. In McNulty and Davis’s case “Should the C-suite have a Green Seat” ethical dilemmas have been identified. Narinex is in a situation to decide whether it should hire a chief sustainability officer or not. This ethical dilemma derives from sustainability issues which customers are looking for towards Narinex’s waste handling; fair wages and the elimination of printed documentation which the company’s competitor has already done and the Tawainese issue which it had already faced in the past. This essay will compare and contrast the ethical perspectives on the dilemma which has been recognised. Narinex is an electronic...
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...thing in life we should focus on? For thousands of years, several moral agents have tried to construct multiple ethical theories that could potentially help other moral agents with the difficult and complicated task of determining what is morally right or wrong. In this paper, I will explain the fascinating ethical theory of Utilitarianism and discuss about two very influential people to Utilitarianism, who are Jeremy Bentham, and John Stuart Mill. Along with discussing their contributes to this theory, I will evaluate their personal perspective on Utilitarianism and determine which is more plausible between the two. Ultimately, by doing this I will be able to support the idea that Utilitarianism is not an overall plausible ethical theory to follow. Utilitarianism is a type ethical theory from the ethical objective theory called Consequentialism. Much like in the Consequentialism theory, where morally right and wrong decisions are completely dependent on the consequences produce by an action, morality in Utilitarianism is reliant on the utility of the consequences produced by an action. Utility in this sense means the usefulness of a consequence or the benefits the consequence brings to those all affect by the action. Utilitarians have a strong focus on doing actions that produce the most good. This is due to the principle of utility, which in Utilitarianism states that an action is right if it produces the greatest possibly utility for all those affected by the action. In...
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...Philosophy Exam * When is a deductive argument conclusive? All the premises are true, No fallacies are committed, and it is valid. Which of the following is one of the criteria a deductive argument must meet in order to be conclusive (good)? -the argument must be valid * What are the 3 criteria that must be met for an appeal to experts to be legitimate? 1. Must be an expert in the relevant field, expertise on the issue 2. Consensus of experts in the field must agree. 3.Expert must be liable and agreeable, reliable and credible Suppose you decide to appeal to experts to answer a question. Which of the following is NOT one of the three criteria discussed in class that must be met for your appeal to authority to be likely to get you the truth? -the expert appealed to must have published work in the field. * What are the ways discussed in class to determine what the consensus of experts believe about an issue? Professional Journals * Why is it important to rely on a consensus rather than individual experts views? Some experts just start drama, past experts have been wrong. Why is it important to rely on consensus rather than individual experts views? -a consensus is more likely to be correct * How is truth defined in class? As defined in class, a statement is true and only true if it matches up with the way things are. * What are the main points of each of the Quickie Arguments? Morality does not equal legality...
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...been entrusted with a project to develop land and build an adult entertainment retail store. The store will be built near Luke’s brother, Owen, who is considering selling his home soon, but has not made the final decision. Owen currently has an offer on the house. Luke understands that the announcement of the construction of the store will have a negative effect on the surrounding neighborhood which includes his brother’s property. The announcement will take place in one month. ABC Company has asked Luke to keep information regarding the commencement of construction of the store confidential until the announcement. Once the announcement is made, Owen’s house will lose value and Owen might lose the offer he has on the house. 2. Issue Luke, like most people, has multiple sets of obligations to different parties. ABC Company expects Luke to maintain the confidentiality of the project. However, Owen is Luke’s brother and Luke most likely wants the best for him. Luke must decide whether to maintain loyalty to ABC Company or inform Owen of the upcoming events to save him money. 3. Analysis 4.1 Universal Ethics This concept suggests that any action taken should be able to be applied as a universal law, subject to repetition by any and all. If Luke breaches confidentiality and informs his brother Owen of the planned construction then, under universal ethics, anyone could breach confidentiality in favor of other obligations. Obviously, this would not...
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...Corporate Governance and Ethical Responsibility Claudette Harrington Strayer University Dr. Diane Barrs Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance 11/10/12 1. Determine at least three (3) different internal and external stakeholders that Dr. DoRight might have to deal with on a daily basis at the hospital. Answer: Dr. DoRight was morally concerned when he reported the issues regarding treatment of the patient’s health and medical errors, and because of the staff illegal activities, Dr. DoRight informed his Manager and the Executive Committee about the nurses and doctors unethical and illegal behavior. According to Investor Glossary, a stakeholder is any individual, group, or business with a stake in the success of the organization and are considered a stakeholder. They are typically concerned with the organization delivering intended results and meeting its financial objectives. In general, a stakeholder usually stands to gain or lose something depending on the decisions taken or the policies implemented. A stakeholder can be one of two types internal (from within the organization) or external (from outside the organization). Different internal and external stakeholders that Dr.DoRight might have to deal with on a daily basis include the hospital employees, doctors and nurses, board of trustees, creditors, managers’ and executives. All of these persons benefit from the day-to-day decisions and operations of the organization. At the Universal Human Care Hospital...
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