...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...
Words: 2724 - Pages: 11
...another belief as presented in the book, Utilitarianism, which is seemingly conflicting with the thoughts of Kant. What is most unique about the ethics of morality is the idea of responsibilities to particular individuals. According to both Mill and Kant, moral obligations are not fundamentally particularistic because they are rooted in universal moral principles. Both philosophers have made great impacts in their niche areas in the field. An analysis of their theories may help develop a better understanding of them and their theories. Mill holds an empiricist theory while Kant holds a rationalist theory. Kant explains morality through forms that he believes are essential to free and sensible judgment. Mill’s utilitarian approach is a form of consequential theory because the rightness or wrongness of an act is determined by the outcomes. Kant’s ethics of duty is the foundation for his categorical imperative, which gives the basis for his universal duty based theory. Mill’s theory of utilitarianism is the main structure of consequentialism. John Stuart Mill, who made utilitarianism the subject of one of...
Words: 2175 - Pages: 9
...Commerce Clause. • the Necessary and Proper Clause. Download now LAW 421 5. Two merchant companies have entered into a contract for the sale of goods. They have had no prior dealings among themselves that may establish a course of conduct. The UCC will provide "gap fillers" to supply missing terms unless • they have failed to specify the price of the goods to be delivered. • they have failed to specify the quality or grade of the goods to be delivered. • they have failed to specify when payment for the goods is to be made. • they have failed to specify where delivery of the goods is to be made. 6. "What if everyone took these same actions?" is a question sometimes called the • morality approach. • utilitarian approach. • functionality approach. • universalization approach. 7. Jurisprudence is defined as • the science and...
Words: 1680 - Pages: 7
...advantage, goodness and happiness. By pain Bentham refers to evil and unhappiness. An example of this will be childbirth. During the period of pregnancy and throughout the labour the mother goes through different level of pain. However, the result is pleasure as baby is born. This not only brings happiness to the mother, also to a greater amount of people especially the family members. The greatest happiness is given to greatest number. Bentham said: ‘Nature has placed us under the governance of two sovereign master, pain and pleasure. An act is right if it delivers more pleasure than pain and wrong if it brings about more pain than pleasure.’ This approach of Bentham can be used to decide on the right course of action as it considers an action is right if it produces the greatest good for the greatest number. This approach can be used to explain death of Jesus the only Son of God. For God so loved the world that in order for him to bring salvation to the whole world Jesus was crucified. In this Jesus is the minority and through the suffering of the One the whole world was given salvation. This gives...
Words: 833 - Pages: 4
...Ethics Essay Ethics and morality are as important as ever in today’s business world. With so many companies using unethical means to make millions of dollars swindling others, it is definitely time to refocus on what we believe in and follow sound ethical and moral traditions. It does not matter if a person uses the virtue, deontological, or consequential approach to ethics as long as he or she is thinking about doing the right thing. The deontological theory focuses on a person’s duty to an ethical situation. A person that prescribes to the deontological theory does not care about what would benefit the greatest number of shareholder, only that which is honorable, fair, and loyal, respect, compassion, right, and the responsible thing to do. While this might seem old fashioned in today’s world of fast paced, do what feels right, care for only yourself world we live in now however, this was the only way to live in the past. This was back in the day when your word and a handshake were better than any ironclad contract today. The textbook gives an example of a doctor submitting a patients name for a drug trial when the parameters of the drug trail is clearly spelled out and the patient does not qualify for the drug testing (L.K. & Nelson, 2011). He or she may think he or she is morally justified in submitting the name because it will help his patient, however, he will also be dishonest because he or she would have to falsify documents so the patient will be included in the...
Words: 732 - Pages: 3
...A. Briefly assess the law from a deontological perspective (intentions, principles, non-consequential). To assess the law from deontological perspective, we would have to define first what deontological means: Deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek deon, "obligation, duty"; and -logia) is an approach to ethics that judges the morality of an action based on the action's adherence to a rule or rules. Deontologists look at rules and duties. In the wake of natural disaster, essentials -- such as food, ice generators, lanterns, lumber, etc. -- may be in short supply. By Florida law, charging exorbitant or excessive prices for these and other necessities following a disaster is not only unethical, it's illegal. Assessing the law from a deontological perspective we would have to say that the Florida law is trying to pursue “the moral thing to do” in this kind of situations where people are desperate to obtain these items that in a state of emergency become basic needs for survival. Stating the deontological ethics there would not be bad consequences from the act of prohibit price gouging in the market neither the consumers because we would be following the rules of helping one to each others. Morally people should not take advantage of difficult times to increase prices that would harm the consumer and his ability to obtain the products that would help him/her survive. B. Assume that you manage a retail business in a low to medium income area of Miami...
Words: 1005 - Pages: 5
...To torture or not to torture is an ethical dilemma for whoever is in charge of making that call. The results may or may not seem justified to some or unjustified to others. With the theological/consequential view, is “result oriented”, if it takes torture to get the results intended, that’s the course of action is taken to do so. This is an action that one can view as ethically unbiased to the one who makes the call to torture or not to torture and the worthiness explicitly based on the results they want. As for deontological, they are” rule oriented” They examine the action and the rules. They might rule out the thought of torture and decide not to torture but do what is needed to attained the result within reason. Utilitarian,” is concerned with maximizing the benefits for the maximum number of people.” Utilitarianism puts into perspective that any form of strategy that is put into play and helps the majority to be happy is honorably right,” then we can likewise quantify the pain and simply subtract the sum of pain from the sum of pleasure/” Is this the right course of actions to take? Or should I ask, to torture only some will make a small number miserable as long as millions can be saved in return. The utilitarianism thinks so. Kant said it best,” that the categorical imperative is used to identify how we must act out of regard for duty and respect for the moral law.” The value of one’s deed is of no importance to morality. Knowing that you are doing wrong is unacceptable...
Words: 545 - Pages: 3
...a) Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is a moral theory that ultimately concentrates on the happiness of an individual. This theory was initially developed by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and later altered by Stuart Mill (1806-1873). A Utilitarian’s attitude towards justice implies that no significant act (e.g., act of copying) or rule (e.g., “should not lie”) is basically good or bad. Rather, it solely depends on the overall non-moral good produced on accomplishing the act. The central idea here is that morality depends on the happiness produced after an ethical act or regulation. Hence the act is influential and not elemental. Therefore, utilitarianism is classed under “consequential” theory. Both Bentham and Mill were hedonists and regarded happiness as the most important thing in life. However, there was a conflict in the way they measured happiness. Bentham did not differentiate the pleasures obtained from the actions (Bentham, 1781). According to him, any work that generates happiness- be it eating or listening to music was essentially good. He was concerned about the quantity of happiness produced by doing an action. In contrast, Mill’s theory (Act Utilitarianism) focused on the quality of the action that produces happiness. He distinguished the pleasures into lower and higher pleasures. The former constituted of tactile sensuous pleasure like sleeping or eating, while the latter comprised of more intellectual behavior like listening to elegant music or reading a poem...
Words: 3042 - Pages: 13
...Crane & Matten, Business ethics, 3rd Edition, Chapter 6 Suggested answers to the Think Theory exercises associated with the Ethics in Action boxes THINK THEORY 1 Think of the duties of managers to their shareholders from the perspective of ethics of duty (Kant’s theory). Apply this theoretical lens to the three incidents described above. In each case, management in the three incidents failed to respect the ethics of duty. Kant’s Maxim 1 is about an action being right only if everyone could follow the same underlying principle (the ‘golden rule’). For example, Ahold management concealed the true state of affairs from the company’s owners (and everyone else), action which they cannot have wanted to become a universal law. Maxim 2 requires human dignity to be respected, with people being treated as ends, not means. For example, management at Porsche treated the company owners instrumentally, not respecting their dignity, essentially treating them as ‘finance-providing ends’. Maxim 3 is about universality; whether the principles of an action would be acceptable for every person. The fact that 90% of shareholders voted against Goodwin’s pension is clear evidence that this was not the case at RBS. THINK THEORY 2 Thinking of different corporate governance practices around the world, are these just ‘different’ (i.e. reflecting different cultural and customary practices) or would you argue that some of them are clearly more or less ethical from a moral perspective? One could...
Words: 2174 - Pages: 9
...them - see the key quotes section under the topic area of each moral theory. And if you'd like to blog on anything in the news send it to me - I'd be delighted to read it and - if it fulfils the criterion of good ethical thinking (!), post it!!!!! Utilitarianism is a normative, consequentialist, empirical philosophy which links the idea of a good action to one which promotes maximum pleasure or happiness, found by adding up costs and benefits (or pains and pleasures). It has two classic formulations - Bentham's hedonistic (pleasure-based) act utilitarianism and Mill's eudaimonistic (happiness-based) rule utilitarianism. In this article we make some preliminary comments on Bentham and Mill before analysing a famous case in 1972 where utilitarian ethics seemed to cause a very immoral outcome - the Ford Pinto case. Click here for a powerpoint presentation on the same subject...
Words: 2307 - Pages: 10
...Abstract Ethical theories has been a topic of philosophical debate for centuries, but only recently has corporate governance and social responsibilities became a necessary fixture for modern businesses to function. Thus sparking scepticism that businesses adoption of CSR initiatives are a result of shifting societal trends for financial rewards and not out of ‘good will’. It is therefore a surprising given that this paper, Origins Natural Resources, an international cosmetic superstar adopted CSR since its conception and continues to maintain strong earth friendly practices throughout its operations regardless of substantial costs and burden to uphold. Thereby exploring the possibilities that characteristics of virtue can truly exist in a corporate entity, and perhaps society should be less sceptical of others intentions. Introduction The question of why businesses truly adopted CSR initiatives has never been initiated, thus sparking interests on whether or not it is an authentic act of corporate citizenship or simply a front to financial rewards. This paper aims to analyse Origins Natural Resources dedication towards Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) addressing two major issues the organisation perceived as most significant and relevant to its core products and services. The two categories are addressing the importance of animal cruelty via experimentation and environmental sustainability. These issues will be analysed by applying utilitarianism, Kant and Virtue...
Words: 1795 - Pages: 8
...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...
Words: 2250 - Pages: 9
...The case of the “The Reluctant Security Guard” has failures on two main fronts. There is a clear conflict between the company’s policy and David’s security license requirements. David Tuff’s handling of the issue should have been documented via a formal complaint, which would have possibly supported future efforts on his part to bring such a blatant policy of disregard for the public’s safety to the conscience of the media and public. Concurrently, it would validate his interaction with the company in regards to this matter in that he pursued dialogue to review and rescind the policy to include the challenge this policy poses to following the procedures and guidance outlined in the security manual and the risk to him and possibly others. It would also buttress any claims he may make under the “Whistle Blowers Act.” In regards to The Blue Mountain Company’s policy on removing intoxicated or drug induced individuals to the periphery of their property, it demonstrated a selfish disregard for public safety. Such a policy should have been vetted through their legal department to include consultation with local authorities. This policy presents great risk not only to the public, but possibly to the security guard who may be cited, fired, or part of a legal action brought by a public citizen as a result of a serious event occurring as a result of removing people from the premises. Additional risks are cited below. This invocation also discharges interaction between the...
Words: 986 - Pages: 4
...Lebanese International University Project Sadek Chahine 10830132 Masoud Al-Shaar 10731860 Ihab Sharaf Aldeen 10530251 Bassam Jaafar 10731383 Business Ethics Beirut Campus Dr Malek Nayfeh 2009 – 2010 Intellectual Property I. Description 1. Patents 2. Copyrights II. Identify Ethical issues involved 1. Global social justice 2. Utilitarian point of view 3. Materialization of intangibles III. Points of view 1. Public 2. Owners of rights 3. Government IV. Considering available alternatives 1. Tightening intellectual property 2. Letting loose intellectual property V. Consequences of the application of protection 1. Extensive protection consequences 2. Less protection consequences VI. Examples 1. World 2. Lebanon VII. Conclusion 1. Determining the facts Most discussions about intellectual property rights are focused on patents and copyright because, as long as they are rationalized, trademark rights are simple rights of identification that only benefit owners or copiers but not affect progress and are not regarded heavily as a beneficial creation for the community. Arguments for intellectual property protection include increased creation due to financial incentives which leads to economic growth, and possibly a wider and more efficient distribution. Arguments against it include criticism of its range and length, its infringement of freedom, restraining...
Words: 3988 - Pages: 16
...them. This, combined with increased stress on values and principles, has made it more important for people like you and me to ensure that we make ethical decisions when faced with ethical dilemmas. Having knowledge of ethics is a pre-requisite for understanding ethical dilemmas. I make sure that I understand my company’s code of ethics and emphasis given by the company on ethical values. For this, I make it a point to sift through the document every three months. Ethical dilemma is a situation in which a person has to choose between two alternatives based on different values held dear by that person. There are different approaches to deal with ethical dilemmas: “Utilitarian”, “Deontological” and “Virtue ethics”. I value morals and principles more than consequences and thus, I adopt a deontological approach to ensure that I engage in ethical decision-making. However, having said that, I also take a holistic perspective to understand the effect of my decision on all the people involved. Deontologists always place values before consequences even if they are good. My life has been governed by values such as accountability, honesty, respect, and trust. Naturally, I consider these values more than others when faced with ethical decisions. Understanding that a particular situation classifies as an ethical conundrum and demands “ethical introspection”, plays an important role in making ethically correct decisions. For me, keywords which raise red flags and sound warning...
Words: 1222 - Pages: 5
