...maximise happiness? Define utilitarianism: Is an ethical theory in normative ethics that has a core belief that the actions can be judged as right or wrong if they lead to a good consequence. Define: Act utilitarianism is a form of utilitarianism created by Jeremy Bentham. Act utilitarianism is a theory that states happiness can be calculated via the 'the hedonistic calculus'. This included factors such as profundity, intensity, duration and others. Each of these are used in relation to the action and then one can calculate the best outcome. This led to Bentham arguing that every action can be deemed right if it leads to maximising utility. Therefore, it seems reasonable to conclude that actions can be judged to the extent which they maximise happiness However, one can argue that act utilitarianism allows for barbaric actions to be taken place, which seem immoral. For example, torturing thousands of people in order to save millions. This entails some individuals will have to suffer hugely. This leads to swine ethics where cruel actions can be deemed good just because they lead to good consequences. However, one can argue that this form utilitarianism is a favourable one. That's because it is an egalitarian theory, which matches well with the concept of democracy. Since, democracy is for the people, by the people, one can assume that it is therefore right to support the majority. This would mean that act utilitarianism is acting in the interests of majority...
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...BENEFICENCE • LEAST HARM • RESPECT FOR AUTONOMY • JUSTICE ETHICAL THEORIES • DEONTOLOGY • UTILITARIASM • RIGHTS • CASUIST • VIRTUE VIEW OR NOTABLE SCHOLARS • PLATO ABSOLUTION • ARISOTLE: EUDEMONISM • ST. THOMAS AQUINESS – NATURAL LAW • IMMANUEL KANT: DEONTOLOGY • JOHN STUART MILL – UTILITARISM • JOHN RAWLS – CONGRATURIANISM • TOM REGAN: RIGHTS THEORY (BONUS THEORY ) • TENTATIVE COMPARISON (TABLE & GRAPH) • CRITICISM AGAINST DEONTOLOGY: “ “ UTILITARIANISM “ “ RIGHTS “ “ CASUIST “ “ VIRTUE • CONCLUSION • REFERENCES CRITICISMS OF ETHICAL THEORIES INTRODUCTION The art of critiquing is basically to appraise a work i.e articles, write-ups, novels etc. Critiquing does not aim to condemn or castigate a paper but to seek the flaws, identify the various meanings, put up better explanations on the subject, seek the weaknesses and strengths and give opinions to enhance the quality of the discourse. The topic of this discourse is ETHICAL THEORIES CRITICISM. We shall examine the definition of ethics, the meaning of ethical theories, types of ethnical theories and the various submissions of famous scholars, its relevance to the society interactivity and criticize them in comparison with what obtains in the modern day. DEFINITION Ethical theories and principles are the...
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...contrast Kantianism and Utilitarianism Over time philosophers have given different ideas about their idea of the good life and how should we attain it, what happiness really constitutes of and how could we be happy in a world full of temptations or aspects that only disregard us from being happy. Kantianism and Utilitarianism are two significant theories that try to answer such questions. They both give their own interpretations about the means of why we’re here. Although these two are entirely different from each other, to a certain extent they do have some similarities. Kantianism negates the significance of any personal relationships. The Kantian treats others like he would expect them to treat him. The one universal way to act should carry from one to another regardless of your personal relationship to that person. Similarly, Utilitarianism is a relatively straight-forward analysis where the calculation is indefferent to persons and relationships. Using this system to examine what action is appropriate , everyone is on equal footing. But from this point, they both start to differ apart. Utilitarianism, supported by Bentham and Mill, is based on examining the consequences of any act with the merits of an act being determined by the maxim - the greatest good for the greatness number. Thus, determining whether or not one should tell a lie depends on the consequences. Suppose I’m a doctor who have just examined a patient who did not know yet that he has an incurable terminal...
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...Ethics game simulation A principle exists as a feature or quality believed to be ethically outstanding and therefore is appreciated as a base of ethics and good start for a decent living being. Personal qualities are features cherished as promoting personal and communal comfort. G-BioSport is a business that supplies sports nourishment and supplements to its consumers. The company adheres to the modern Foodstuffs and Drug Administration (FDA) principles with their commodities. Nevertheless, new lab tests disclose traces of contagion in the total of the GBS-Fibranafren tests carries out. The liability is present in the Quality Control (QC) executive to recognize the problem and put the solution into practice. These recreations lay out the QC executive with numerous states of affairs and resolutions to two primary problems. Each recreation presents confronts in cooperation with the ethical and honest aspects involved. The first recreation displays the QC executive with lab results exemplify 100% pollution of the products investigated. A number of these tests are acquired from the commodities themselves in the market and under the ownership of the consumers. With such information, the matter shifts from whether or not to caution and what knowledge to offer to customers concerning the control of the contaminated commodities. What decision-making steps did you take to ethically address these issues? Considering the fact that business ethics exists as an outline of functional...
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...daily basis at the hospital. Hospital facilities are definitely significant in the well-being of patients and expertise of its medical staff personnel. However, Dr. DoRight has been hired as the President of the “Universal Human Care Hospital”, where he oversees all departments with over 5000 employees and over 20,000 patients at the medical facility. He has been given an enormous responsibility to ensure to its internal and external stakeholders that all departments function efficiently and patients’ care and health are essentials. Therefore, three internal stakeholders that Dr. DoRight might have to deal with on a daily basis are Board of Trustees (shareholders), Employees, and his Regional Director of Compliance Manager and Executive Committee. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from http://www.allfreepapers.com/Business/Corporate-Governance-Ethical-Responsibility/22558.html. Additionally, three external stakeholders that Dr. DoRight might have to deal with on a daily basis consist of Patients, Numerous Community Organizations--Corporations, Government, and Local Community/Society. Retrieved February 10, 2013 from http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/2-compare-contrast-potential-conflicts-exist-duties-loyalty-owed-internal-stakeholder-vs-e-q2569829. 2. Compare and contrast potential conflicts of interest that may exist between the internal and external stakeholders. Dr. DoRight has managers in each department that he supervises and who work with him...
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...final decisive action.” (pg. 136, Chapter 3) Wonder Woman and Rorschach were both characters that were written to symbolize the definition of retributivist, meaning that the policy of the justice system vindicates the criminals (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Web. 13 Dec. 2016). Wonder Woman’s tone appears to be aggressive because she had failed her mission to demonstrate peace through a violent world. Wonder Woman, like Superman, has lost faith in society. This same concept is paralleled in Watchmen, where Rorschach’s Ink Blotch mask is symbolic to how he views the world as black and white, which branches from his own tragic past with his mother, and his father’s willingness to pursue a better life. Wonder Woman and Rorschach were both characters that had setbacks that had inspired them to take their anger out on characters who commit the greater atrocities, which were reflected upon how big of the crime was committed ("Deontology - By Branch / Doctrine - The Basics of Philosophy." Deontology - By Branch / Doctrine - The Basics of...
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...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...
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...and the free/personal choice there is inevitably a ‘grey area’, this can be interpreted as ethics. Lewis (1985) described defining ethics will be like ‘nailing jello to a wall’ there by suggesting it is virtually impossible to pin point exactly what ethics truly is. There are many factors, which distinguish what is right, and wrong however they are decided predominantly by values and decisions of individuals, in this case managers. In order to comprehend the importance of ethics one must critically take into consideration all parties involved in the process of ethics and ethical decision-making. Why ethics is important for managers? Ethics is defined by the Oxford English dictionary to be ‘morally correct’ as well as Velasquez (2001) who has a similar definition of ethics, suggesting ethics as the ‘principles of conduct governing an individual or a group, it is the study of morality’. However it is difficult to pin point the exact definition of ethics as many authors and instructors have their own distinct meaning of the term ethics, Lewis (2008). In the face of it, it would seem it is a simple problem where there is a right or wrong answer. However as ethics is nor the legal requirement and it isn’t a personal choice but rather in the middle it is subjected to the ‘grey area’, this allows a person or an organisation to make decisions from their own values. For instance an ethical situation will arise when the action of one person or an organisation will either benefit or harm...
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...wrote an article for the Edmonton Journal entitled, 'No-zero' policy gives students a do-over; Deadlines in the adult world often just as flexible. She describes the Edmonton Public Schools policy of “No-Zero” and allows for both sides of a touchy subject to be heard. On June 1, 2012, Edgar Schmidt, the superintendent for Edmonton Public Schools, penned an open letter to the citizens of Alberta. He wrote “In order for students to be successful in school and in life, they need the knowledge, skills and attitudes to make a smooth transition into the world of work and post secondary education. By taking an all or nothing approach to a missed assignment, we are not doing our job as educators to prepare all students, including those who face significant challenges, to take the next step in their educational journey as a lifelong learner.” (Schmidt, 2012, Para 6.) Schmidt (2012) also said, “The reason we assign a certain grade is to give a student feedback on what they have learned. If a student writes a test and gets all the answers wrong, they are assigned a zero on that test. This tells the teacher the student does not know the material and needs extra support. The mark is then put in the context of all their other learning that takes place during the year. If, by the end of the year, the student still hasn’t mastered the material, they fail the course. However, missed assignments are treated differently. Our approach to missed assignments is to work with each student to find out...
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...Sex Ethics Essay Outline Thesis – Multiple outlooks have been taken on the ethics of pornography, and the means by which it may either negatively influence power in sexuality, or actually provide some sort of social value and worth. These different ethical perspectives display the flaws in the industry and what it represents; yet they also end up proving the fact that it can be modified with positive influence and that pornography is not something to be deemed utterly unethical. Intro – Power and sexuality are two topics that often tend to intersect, becoming a source for much controversy and ethical debate surrounding the issues that they may bring up. Although the interaction of power and sexuality has been a popular topic of interest historically, a more modern focused issue has been brought up on the topic of pornography. Paragraph 1 – Catharine MacKinnon looks at the issues of sex and power in pornography in her paper called Not a Moral Issue, where she sees no value in what it represents, deeming it as “central to the institutionalization of male dominance” (MacKinnon, 303). She believes pornography to be a misinterpretation of our sexual reality, which mirrors, creates, and reinforces negative connotations in real life. From her point of view, pornography is built solely on gender equality and power and “is a form of forced sex, a practice of sexual politics and an institution of gender inequality” (MacKinnon, 304). Her main issue is in how pornography emphasizes the...
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...Japanese automotive manufacturer Toyota issued a recall of 3.8 million vehicles due to “unintended acceleration” that was believed to be caused by loose floor mats becoming lodged under the gas pedal due to a design flaw in the pedal layout. Since the initial recall, which affected seven models ranging from 2004 to 2010, more details have emerged. Instances of surges in acceleration in Toyota vehicles have been investigated by the NHTSA on six separate occasions since 2003 and over two thousand owners have claimed to experience the phenomenon. Consumer Reports examined cases of unintended acceleration surges in the United States for 2008 and forty-one percent of all instances involved Toyota vehicles. Most tragically, sixteen people have been killed in accidents resulting from unintended acceleration in Toyotas and over two hundred-forty have been injured. As a short-term fix, Toyota brand dealers began removing floor mats or fastening them to the floor pan in order to prevent lodging under the accelerator. More recently, dealerships have begun reshaping or shortening accelerator pedals until replacements become available for installation. However, some consumer groups have criticized Toyota’s sluggish and secretive response, and a national class-action lawsuit has been filed against Toyota alleging that the floor mats and pedal layout do not explain the entire cause of the problem. While details surrounding the Toyota vehicle recall continue to emerge, the essence of the...
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...Ethical Perspectives Paper Part I: Please provide answers to the following: 1. Identify the relevant facts of the Ford Pinto case: In 1970 Ford introduced the Pinto, a small car that was intended to compete with the then current challenge from European cars and the ominous presence on the horizon of Japanese manufacturers. The Pinto was brought from inception to production in the record time of approximately 25 months, where a normal car usually takes 43 months. This showed an expedited time frame for the Pinto. On top of time pressure the team was also required to follow a limit of 2000, that meaning it could not exceed $2000 in cost and it could not weight more than 2000lbs. When it came to routine crash testing of the Pinto, it was revealed that the Pinto’s fuel tank often ruptured when struck from the rear at a relatively low speed. This was because the fuel tank was positioned between the rear bumper and the rear axle, and when impact was made studs from the axle would puncture the fuel tank, spilling gasoline that could be ignited by the sparks. In crash testing 11 vehicles, 8 of the cars suffered potentially catastrophic gas tank ruptures. There were several possibilities for fixing the problem, but given the restrictions of limit of 2000, they made no changes. The most controversial reason for rejecting the production change was because of Ford’s cost-benefit analysis. Ford believed that the cost of rebuilding the Pinto to make it safer were far more expensive than...
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...that the child labor laws are being violated. Also this is morally wrong and not for the greater good of the people. Apple conducted an investigation on it's suppliers. The result of that investigation was unexpected. They found out that children were being recruited using fake identity papers. Child labor is obvious because of the harsh working conditions provided by Apple. Most of the children worked for Chinese companies that made supplies for apple. The children were under the age of 16; they employed about 74 children out of the 106 total according to The Guardian. (n.d.). Most of the cases are from 2013, and total there have been 70 companies in Apple's supply chain that have employed children according to The Guardian. (n.d.). There has been a host of other events happening when the whistle was blown so to speak. There have been cases of workers committing suicide, and also deadly explosions at some of the supply chains. This is relevant because workers slowly began to figure out that children were being used for labor, and these were some of the consequences. The children had to lift heavy equipment, and some of them were subject to pregnancy tests as well. If the children got into trouble while working they would be punished by having their pay checks docked. Apple's chief executive was in charge of keeping detailed records on the supply chains. When he reviewed all of the records he fired one company in china, even though he knew from the reports that more than one supplier...
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...Can endangered species of the world rely on the international law for their safety? Discuss This essay will attempt to discuss how the international law protects endangered species of the world. Using academic commentary and legislation it will also review the ethical, philosophical, economical and moral aspects of this area of law. The essay will also draw attention to the current issue, which has been a controversy in the preservation of endangered species of the world, but will particularly pay more attention to the protection of whales. Ever since the days of illustrious philosophers such Plato, Aristotle, Descartes to the modern scientists there has been a lengthy wait in fighting for laws and acts to protect animals in keeping them in good health and their populations high in numbers. Long ago, most animals became extinct because of natural events, like earthquakes or volcano eruptions. Climatic changes were also a threat i.e. like the ‘beginning of the Ice Age which also led to the disappearance of certain species’ . Today, animals are in danger mostly because of human beings. In the 17th century Descartes and Plato both portraying animals as mere objects, held that ‘animals have no conscience and humans should have no moral obligation’ towards them. However, through the advancement of technology and science Charles Darwin came up with his theory of evolution, bringing new developments and protection to endangered species, with his effort in his work there...
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...u05a1 Parameters of Ethical Decision Making Kathleen J Higgins Ethical Theories and Principle are decision making tools that managers may use especially during ethical dilemma. There are five common ethical decision making approaches that can assist manager based upon what is good in each situation. Utilitarianism or consequentialism, as just what its term “consequentialism” means. This paradigm is developed [originally] by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John S. Mill (1806-1873). Judges one’s action based on the maximums of the good in the world. In this approach, the manager evaluates how the decision will affect [directly] the employee(s) and others. The managers identify the potential positive and potential negative consequences. If it will results “to the greatest good and for the greatest number,” the manager using the utilitarian approach is feasibly will make dubious decision. Utilitarian ideology is that it is ethical if the result will only give the “greatest advantages and benefits, and to the greatest number of people.” The theory seems to point out a situation in which it seems to provide the wrong answer to an ethical dilemma. I think of Dr. Kevorkian a good example using this approach. As this approach contemplates both bad and good, utilitarian’s rationale in this situation was to stop the pain for the suffering patient and maybe stop the financial...
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