...know what to belief and who to follow. Throughout this paper, I will discuss the similarities and differences between virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics. These similarities and differences will include a description of the differences in how each theory addresses ethics and morality. They will also include a personal experience to explain the relationship between virtues, values, and moral concepts as they relate to one of the three ethical theories above. Description of Similarities and Differences To discuss the similarities and differences between virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics, I will start with each ethical theory. The similarities between these three theories represent the good in people, how they strive for excellence, and how they justify good. The differences in these three theories begin with the ethics and morality. Virtue theory is not the same as the other two normative theories, utilitarianism and deontology ethics. This theory focuses more on an individual and his or her characteristics. Utilitarianism and deontology ethics look at what a group should do, and this is different from personal inclinations and desires. In a virtue theory, an individual’s desires and inclinations are relevant to morality. Virtue theory is also called character ethics or agent-based. Utilitarianism is a term in normative ethics that has no precise meaning. It is the theory...
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...Capitalism and Economic Globalization In a perfect world there would be no hunger, no poverty, and no crime, but no such world will ever exist. There will always be suffering, hurt, anguish, and despair. Yet, shouldn’t we strive to provide a good future for all? This concept of the most amounts of good for the most amounts of people is call Utilitarianism. Contrary to popular belief, the United States doesn’t believe in such a state of being. Instead, through capitalism and economic globalization the United States has proven to believe in the exact opposite of utilitarianism. The United States has always been based on the principles of capitalism; however, the present economy is far from being the free enterprise system it was once envisioned as. The major change the United States made was directing the system away from competition. The result is a society dominated by mega corporations that control demand rather then respond to the demands of the marker. To break down the previous statement the corporations are so “in control of their products price that they can charge whatever they see fit”. The reason for this is lack of competition in a capitalistic society. Karl Marx a social theorist of the 1800’s believed that the basis of social order in every society is the production of economic goods. “The concepts of what is produced, how it’s produced, and how it’s exchanged determines the differences in people’s wealth, power, and social status”. Marx...
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...children would end up being killed. This result is unimaginable. Ethical formalism and a utilitarianism approach would solve the issue two different ways. Ethical formalism would suggest that the mother does not choose between her children. It is not right to make a mother choose between her children. Ethical formalism would say the right thing to do is save both children. The mother could have lied and said the children were old enough to work, and therefore, they could have a more promising chance at being saved, rather than facing the gas chambers. On the other hand, utilitarianism focuses around the greatest good results with happiness for the greatest number of people. For example, this approach would lead the mother to choose between her children, and put one of them through the gas chamber. This approach would save one life, rather than destroying two. The mother would still have one of her children, and the other would take its chances. The benefit to this approach would be that one of her children is saved, and she did not let both of them get killed. Each of these situations would be extremely difficult to handle. The mother would take a change either way she chooses. She would be responsible for the death of her loved ones if she does not choose, but if she chooses, one of her children must go through the gas chambers. I will also go over the debate on whether the United States had to...
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...Utilitarianism John Stuart Mill’s ethical theory is known as Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism, according to Mill, is about judging the moral rightness/wrongness of an action by looking at if the outcomes produce the best balance of good over bad for all concerned. Mill develops his theory of Utilitarianism through five major tenets; the greatest happiness principle, the definition of happiness, the hierarchy of pleasures, and the impartial spectator. The foundation of Utilitarianism lays in Mill’s definition of happiness and the Greatest Happiness Principle. Mill defines happiness as the promotion of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. After defining happiness, Mill provides what he calls the “creed” of the foundation of Utilitarianism, the Greatest Happiness Principle. The Greatest Happiness Principle holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. The Greatest Happiness Principle uses an utilitarian standard; for that standard is not the agent’s own greatest happiness, but the greatest amount of happiness altogether; and if it may possibly be doubted whether a noble character is always the happier for its nobleness, there can be no doubt that it makes other people happier, and that the world in general is immensely a gainer by it (Mill 516). Mill states that humans are able to experience a higher level of pleasure than animals in the statement: “To suppose that life has (as they express...
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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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...Ethics Essay There are three major approaches in normative ethics including virtue ethics, deontological ethics, and utilitarianism. This paper is going to compare the similarities and differences between virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics. It will include a description of the differences in how each theory addresses ethics. Virtue ethics focuses on how to be and studies what makes the character traits of people. A person who has these traits will act by habit in certain ways not because of a person’s values, but because it is what a moral person would do. A soldier in the United States Military’s pledge is an example of virtue ethics because he pledges to uphold the responsibilities of his service. Utilitarianism theory of ethics states that an action is morally right when that action produces more total utility for the group than any other alternative. In other words, utilitarianism specifically looks at the advantages of happiness, providing the greatest balance of pleasure, along with reducing suffering. Deontology is defined as a “moral theory that emphasizes one’s duty to do a particular action just because the action itself is inherently right and not through any other sort of calculations – such as the consequences of the action.” For example, if you were to find someone’s wallet at a restaurant you have two decisions that can be made. First you can keep it or you can return it to the...
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...Supporters pushed back that the program was an essential tool for fighting terrorists who had become more advanced digitally, often using the internet in order to communicate with each other. Much of the discussion on the program related to the ethical appropriateness of the NSA’s activities. This paper will summarize the NSA’s surveillance program and discuss it from the perspective of utilitarianism and Kantian ethics; in addition, the paper will discuss the author’s personal viewpoint of the program. Summary of the Program The NSA spying program, named the “Terrorist Surveillance Program” by the New York Times, focused on monitoring the communications of between 500 and 1000 people within the United States with suspected ties to Al-Qaeda (Dunn, 2015). Many of these individuals were American citizens, and no warrants were obtained prior to spying on them. The method of spying was to use technology in order to gain access to metadata which could then be keyword searched by NSA analysts in order to find suspect topics. The NSA installed fiber optic splitters in key data junctions throughout the United States, totaling between 10 and 20 data junctions (Lawson, 2008). These fiber optic splitters...
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...altered in any way, this would bring on many negative reactions among the American people. As the Rule Utilitarianism is defined, it is a form of utilitarianism that says actions are moral when they conform to the rules that lead to the greatest good, or that the rightness or wrongness of a particular action is a function of the correctness of the rule of which it is an instance. For rule utilitarians, the correctness of a rule is determined by the amount of good it brings about when followed. In contrast, act utilitarians judge actions in terms of the goodness of their consequences without reference to rules of action. Another variation of rule utilitarianism stresses the greater utility of following a given rule in general, arguing that the practice of following some rule in all instances will have better consequences overall than allowing exceptions to be made in individual instances, even if better consequences can be demonstrated in those instances. Rule utilitarianism can also be seen as practice rule, which states that—even though in some or most cases the rule wouldn't cause the greatest good—never following it would not cause the greatest good for the greatest number of people. For example the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution states, "No person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself."("Constitustion Of The United States", n.d.) Even though that rule protects many criminals from conviction, in its absence people could be...
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...How might your beliefs differ from theirs? Use examples and/or case studies to demonstrate your position. IT590 Assignment Unit 6: Final Project The evaluation ethics Why did utilitarianism become one of the most popular ethical theories? Several factors contributed to its popularity. Most important was the fact that, it is a relatively simple ethical system to apply. Actions are moral merely by you have to calculate the good consequences and bad consequences that will result from a particular action and weighting on a scale. If the good outweighs the bad, then the action is moral. The next factor is that most people are already schooled in using a form of utilitarianism in their everyday decision making. A lot of the decisions that are non-moral decisions are based upon consequences. On the line to get in for the gas pump, we try to find the quickest line so we can get be on our way faster. We mostly analyze our financial decisions buy with (writing checks, store card, credit card, etc.) using a utilitarian calculus of cost and benefits. Making the leap to using it for moral decisions using utilitarianism seems like a natural extension of our daily decision-making procedures. The utilitarianism is divided into two parts the Act utilitarianism and the Rule utilitarianism. The Act utilitarianism is calculus calculations all the time in every moral decision even if you have done it before. The...
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...virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics theories. Additionally, reflecting on a personal experience I will explain the relationship between virtue, values, and moral concepts as they relate to one specific ethics theory. Similarities and Differences in Ethics Theories Understanding the similarities and differences between virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics starts with describing each ethic theory. According to Boylan (2009), virtue theory has a definition of cultivating excellence in life and constituting an aspect of the “good person”. Utilitarianism according to Boylan (2009),” 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” (p. 153). Finally, according to Encyclopedia Britannica (2012), “deontological ethics, in philosophy, ethical theories that place special emphasis on the relationship between duty and the morality of human actions” (Deontological Ethics). The similarities between the three theories represent the good in people, how they strive for excellence, and justified good. The differences in the three theories begin with the ethics and morality. Virtue theory describes a person’s character, cultivating “excellence in all we do” (Boylan, p. 43, 2009). Striving for excellence can be challenging, specifically deciding what is the most choice worthy decision in life. Utilitarianism addresses ethical...
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...While we would like to believe that the law is meant to provide the most amount of happiness for the most amount of people, disparity exists between utilitarianism and some aspects of the United States legal system. One particular example that I will address is that of capital punishment. Some people make the argument that the death penalty is optimific, because it is a small sacrifice made in exchange for the reduction of crime. According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), lethal injection is used as a method of execution in all thirty-two states where capital punishment is legal. The drug stops the inmate’s heart from beating, ending his or her life. Since 1976, there have been 1,432 executions in the United States. For capital...
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...Business Ethics: A Discourse on Rights: Moral, Legal, and Human Myriad optimistic forecasts, of what comprises the core of business ethics, have permeated numerous discussions on management and commerce practices in the marketplace today. Global economics and trading across borders nearly demands it. In fact, ‘ethics’ in business has come to represent one of the key buzzwords of our decade, along with ‘sustainability’ and the ideological concept of global warming – seemingly shoved down the throats of people. But what is business ethics anyway, and why does it matter? The discourse herein hopefully highlights a cogent and logically based compilation of answers as required from the rubric of Assignments Four. While this paper is written in essay format, for the sake of clarity and precision for the reader, each section shall appropriately and clearly display the topical area or question being addressed. (1) – Define a right, a legal right, a moral right, and a human right explaining how they are related. The philosophical idea of what constitutes a ‘right’ is an age-old concept that many men of God and theorists have confronted from ancient times. One things seems clear. A ‘right’ cannot be discussed without dividing the premise from a ‘privilege.’ According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a right is simply defined as “being in accordance with what is just, good, or proper” as in conduct (“Right,” 2015). Judge Napolitano defined a right as “a gift from God that extends...
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...distortion or over refinement of a meaning or an argument” (“Torture,” 2013). There are debates about torture and whether or not is unethical or a cruel and unusual punishment. People have been taught to believe that torturing a person is unacceptable and inhumane. However, the torturing of an enemy to get answers is not considered cruel and inhumane especially, when it involves saving the lives of many. This paper will analyze whether torturing enemy combatants or high-value targets violates standards of morality in an American free society. It will also examine whether the act of torture violates basic human rights and if it could have global implications, and last determine if torture may be justified under ontological, deontological, utilitarianism, or the natural law theory. Torture and the Enemy Is the torturing an enemy combatant or high value target violates the standards of morality in an American free society? To understand this question better, "morality are codes of conduct put forward by a society, religious group, or individual for his or her own behavior, or it is a code of conduct given specified conditions, would be put forward by all...
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...Gun control is one of the most contentious issues in the United States. The main cause of the debate is the rising cases of gun violence in the country. Over the past decade, reports indicate that criminal activities involving guns have increased. As a result, there has an intense debate on whether the country should develop strict gun laws. The idea of gun control laws has created the allusion that the United States has been divided into two separate groups. However, according to LaFollette (236-281) there are many alternatives, and ultimately any side of the argument are focused on the safety of the people. The views provided by both sides, one being absolute restriction and the other no restriction, can be evaluated to determine whether...
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...making process in the future. Virtue Ethics says that a person should make a decision on behalf of them rather than their culture or laws, as long as they are a good person, it is a good decision. It is person based rather than cultural. Virtue, practical wisdom and eudemonia, are the three main concepts that virtue ethics’ enforces. Aristotle and Plato are virtue ethics principle ethicists. Utilitarianism’s principal concepts are: egalitarianism, hedonism, consequentialism. This ethical system is based on a perception that a choice is moral when it has a result that is more positive for people. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-73) who was actually one of Bentham’s students, are, ethicist’s involved in developing utilitarianism. Social contact is that the persons’ moral or obligations are dependent on a contract or agreement. To be polite, not cheat or lie to one another in marriage, which marriage is like a contract. The ethicists that were involved in this were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Individual relativism says that is not a universal standard. “All values are subjective because they are based upon the personal preferences that express one’s own self-interest” (Argosy, 2015). What you says goes basically, what you think is the better option is. The ethicists involved were Manuel Velasquez, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, S.J., and Michael J. Meyer. Deontology with goals is comprised of the principle components of an individual...
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