Chapter 2 Ethical principle in business

Business Ethics Concepts & Cases
Chapter Two
Utilitarianism
• Actions and policies should be evaluated on the basis of the benets and costs they will impose on society.
• The only morally riht action in any situation is that whose utility is reatest by comparison to the utility of all the other alternatives .
• !eadin utilitarian theorists"
– #eremy Bentham $traditional utilitarianism%
an action is riht from an ethical point of view if and only if the sum total of utilities produced by that act is reater than the sum total of utilities produced by any other act the aent could have performed in its place.
– #ohn tuart 'ill

*ow to Apply Utilitarian Principles
• +irst) determine what alternative actions or policies are available to me in that situation.
• econd) for each alternative action) estimate the direct and indirect benets and costs that the action will probably produce for all persons a,ected.
• Third) for each action) subtract the costs from the benets to determine the net utility of each action.

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Criticisms of Utilitarianism - Critics say not all values can be measured.
– Utilitarian/s respond that monetary or other common sense measures can measure everythin.
• ome benets and costs are impossible to measure. Utilitarian measurement implies that all oods can be traded for e0uivalents of each other. *owever) not everythin has a monetary e0uivalent) *ow much is a human life worth) for e1ample2
• 3t is unclear e1actly what counts as a benet or a cost. People see these thins in di,erent ways.
4 Critics say utilitarianism fails with rihts and 5ustice.

– Rule utilitarianism 3s that instead of loo6in at individual acts to see whether they produce more pleasure than the alternatives) one loo6s only at moral rules at actions of a particular type. 3f a 6ind of actions tends to produce more pleasure or have lower costs) then they are the moral types of actions.
Con7t Criticisms of Utilitarianism
The Concept of a 8iht • 8iht 9 an individual7s entitlement to somethin.
– !eal riht 9 An entitlement that derives from a leal system that permits or empowers a person to act in a specied way or that re0uires others to act in certain
ways toward that person. leal rihts derive from the laws of the society.
– 'oral $or human% rihts 9 rihts that all human beins everywhere possess to an e0ual e1tent simply by virtue of bein human beins.
• !eal rihts confer entitlements only where the
particular leal system is in force.
• 'oral rihts confer entitlements to all persons
reardless of their leal system.

'oral 8ihts
• Can be violated even when :no one is hurt;. • Are correlated with duties others have
toward the person with the riht. • Provide individuals with autonomy and
e0uality in the free pursuit of their interests. • Provide a basis for 5ustifyin one7s actions
and for invo6in the protection or aid of others.

Three <inds of 'oral 8ihts
• =eative rihts re0uire others leave us alone.
$leep )study or silent %
$sin6in ) e1tinuish re%

Contractual 8ihts and >uties social rihts social obliation
• Created by specic areements and conferred only on the parties involved.
• 8e0uire publicly accepted rules on what constitutes areements and what obliations areements impose.
• Underline the special rihts and duties imposed by acceptin a position or role in an institution or orani?ation.
• 8e0uire
$4% no misrepresentation) $8epresentative deliver ood imae%
$@% no duress or coercion ) force )
$% no areement to an immoral act. $Contract to steal ban6%
Any contract violate these re0uirements consider void

<ant and 'oral 8ihts • 3mmanuel 6ant " arues in his theory $the cateorical
imperative% which based of the moral principle )
that there are certain moral rihts and duties that all human possess reardless of any utilitarian benet for other.
• 3ndividuals enerally must be left e0ually free to pursue their interests.
• 'oral rihts identify the specic interests individuals should be entitled to freely pursue.
• An interest is important enouh to raise to be a riht if"

<ant7s Cateorical 3mperative $+irst ersion%
• e must act only on reasons we would be willin to have anyone in a similar situation act on.
• The rst version of this theory made formulation that 8e0uires two criteria for determinin moral riht and wron "
universali?ability and reversibility.
• imilar to 0uestions"
:hat if everyone did that2;
:*ow would you li6e it if someone did that to you2;

<ant7s Cateorical 3mperative $econd ersion%
• =ever use people only as a means to your ends) but always treat them as they freely and rationally consent to be treated and help them pursue their freely and rationally chosen ends.$don7t use people to et what you want%
• Based on the idea that humans have a dinity that ma6es them di,erent from mere ob5ects.

Criticisms of <ant • Both versions of the cateorical imperative are unclear.
Dr it is not precise enouh to always be useful. $ didn7t tell us what the moral rihts the human have%
• 8ihts can conict and <ant7s theory cannot resolve such conicts. $>idn7t tell us what is the limits of each riht or how they be balanced%. 3 want to listen to music and my neihbor wants to sleep which one has the moral rihts%

!ibertarian Philosophy
• +reedom from human constraint is necessarily ood and that all constraints imposed by others are necessarily evil e1cept when needed to prevent the imposition of reater human constraints.
• 8obert =o?ic67s !ibertarian Philosophy"
– the only moral riht is the neative riht to freedom

Types of #ustice • >istributive #ustice
– re0uires the 5ust distribution of benets and burdens. $cotton mills and coal mine%
• 8etributive #ustice
• Compensatory #ustice

r nc p es o str ut ve ust ce • Fundamental
– distribute benets and burdens e0ually to e0uals and une0ually to une0ual/s $ 4 employees have the same certicate and other to have
deferent certicates%
• Egalitarian
– distribute e0ually to everyone $wor6ers in the same wor6 and wor6ers
doin deferent wor6%
• Capitalist
– distribute accordin to contribution how we measure the contribution2 People are same in their e,orts2
• Socialist
– distribute accordin to need and ability $distribute the burden depend on the ability and distribute the benet depends on the need %
• Libertarian
– distribute by free choices hat about freedom from inorance and
freedom from huner .
-distribute by e0ual liberty) 4e0ual opportunity) and @needs of
disadvantaed.
8etributive and Compensatory #ustice
• 8etributive #ustice 9 fairness when blamin or punishin persons for doin wron.

Ethic of Care
• Emphasi?es preservin and nurturin$care% concrete valuable relationships.
• e should care for those dependent on and related to us.

Db5ections to Care Approach in Ethics
• An ethic of care can deenerate into favoritism.
– 8esponse" conictin moral demands are an inherent characteristic of moral choices
• An ethic of care can lead to :burnout $tired%;.

Theories of 'oral irtue
• Aristotle – virtues are habits that enable a person to live
accordin to reason by habitually choosin the mean between e1tremes in actions and emotions
• A0uinas – virtues are habits that enable a person to live
reasonably in this world and be united with Fod in the ne1t
• 'ac3ntyre – virtues are dispositions$behavior% that enable a person
to achieve the ood at which human :practices; aim
• Pinco,s – virtues are dispositions we use when choosin
between persons or potential future selves

Db5ections to irtue Theories
• 3t is inconsistent with psycholoy which showed that behavior is determined by the e1ternal situation) not moral character.
– 8esponse" moral character determines behavior in a person7s familiar environment.

nconsc ous vs. onsc ous 'oral >ecisions
• Unconscious 'oral >ecisions – Comprise most of our moral decisions. – 'ade by the brain7s :Gsystem; usin stored
prototypes to automatically and unconsciously identify what it perceives and what it should do.
• Conscious 'oral >ecisions – 3s used in new) strane) or unusual situations for
which the brain has no matchin prototypes. – Consists of the conscious) loical but slow
processes of the brain7s :Csystem;. – Evaluates reasonableness of our intuitions)
cultural beliefs) and the norms stored in our prototypes.

Chapter 2 Ethical principle in business

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