Philosophy 220 Rights-Based Moral Theories and Virtue Theories.
Moral Theories
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Transcript of Moral Theories
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Chapter One
Ethical Theory and Business
Practice
Ethical Theory and Business, 6th EditionTom L. Beauchamp & Norman E. Bowie
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Objectives
After studying this chapter the student should
be able to:
Distinguish between morality and ethical theory.
Distinguish between morality and prudence.
Distinguish between morality and law.
Explain the three approaches to the study of
morality.
Describe the moral theory of relativism.
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Objectives
Discuss the egoism moral theory.
Explore some of the problems of the egoism
theory.
Interpret the different types of utilitarian theory.
Discuss some of the problems of the utilitarian
theory.
Apply Kantian ethics using different scenarios.
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Objectives
Explain the principles behind the common
morality theories.
Explore the concept of rights theories.
Distinguish between virtue ethics, and feministtheories and the ethics of care.
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Overview
Morality
Approaches to the Study of Morality
Relativism Egoism
Utilitarian Theories
Kantian Ethics Common Morality Theories
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Overview
Rights Theories
Virtue Ethics
Feminist Theories and the Ethics of Care Analysis of Cases
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Morality
Principles or rules of moral conduct that
people use to decide what is right or wrong.
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Morality v. Ethical Theory
Morality is concerned with the social practices
defining right and wrong.
Ethical theory and moral philosophies provide
guidelines for justification of right or wrong
actions when settling human conflict.
No one moral philosophy is accepted by
everyone!
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ETHICS AND MORALITY
The Law of Business must consider ethics and
morality.
Ethics: guiding philosophy of a group, societalvalues concerning right and wrong.
Morals: principles of right and wrong measured by
an individuals conscience.
Ethics vary from society to society whereasindividual morals remain fairly constant.
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Morality v. Prudence
Rules of prudence promote self-interest, doing
what is prudent for oneself.
Rules of morality promote the interest of
other people.
Morality and prudence should generally work
hand-in-hand if a business is to succeed.
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Law
Public's agency for translating morality intoexplicit social guidelines and practices and
for stipulating punishments for offenses.
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Morality v. Law
Statutory law v. case law
Statutory laws are federal / state statutes and
their accompanying administrative regulations.
Case laws are judge-made laws that establish
influential precedents that provide material for
reflection on both legal and moral questions.
Morality and ethics begin where the law isunclear or not defined!
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Rule of Conscience
Consciences:
Vary from person to person and time to time.
Are altered by circumstance, religious belief, life
experiences, and training.
Are not consistent from day to day.
Moral justification must then be based on a
source external to conscience itself.
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Approaches to the Study of
Morality
Descriptive approach - provides a factual
description and explanation of moral behavior
and beliefs, as performed by anthropologists,
sociologists, and historians.
Referred to as the scientific study of ethics.
Conceptual approach - analyzes meanings of
central terms in ethics such as right,obligation, justice, good, virtue, and
responsibility.
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Approaches to the Study of
Morality
Prescriptive approach - attempts to formulate
and defend basic moral norms or standards by
determining what ought to be done versus
what is being done.
Referred to as normative ethics.
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ETHICAL THEORIES
Consequential and Non-consequential
Principles.
Consequential: evaluate action by examining theconsequences produced by the action.
Non-consequential: focus of the concept of duty
rather than what is right or wrong.
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ETHICAL THEORIES
Consequential Ethics. Egoism: rightness determined by consequences the act
produces for person performing the action. Holds one will actin a manner which produces greatest balance of good over
bad for oneself. Utilitarianism: rightness determined by consequences the act
produces for ones group. Holds one should act in such amanner which will, over time, produce most good over badfor ones group.
Feminism: emphasizes attention be paid to the effect ofdecisions on individuals. Focuses on character traits.
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ETHICAL THEORIES
Non-Consequential Ethical Theories.
Kant and the Categorical Imperative: suggests certain
universal moral truths every person must follow in order to
act morally and ethically. Imperative that one follow certainperfect truths.
Rawls and the Veil of Ignorance: theory suggesting that rules
of ethical behavior be created by persons who ignore their
own characteristics and circumstances including gender,
race, ethnicity, and/or religion.
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ETHICAL THEORIES
Other Theories:
Relativism: states that two people or two societies
may hold opposed ethical views to one another,and yet both may be correct.
The Golden Rule: advises each person to do onto
others as you would have others do unto you.
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Relativism
An ethical theory that claims right and
wrong is subjectively determined by each
culture.
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Relativism
What is good is socially accepted and what is
bad is socially unacceptable in a given culture.
There is no such thing as universal truth in
ethics, there are only the various cultural
codes and nothing more.
An argument against relativism:
There are some basic moral principles that all
societies will have in common, because those
rules are necessary for society to exist.
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Methods to Easing Moral
Disagreements
Obtaining objective information
Definitional clarity
Example-counterexample Analysis of arguments and positions
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Egoism
A moral theory that contends all choiceseither involve or should involve self-
promotion as their sole objective.
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Psychological Egoism
Everyone is always motivated to act in his or
her own perceived self-interest.
A main argument against psychological egoism
is that there may be no purely altruistic moral
motivation to help other people unless there
is personal gain.
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Ethical Egoism
The only valid standard of conduct is the
obligation to promote one's own well being
above everyone else's.
Ethical egoists believe that people should not
be their brothers keeper, because people do
not completely understand the true needs of
others.
Its every man for himself in this world!
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Utilitarian Theories
Moral theories that assert an actions
rightness is determined by the actual or
probable consequences that the action will
have for the greatest number of people
affected by that action.
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Utilitarian Theories
Utilitarian theories hold that the moral worth
of actions or practices are determined solely
by their consequences.
An action or practice is right if it leads to the
best possible balance of good consequences
over bad consequences for all the parties
affected.
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Utilitarian Theories
Act utilitarianism
Argues that in all situations the utility of an action
is based on an act that leads to the greatest good
for the greatest number.
Treats rules as useful guidelines to help determine
ethical behavior.
Will break a moral rule if breaking the rule leadsto the greatest good for the greatest number.
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Utilitarian Theories
Rule utilitarianism
The morality of an action should be evaluated on
the basis of principles or rules designed to
promote the greatest utilityfor the greatestnumber.
Rule utilitarians hold that rules have a central
position in morality that cannot be compromised
by the demands of particular situations.
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Utilitarian Theories
Utilitarian decision-making relies on tools such
as cost-benefit analysis and risk assessment to
determine the greatest utility.
Main argument against utilitarianism is
questioning whether units of happiness or
some other utilitarian value can be measured
and compared in order to determine the bestaction among alternatives.
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Kantian Ethics
A moral theory that holds you should followonly those rules which you would will to be
universal laws for everyone, including
yourself.
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Kantian Ethics
Categorical imperativeprinciple states "Iought never to act except in such a way that Ican also will that my maxim should become
universal law." The principle is categorical because it admits of no
exceptions and is absolutely binding, and isimperative because it gives instruction on how
one must act. Respect-for-persons principle states persons
should never be used as a means to an end.
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Kantian Ethics
Kant believed that morality should follow
absolute rules that admit no exceptions,
which has been a major argument against this
theory.
Another argument against Kantian theories is
that they are narrow and inadequate to
handle various problems in the moral life.
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Common Morality Theories
A moral theory based on the concept thereis a common morality that all people share
by virtue of communal life.
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Common Morality Theories
The greatest obligation in any given
circumstance must be found based on the
greatest balance of right over wrong in that
particular context.
Obligations and rights are not inflexible
standards, but rather strongprima facie moral
demands that may be overridden incircumstances of competition with equal or
stronger moral claims.
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Rights Theories
A moral theory based on the concept that all
people have human rights that form the
justifying basis of obligations because they
best express the purpose of morality, which
is the securing of liberties or other benefits
for a right-holder.
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Rights Theories
Human rights are held independent ofmembership in a state or other socialorganization.
Human rights evolved from the notion ofnatural rights.
Natural rights are rights that belong to all personspurely by virtue of their being human.
Negative rights pertain to the obligations onthe part of other people to refrain frominterfering with our freedom of action.
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Rights Theories
Positive rights impose obligations on people to
provide other people with goods or services.
A primary problem with this theory is that
there is no hierarchy for rights claims:
How does someone determine which right takes
precedence or has more value over other rights?
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Virtue Ethics
This moral theory suggests that morality is
comprised of virtue, which has to do with aperson's character and the types of actions
that emanate from that character.
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Virtue Ethics
Some typical virtuous traits in the business
arena would be integrity, honesty,
truthfulness, courage, loyalty, courteousness,
and conscientiousness.
Virtuous traits are acquired and developed
throughout our life experiences.
A primary problem with this theory is thatpeople have varying definitions of what traits
are considered virtuous.
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h d h h f
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Feminist Theories and the Ethics of
Care
This moral theory focuses on a set of
character traits that are deeply valued in
close personal relationships.
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i i h i d h hi f
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Feminist Theories and the Ethics of
Care
Typical traits would include sympathy,
compassion, fidelity, love, friendship, and the
like.
This theory grew out of two feminist
presuppositions:
The subordination of women is as wrong as it is
common. The experiences of women are worthy of respect
and should be taken seriously.
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F i i Th i d h E hi f
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Feminist Theories and the Ethics of
Care
An argument against this theory is that the
focus is on how power is used to oppress
women only, whereas traditional ethics is
based on the assumption that its values andrules apply to all rational persons equally.
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Analysis of Cases
The case method in law is used to show
examples of established precedents of
evidence and justification.
The case method in business is used to
present managerial situations so managers
will know how to think when confronted with
a dilemma.
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Analysis of Cases
The casuistical method for case analysis in
ethics is used to show conclusions on ethical
matters, then to compare and contrast the
central features of the morally clear andsettled cases with the features of unsettled
cases.
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GAME THEORY OF BUSINESS
ETHICS
Business is an Amoral Institution: originally
held business to be amoral meaning they
could not act morally or immorally as theywere not natural persons.
The Game Theory: operating a business is
like playing a game. No longer practical as
government now establish the rules (legalregulations) for business.
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SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY
Holds that businesses owe duties to societyas society allows business to exist. SocialContract Theory considers:
The Changing Social Environment.
Problems with Business Ethics: no fixedguidelines to follow and no formal code of ethicsthat a business should follow.
The Human Factor. The Legal Aspect.
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MULTINATIONAL ETHICS
Global Competition and Marketing
Opportunities.
Demand business consider social values in othercountries where firms do business.
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RECOMMENDATION FOR BUSINESS
Create framework for business ethics:
Adopt synthesis approach to resolve ethical issues.
Consider public image and consequences of actions.Adapt ethical standards as rapid change is constant in
business.
Work with government rather than against
Will not be easy but alternative is increased regulation and
public mistrust.