4. ETHICAL THEORY1: UTILITARIANISM
• FamousProponents:JeremyBentham,J.S.Mill
• What makes something good or bad, right or wrong, is that it
produces the greatest amount of pleasure (or lack of pain) for the
greatest number of people
• BasicPrinciple: GreatestHappinessPrinciple
Maximizing positive outcomes for the largest number of people,
negative outcomesfor lowest number of people
One should chose the action which will lead to the greatest happiness
(i.e. pleasure, lackof pain) overall
One’s own pleasure and pain only count as much as any other
person’s affected
5. UTILITARIANI
SM(CONTD)
Two forms: act and rule
Example: assessing the effects of pollutant discharge from a
factory on the immediate surrounding environment and those
down stream or down wind from the factory
Assessment of net benefits includes any important indirect
effects
6. RULE
UTILITARIANI
SM
It asks a person to assess actions according to a set of
rules designed to yield the greatest net benefit to all
affected
Compares act to rules
Does not accept an action as right if it maximizes net
benefits only once
Example: lying is always wrong or “thou shalt not lie”
8. EXAMPLE
• Afewdoctorsdecidethat anumber of
experimentsonafewpeople,evenif mostof
themdied, wouldbeworthit if theycouldfinda
curefor adiseasethat wouldrelievethe
sufferingofmillionsofpeople.Utilitarianism
wouldgivetheapprovalfor suchbecauseit
producesthegreatestgoodfor thegreatest
number of people.
10. ETHICAL THEORY3: RIGHTS
• Right: a person’s just claim or entitlement
• Focuses on the person’s actions or the actions of
others toward the person
Legal rights: defined by a system of laws
Moral rights: based on ethical standards
• Purpose: let a person freely pursue certain actions
without interference from others
11. RIGHTS
(CONTD)
Features
• Respect the rights of others
• Lets people act as equals
• Moral justification of a person’s action
Examples
• Legal right: right to a fair trial in the United
States
• Moral right: right to due process within an
organization
12. RIGHTS(CONTD)
• Rejectsviewof assessingtheresults of actions
• Expresses moral rights from individual's view, not society's.
Does not look to the number of people who benefit from
limitinganother person'srights
• Example: right to free speech in the United States stands
evenif apersonexpressesadissentingview
13. TYPESOF RIGHTS
• Negativerights: donot interfere with another person’s rights
• Positiverights: Apersonhasadutytohelpotherspursuetheir rights
Negative: donot stopapersonfromwhistleblowing
Positive: coworker helpsanother personblow
thewhistle onunethical actions
14. Virtue Ethics
Those that your “moral exemplars” poses
Virtue ethic focuses on having a good character – tells you
what kind of person you ought to be
It is action-guiding in the sense that it recommends that you
become the kind of person that will do what is right –
perhaps instinctively
How do you become virtuous?
Develop the sort of habits or instincts that a virtuous person
has through good upbringing, education, reflection,
experience, and effort
What habits or instincts are these?
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15. Virtue Ethics – the virtues
Rationality, intelligence, tenacity, capability, patience,
prudence, skillfulness, shrewdness, proficiency, etc.
Moral Virtues
Practical/non-moral virtues
Benevolence, compassion, honesty, charity, sincerity,
sympathy, respect consideration, kindness, thoughtfulness,
loyalty, fairness, etc.
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16. Criticisms of Virtue Ethics
(1) Different cultural groups have had different,
sometimes conflicting, opinions on what constitutes a
virtue. If Virtue Ethics has no universal basis, it leads to
an undesirable cultural relativism.
(2) Virtue Ethics may praise certain character traits, but
this provides us with no or insufficient practical
guidance about which specific actions to perform
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