2. • Deontological Ethics:
– Emphasizes that sometimes the correct path is
determined not by its consequences but by
certain duties (obligations, commitments, and
responsibilities).
– Faults utilitarianism for thinking that our acts
should always be judged by their consequences to
the overall good.
– Deontology denies the utilitarian belief that the
ends do justify the means. It holds that there are
some things that we should, or should not, do
regardless of the consequences.
3. • Utilitarianism is concerned with the well being of the
whole.
• Many of us have a deep commitment to the dignity of
individuals.
• We believe that individuals should not be used as a mere
means to the greater overall good.
• Individuals have rights that should not be sacrificed simply
to produce a net increase in the collective good.
• Child Labor in the developing countries
– Some policy makers in impoverished countries believe best
means for raising the standard of living in their country is by
increasing exports. Increasing exports will raise the standard of
living for all citizens (utilitarian goal: improve the collective
good)
– An increase of exports means to sell goods at a cost below that
of competing countries. Labor is a major production cost, keep
labor cost low. This mean employing young children.
• Child labor in the manufacture of sneakers
4. • Is it ethical to use young children under such
circumstances?
– Defenders: children are better off with job, contribute to
the family’s income, contribute to welfare of society
– Critics: unethical to treat young children even there are
benefits. Child labor is child abuse and slavery. It’s wrong
from principle.
• Immanuel Kant (German philosopher): ethical duty is
explained in terms of principle called the categorical
imperative (imperative: command or duty; categorical:
without exception)
– Primary duty: to act only in those ways in which the maxim
of our acts could be made a universal law.
• The maxim of our acts can be thought of as the intention being our
acts. The maxim answers the question: What am I doing?
5. • Kant
– We should only act to those maxims that could
be universally accepted and acted on
– Believed that truth telling could, but lying could
not, be made a universal law.
• If everyone lied whenever it suited them, rational
communication would be impossible. Lying is unethical
– This condition of universality, prohibits us from
giving our own personal point of view privileged
status over the point of view of others. It is a
strong requirement of impartiality and equality for
ethics.
6. • Kant provided two other versions of this
categorical imperative
– Claimed that ethics requires us to treat all people
as ends and never only as means.
– We are required to treat people as subjects not
objects
• Treat people as capable of thinking and choosing for
themselves.
• Humans are subjects
• They have their own ends and purposes and should not
be treated simply as means to the ends of other.
7. • Kantian theory
– Fundamental ethical duty: treat people with
respect, to treat them as equally capable of living an
autonomous life.
– Since each person has this same fundamental duty
towards others, each of us can be said to have the
right to be treated with respect, the right to be
treated as an end and never as a means only.
• I have the right to pursue my own autonomously chosen
ends as long as I do not in turn treat other people as means
to my ends.
• Kantian would object to child labor:
– violate our duty to treat children with respect.
– Violate the right of children when treated as mere means to the
ends of production and economic growth
– They are treated as means because they are incapable of
rationally and freely choosing their own ends
8. • Complete theory of ethics: Specify what rights we have and how
theory are justified, that range and scope of rights, and some
process for prioritizing rights and resolving conflicts between
different rights.
• Understanding rights: think of them as protecting interests.
– Wants or desires are psychological states of an individual: what people
pursue. Individual enjoys a privileged status for knowing what they
want
– Interests: work for a person’s benefit and objectively connected to
what is good for that person.
– People don’t always want what is in their interest to have.
– Example: Children would want to eat sugar-coated breakfast cereal
each morning. Their parents deny them this because it is not in their
interest to eat such food. In this case, wants and interest conflict
– Example: College students skip class, but it is not in their interest to do
so. In this case, wants and interests conflict
– Example: You want a good education and good health, both of which
are in your interests to have. Wants and interests coincide.
9. • Consider case: downloading and sharing music and movie files over
the Internet
– We would promote greater happiness by adopting a public policy that
allowed unlimited and unrestricted downloads
– Small minority of people, artists and producers would be un happy.
– Utilitarian grounds: we would best serve the public interest by
allowing unregulated downloads
– Artists and producers; claim they have property rights that should
prohibit such policy
– Interests of public in listening to free downloads is not on par with
interest of those protecting their property.
– Rights: override the collective will
• Right protect certain interest that are more important and central to human
well-being than the mere happiness of others
– Connection between rights and interest is important because it
provide a way for determining which rights we have.
– By identifying central important interest, and distinguishing them from
mere wants, we can determine the range of human rights.
10. • What human characteristic justifies the
assumption that humans possess a special
dignity? Why would if be wrong to treat humans
as mere means or objects, rather than as ends or
subjects?
– Human capacity to make rational choices is the
distinctive human characteristic.
– Humans do not act only out of instinct and
conditioning, they make free choices about how they
live their lives, about their own ends.
– Humans are subjects in the sense that they originate
action, they choose, they act for their own ends.
– To treat someone as means or as an object is to deny
to them this distinctive and essential human
characteristic; it would be to deny to them their very
humanity.
11. • Rights offer protection of certain central
human interests, prohibiting the sacrifice of
these interests merely to provide an increase
in the overall happiness
• But interests, as opposed to desires, are
connected to human well-being in an
objective manner
• Human nature, characterized as the capacity
for free and autonomous choice, provides the
grounds for distinguishing central interests
from mere wants.
