Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Theories
Good engineering, good business, and
good ethics work together in the long run.
What is Morality?
It concerns conduct: right and wrong, good and
bad, the rules that ought to be followed
It is associated with consequences to ourselves,
others, and the environment
The right or good is linked to value
judgements generally thought to promote fairness,
health, and safety while minimizing injustice
Ethical Theories
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism - the view that we ought to produce
the most good for the most people, giving equal
consideration to everyone affected
Rule-Utilitarianism is applying those rules that if
generally adopted would produce the most good for the
most people
Act-Utilitarianism is applying rules in order to produce
the most good for the most people involved in the
particular situation (rules become at most rules of
thumb)
Ethical Theories
Utilitarianism & Theories of Good
Deeply satisfying pleasures mixed with some
inevitable pains & a pattern of activities and
relationships that one can affirm as valuable
overall (Mill)
Things that satisfy rational desires, e.g., love and
creativity. Rational desires are those we would
approve of if we scrutinized our desires in light of
all relevant information about the world and our
own psychology (Brandt)
Ethical Theories
Rights Ethics
Rights Ethics - the view that human rights - not
good consequences - are fundamental.
Acts of respect for human rights are obligatory,
regardless of whether they always maximize good
Truthfulness important in terms of its contribution to
liberty, especially within relationships based on trust
Complex in that there are many types of rights that may
conflict and must be balanced
Ethical Theories
Rights Ethics & Liberty Rights
Liberty Rights (Locke) - places duties on other
people not to interfere with ones life.
To be a person entails having human rights to life,
liberty, and the property generated by ones labor
property thought of as whatever we gain by mixing
our labor with things
Views reflected by todays Libertarians
Ethical Theories
Rights Ethics - Liberty & Welfare Rights
Liberty & Welfare Rights (Melden) - having
moral rights presupposes the capacity to show
concern for others and to be accountable within a
moral community
extent of rights determined in terms of
interrelationships among persons
recognizes right to community benefits for living
minimally decent human life
Ethical Theories
Duty Ethics
Duty Ethics - the focus on duties which
correspondence to and sustain fundamental rights
List of duties based on respect for persons and
belief in human capacity for moral autonomy
For example, if you have a right not to be
deceived, then I have a duty not to deceive you.
To deceive you is to undermine your ability to
carry out your plans based on available truths and
within relationships based on trust
Ethical Theories
Duty Ethics - List of Duties
Kant
Be truthful
Be fair
Make reparation for
harm done
Show gratitude for
kindness extended
Seek to improve ones
own character and
talents
Gert
Dont
cause pain
disable
deprive of freedom
deprive of pleasure
deceive
cheat
Do
keep your promises
obey the law
do your duty
Ethical Theories
Duty Ethics - A Closer Look at Duties
Are duties universally applicable and
exceptionless? Is duty absolute?
What about when duties conflict with each other,
e.g., do not deceive versus protect innocent
life
Prima facie duties - those that have justified
exceptions or limits
Summary
Morality - good is linked to value judgements
Ethical Theories - attempt to provide perspective
on moral responsibilities
Utilitarianism
Rule-Utilitarianism
Act-Utilitarianism
Rights Ethics
Duty Ethics
Virtue Ethics
Primary focus on the kinds of persons we should
aspire to be
Virtues are
desirable way of relating to others (individuals or
groups)
desirable habits or tendencies of motive, attitudes, and
emotion as well as conduct
Vices are
undesirable habits and tendencies
Public-spirited virtues
Team-work virtues
Proficiency virtues
Pragmatism
A theory about morality that emphasizes the
limitations of abstract rules (anti-theory)
Not to be confused with crass expediency
Good consequences emphasized, but so too are
rights, duties and virtues within a given context
Flexibility emphasized
Like act-utilitarianism, there is danger of paying
insufficient attention moral principles through
immersion in specific contexts.
Moral Motives
contributing to the well-being of other human beings