Ethical Philosophies
Sometimes, when faced with a situation within murky ethical waters, there are difficult decisions to make. This is not made easier by the various philosophical outlooks available today, some of which would provide contradictory advice. The ethics of Emmanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, John Rawls, and Aristotle might, for example provide widely different viewpoints on whether a charitable donation should be accepted from a business person whose main income is from selling drugs. Ultimately, the choice lies with the individual, and the main question must be whether the person who accepts the donation can reasonably live with the final decision he or she makes.
According to Johnson (2010), Kant's categorical imperative focuses on the command and action, divorcing the action from premeditated or related goals. It applies unconditionally to the imperative to engage in action such as leaving something alone or taking something. This can be applied to the donation from two perspectives: The command could be to take the donation regardless of its connection to the...
Ethical Philosophies Ethics Utilitarianism, Kant's categorical imperative, virtue ethics, and Confucianism One of the most intuitive ethical philosophies is that of utilitarianism, an ethical ideal that suggests that ethical decisions should be made based upon what decisions will achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people. When we weigh decisions based upon their costs and benefits, we are taking a kind of utilitarian approach to decision-making (Ethics 5: Utilitarianism, 2008).
Utilitarianism is one a normative ethical philosophy, and it stands as one of the most important of its type. At its heart, utilitarianism is a consequentialist philosophy, in that the ethics of an action are dependent on the consequences of an action. Before the advent of utilitarianism, consequentialist philosophy emphasizes the self, in particular hedonism, but utilitarianism expanded the scope of consequences to include those to all society. Today, such
Ethical Egoism & Abortion Ethical egoism, as a philosophical position, holds that it is an ethical obligation for people to act in their own self-interest. How does this philosophical position deal with the debate over the morality of abortion? It is necessary, before beginning a closer analysis, to define our terms. Abortion is a hotly contested issue, but our sense of ethics here needs to be understood first as distinct from
Ethical Dilemmas & Marketing Ethical Dilemmas Ethical dilemmas in international marketing Background of Marketing Ethics Ethical Issues in Marketing Modern Debate in Stakeholder Theory Ethical Theories Teleological Theories Virtue Ethics Ethics in Marketing Ethical dilemmas in international marketing Humanity has long struggled with the question of what constitutes ethical behavior. The answer to this question has not always been simple or easy especially in the midst of conflicting interests. Businesses desire and need to sell products to consumers but serious issues
Ethical Theory & Moral Practice Debates about theory and practice are ancient. Each generation considers the dynamics that surround issues about the interdependency of theory and praxis to be uniquely challenging. Complexity is a variable closely linked with knowledge. As science has added layer upon layer of knowledge, decision-making dilemmas have been confounded by new and staggering concomitant factors. In concert, theoretical frameworks for social science disciplines have been adapted to
Ethics There are several different ethical perspectives that one can take to evaluate the goodness of actions. Among the leading philosophies are virtue ethics, consequentialism, utilitarianism (a specific type of consequentialism) and Kantian ethics, specifically universal law. This paper will examine three scenarios in the workplace against these different ethical philosophies. The first scenario is an employee making long distance phone calls on the company dime; the second two employees having
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