Theories of Ethics
Trolley Car
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Brake fails of Trolley car going at the speed of 50 km/Hr
Brake Fails
On the main track 5 workers working
On the right track only one worker working
How many will turn?
How many will not turn?
Reason
Extension of trolley
• You are an on lookers on the platform
• In front of you is a very fat man
• You give him little push and he falls on the track and
trolley comes on halt
• How many of you r going to give him the push?
• Why not?
• One worker on the track is same as one person on the
platform.
• If you only had to just push a knob and he would fall will
you do it?
Trolley Accident
You are a doctor
And five patients come in the accident of trolley car
You can devote one day to save 5 people
Or you can devote to a severely injured person who will
take one full day
• What will you do?
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Organ Donation
• You are a doctor
• 5 people come with the need of the transplant in your
hospital
• You have one healthy patient in other room , how many
of you are going to take from the healthy man to give
lives to 5 patients
Teleology
(from the Greek telos, meaning goal or end) describes
an ethical perspective that contends the rightness or
wrongness of actions is based solely on the goodness or
badness of their consequences.
• In a strict teleological interpretation, actions are morally
neutral when considered apart from their consequences.
Utilitarianism are examples of teleological theories.
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Deontology
(from the Greek deon, meaning "duty") refers to an
ethical theory or perspective based on duty or obligation.
A deontological, or duty-based, theory is one in which
specific moral duties or obligations are seen as selfevident, having intrinsic value in and of themselves and
needing no further justification.
• Moral actions are evaluated on the basis of inherent
rightness or wrongness rather than goodness or a
primary consideration of consequences.
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Consequentialist vs. non-consequentialist theories
of ethics
• A consequentialist theory of value judges the rightness
or wrongness of an action based on the consequences
that action has. The most familiar example would be
utilitarianism--``that action is best that produces the
greatest good for the greatest number'' (Jeremy
Bentham).
• A non-consequentialist theory of value judges the
rightness or wrongness of an action based on properties
intrinsic to the action, not on its consequences.
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Moral Principles
• Consequence of Actions
• Consequentialist
• Locates morality in the consequences of an act
• Categorical moral reasoning:
• Locates Morality in certain duties and rights regardless of
consequences.
• Consequentialist: Jeremy Bentham
• Categorical moral reasoning: Emmuel Kant
Emmual kant
Categorical wrong
• Do we have certain fundamental rights?
• Does a fair procedure justify result?
• What is the moral work of consent
• “What if everybody did that?”
Jeremy Bentham
Theory of Utilitarian Ethics
• Right thing to do is maximizing Utility (balance of
pleasure over pain)
• Act in a way to maximizes overall level of happiness
benefits Greatest good for greatest numbers
Ford Pinto case in 1971
Benefits
• Savings: 180 burn deaths, 180 serious burn injuries,
2,100 burned vehicles
• Unit cost: $200,000 per death, $67,000 per injury, $700
per vehicle
• Total benefit:
(180 X $200,000) + (180 X $67,000) +
(2,100 X $700) = $49.5 million
Costs
• Sales:
11 million cars, 1.5 million light trucks
• Unit cost: $11 per car, $11 per truck
• Total cost: 12.5 million X $11 = $137.5 million
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Case of Queen Vs Dudley and Stephens
Case of Queen Vs Dudley and Stephens
• Ship in south Atlantic
• Dudley was the captain
• Richard Parker Cabin boy was orphan and without any
family
• 3 man and cabin boy Richard Parker
• Some food for 4 days
• No food and no water
• Parker drank sea water and was ill and he was unwell
Case of Queen Vs Dudley and Stephens
Dudley decided to draw lottery
One member was against- Brook
Dudley killed parker
4 days they eat and drank flesh and blood of parker
Dudley written in his diary: when we were having our
break fast….we saw a ship.
• Was their act morally permissible???
• Is it morally justifiable????
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What are your reasons????
• Request to Parker?
• Lottery?
Judgement
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Scope of Ethics
• Systematic issues
• Corporate Issues
• Individual Issues