Unit 1 B. Normative Theories of Ethics Ethical Theories There are three categories of ethical theories: • Normative Ethics • Meta Ethics • Applied Ethics Normative Ethical Theories • Normative Ethical Theories focus on moral value or goodness rather than on moral duties or obligations. • These theories argue that an action's consequences (what is good) rather than on moral obligations (what is right), and appeal to human nature and experience to determine what the good is. Various Normative Ethical Theories • • • • • • • • • • Utilitarianism Deontology Virtue ethics Ethics of care Egoism Religion or divine command theory Natural Law Social contract theory Rawls’s theory of justice Moral relativism Egoism • An ethical theory that treats self-interest as the foundation of morality. • Ego means self; egoism can be thought of as self-ism. • Egoism is a theory, in ethics, that human beings act or should act in their own interests and desires. • Egoism is opposed to altruism, which asserts that human beings should act in ways that help others. • Egoism is frequently associated with the early Greek hedonists, whose aim was pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain. Egoism • In philosophy, egoism is the theory that one's self is, or should be, the motivation and the goal of one's own action. • Egoism should be distinguished from egotism, which means a psychological overvaluation of one's own importance, or of one's own activities. • Small to normal amounts of egoism is not a bad thing, but actually a quite normal thing. • Therefore in theory it would be wrong to say "You egoist" at someone. Egoism • Ethical egoism was introduced by the philosopher Henry Sidgwick in his book “The Methods of Ethics”. • Sidgwick compared egoism to the philosophy of utilitarianism, saying utilitarianism sought to maximize overall pleasure, egoism focused only on maximizing individual pleasure. • We shall discuss utilitarianism later in this topic. Problems with Ethical Egoism • Caring for others for their own sake is rejected. • Egoism argues that not only ought one to pursue one's own interests but, that caring for others is ethically rejected unless one assigns self-value to the action. • Thus, a potential flaw or disadvantage of ethical egoism is that it could create a society that no one wants to live in and where nothing would ever get accomplished because everyone would be working against each other. Misconception about Egoism • Misconception #1: A person is selfish if and only if he/she pursues his/her own interests without regard to the interests of others. EE does not say to be selfish in this way. Furthering your own interests and happiness often depends upon furthering the interests of others. If you are an egoist, the happiness of other people matters but only insofar as it factors into promoting your own happiness, e.g. helping a friend so that your life is better. • Misconception #2: EE does not say that you should pursue only your best, immediate, and most sensual wants and desires. Egoists claim that an action is good if and only if it promotes your short-term and long-term happiness. Sometimes this is referred to as well-being or living the “good” life. This requires you to consider not only immediate pleasures but also “higher” pleasures, e.g. enjoying artworks, and long-term pleasures, e.g. having a long and healthy life. Misconception about Egoism • Egoism is a controversial moral theory because many people believe that some acts of genuine altruism are morally good, i.e. some actions are good not because they are done for our own happiness but because they benefit someone else, i.e. they promote another's happiness. Psychological Egoism • Ethical egoism says that each person ought to pursue his/her own happiness, whereas psychological egoism is the claim that each person, in fact, pursues his/her own happiness. • Ethical egoism is a claim about what is morally good or bad, whereas psychological egoism is a claim about human psychology. • Psychological egoism is a controversial claim as it implies that human beings are not capable of genuine altruism. Psychological Egoism • That is, they are not capable of doing something that solely to promote the happiness (to further interests) of another. • Psychological egoism is controversial because there appear to be a lot of cases where people actions are done not to promote our own happiness at all, but to promote the happiness of others. • If one wishes to be a psychological egoist, then one needs to explain why people do certain actions that appear to be genuine acts of altruism, like saving someone’s life by risking your own, donating money, blood, organs, etc. and volunteer activities among others. Utilitarianism • Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on outcomes. • It is a form of consequentialism. • Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number. Utilitarianism • Utilitarianism is one of the best known and most influential moral theories. • Utilitarians believe that the purpose of morality is to make life better by increasing the amount of good things (such as pleasure and happiness) in the world and decreasing the amount of bad things (such as pain and unhappiness). • Utilitarianism is a philosophy or belief suggesting that an action is morally right if the majority of people benefit from it. Utilitarianism • Utilitarianism requires that one commit unjust actions in certain situations, and because of this it is fundamentally flawed. • Some things ought never to be done, regardless of the positive consequences that may ensue. • Utilitarian moral reasoning is prevalent in our political and moral dialogue. • Utilitarians have freedom to "bend the rules" and justify a bad action for a good outcome. Three Basic Principles of Utilitarianism 1. Pleasure or Happiness Is the Only Thing That Truly Has Intrinsic Value. Utilitarianism is derived from the term "utility," which in this context does not mean "useful" but, rather, means pleasure or happiness. To say that something has intrinsic value means that it is simply good in itself. A world in which this thing exists, or is possessed, or is experienced, is better than a world without it (all other things being equal). Intrinsic value contrasts with instrumental value. Something has instrumental value when it is a means to some end. For example, a screwdriver has instrumental value to the carpenter; it is not valued for its own sake but for what can be done with it. Three Basic Principles of Utilitarianism 2. Actions Are Right Insofar as They Promote Happiness, Wrong Insofar as They Produce Unhappiness. This principle is a little controversial. It makes utilitarianism a form of consequentialism since it says that the morality of an action is decided by its consequences. The more happiness is produced among those affected by the action, the better the action is. Three Basic Principles of Utilitarianism 3. Everyone's Happiness Counts Equally. It lay behind calls on the government to pass policies that would benefit all equally, not just the ruling elite. Utilitarianism in Organizational Context • In an organizational context, utilitarianism basically states that a decision concerning business conduct is proper if and only if that decision produces the greatest good for the greatest number of individuals. • Importantly, all the stakeholders affected by the decision should be given their just consideration. • By selling quality and safe products, a business will be increasing its intrinsic value while meeting the needs of their customers at the same time. Utilitarianism in Organizational Context Business Organizations should be oriented towards achieving the following: 1. Utilitarianism is a clear basis for testing policies (policy is good if it promotes greatest welfare) 2. Objective way of resolving conflicts of self interest. 3. Flexible and encourages organizations consequences of their actions. to focus on the Moral Decision Making • Moral decision making is the ability to produce a reasonable and defensible answer to an ethical question. • A moral decision is a choice between right and wrong. • Utilitarianism is one of the most common approaches to making ethical decisions, especially decisions with consequences that concern large groups of people, in part because it instructs us to weigh the different amounts of good and bad that will be produced by our action. Moral Decision Making • Emotions – that is to say feelings and intuitions – play a major role in most of the ethical decisions people make. • Most people do not realize how much their emotions direct their moral choices. • Emotions evoked by suffering, such as sympathy and empathy, often lead people to act ethically toward others. Moral Dilemma • A moral dilemma is a conflict of morals, where you are forced to choose between two or more options and you have a moral reason to choose and not choose each option. • A moral dilemma is a situation in which a person is torn between right and wrong. • Some examples of moral dilemmas include: The classic “lifeboat dilemma”, where there are only 10 spaces in the lifeboat, but there are 11 passengers on the sinking ship. A decision must be made as to who will stay behind.
