Chapter 2 Discussion: Ethical Principles in Business

Paul L. Schumann, Ph.D.

2004 by Paul L. Schumann. All rights reserved.

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Utilitarian Moral Principle

What is the utilitarian moral principle? In terms of means (methods) versus ends (results) in what way does the utilitarian moral principle focus on the ends (results)? If an action does me (personally) the most good and the least harm of all actions I can take, that doesnt mean the action is ethical according to the utilitarian moral principle. Why? Does this principle only consider the direct and immediate consequences of our actions? Explain.
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Utilitarian Moral Principle

In what ways is utilitarianism an attractive

principle? In a particular situation, if more good and less harm follows from telling a lie than any other possible action, then is lying in that situation morally correct according to the utilitarian principle? Explain.

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Utilitarian Moral Principle

What are the alleged measurement problems

with utilitarianism?
How do defenders of utilitarianism answer the

alleged measurement problems?

What concerns involving rights have been

expressed about the utilitarian principle?

What is the example of the sick uncle?

How do utilitarians answer the rights concerns? Is it moral to kill one person in order to save the lives of many people? Explain.
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Utilitarian Moral Principle

What concerns involving justice have been

expressed about the utilitarian principle?

How do utilitarians answer the justice

concerns?

What are the 2 main limits to utilitarian

methods of moral reasoning?

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Rights Moral Principle

What is meant by a right?

What is meant by moral rights (or

human rights)? How are moral rights different from legal rights?

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Rights Moral Principle

How are moral

Interests

rights tightly correlated with duties? How are moral rights related to interests?

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Du tie

Rig

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Rights Moral Principle

If the rights principle usually overrides the

utilitarian principle, then under what circumstances should the utilitarian principle override the rights principle?

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Rights Moral Principle

How do the ideas of Immanuel Kant fit into

a discussion of moral rights?

What is the first formulation of Kants

categorical imperative?
Under the first formulation of the categorical imperative, what are the 2 criteria for determining moral right and wrong? How does this relate to the golden rule?

What is the second formulation of Kants

categorical imperative?
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Distributive Justice Moral Principle

What is the fundamental principle of

distributive justice? Whats fair according to egalitarianism?

Criticisms?

Whats fair according to capitalism? Criticisms?

Whats fair according to socialism? Criticisms?

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Distributive Justice Moral Principle

Whats fair according to libertarianism? Criticisms? How does Rawls develop principles of

fairness by using the original position and the veil of ignorance?

What is the principle of equal liberty? What is the principle of fair equality of

opportunity? What is the difference principle?

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Ethics of Care Moral Principle

What are the moral demands of the ethics of

care moral principle?

What does the ethics of care take into

consideration that is missing from the other moral principles?

Under what circumstance are we not

required to exercise care for people with whom we have relationships?

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Virtue Ethics
What is a moral virtue? What are examples of moral virtues? The other moral principles focus on the

morality of actions. In what way is virtue ethics different from the other moral principles? How can we use virtue ethics to decide what actions we should take?

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Integrating the Moral Principles

Why should we apply and integrate the 4

moral principles of utilitarianism, rights, distributive justice, and ethics of care? How does virtue ethics fit in with the 4 moral principles?
Does it replace the other 4 moral principles? Is it another (the 5th) moral principle?

Or something else?

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Retributive Justice
What is meant by retributive justice?

What are the conditions of retributive

justice?

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Compensatory Justice
What is meant by compensatory justice?

What are the conditions of compensatory

justice?

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Morality in International Contexts

What are the 4 sets of questions that we

should try to answer in order to apply the moral principles in an international context?

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Case: Philip Morris Troubles

What moral issues are there in the case?

Lets simplify, and focus on analyzing the

following moral issue:

Is it ethical for a company like Philip Morris to

sell a product that it knows has significant health concerns while denying to the public that there are any health concerns?

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