Chapter 8 Subject : Business Year 8
Business Ethics
Term/ Year : 2, 2022
Note No. : 8
Name : Class : Date :
Learning Outcomes:
Students able to understand the concept of ethics and its relation to business
Students able to differentiate between the different types of ethical arguments (utilitarianism and deontology)
Ethics
Ethics involves what is perhaps the most monumental question any human being can ask: How should we live?
Ethics is, in this sense, practical, having to do with how we act, choose, behave and do things.
Philosophers often emphasize that ethics is normative, which means that it deals with our reasoning about how we should act.
Summary: Ethics seeks an account of how people should act a certain way, rather than how they do act.
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism aims to produce “the greatest good for the greatest number”.
The emphasis on producing the greatest number means utilitarianism opposes policies that aim to benefit only a small, social,
economic, or political minority. Utilitarianism has provided strong support for democratic institutions and policies.
Consequentialism in ethics is the view that whether or not an action is good or bad depends solely on what effects that action has
on the world.
Utilitarianism’s fundamental insight is that outcomes matter, and so we should decide what to do by considering the overall
consequences of our actions. It can be called a consequentialist approach to ethics and social policy: We should act in ways that
produce better consequences than the alternatives we are considering.
Better consequences are those that promote human well being: the happiness, health, dignity, integrity, freedom, and respect of
all the people affected.
A decision that promotes the greatest amount of these values for the greatest number of people is the most reasonable
decision from an ethical point of view.
Challenges in utilitarian decision making
The first challenge is the need for utilitarian reasoning to count, measure, compare and quantify consequences. However,
comparison and measurements are very difficult.
Consider the consequences of using nonrenewable energy sources and burning fossil fuels of energy.
Imagine trying to calculate the consequences of a decision to invest in construction of a nuclear power plant whose waste
remain toxic for tens of thousands of years.
The second challenge goes directly to the core of utilitarianism: the essence of utilitarianism is its reliance on consequences.
Ethical and unethical acts are determined by their consequences.
In short, for utillitarians the ends justify the means. But this seems to deny one of the earliest ethical principles that many have
learned: the ends does NOT always justify the means.
For example, overall happiness would be increased if children were held as slave labour.
Utilitarians would object to child labour, not as a matter of principle, but only if and to the degree that it detracts from the overall
good.
If it turns out that slavery and child labour increase the net overall happiness, utilitarianism would have to support these
practices.
Social Studies
Deontology
What makes a choice right is its conformity with a moral norm.
The Right is said to have priority over the Good (regardless how much ‘Good’ can be produced).
It tells us that there are some rules that we ought to follow even if doing so prevents good consequences from
happening or even if it results in some bad consequences.
According to Immanuel Kant, German philosopher, there is essentially one fundamental ethical principle that we should follow:
The Categorical Imperative
Maxim 1: Consistency (Kant, 1948/1785: 84/52)
• Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.
Maxim 2: Human Dignity (Kant, 1948/1785: 91/66–7)
• Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only.
Maxim 3: Universality (Kant, 1948/1785: 84/52)
• Act only so that the will through its maxims could regard itself at the same time as universally lawgiving
Challenges in deontology decision making
1. It is difficult to put into practice since it overlooks the effect of emotions on human
Humans are not the same as machines.
The standard of morality thus depends on one’s emotion and interpersonal relationship,
etc. In real life, whether an action is considered as moral is also affected by these
factors.
For example, “to treat all men alike without discrimination” is a moral value nobody denies.
However, if you treat all men alike, I believe your dear family and close friends will think you are inhumane and give
them the cold shoulder.
2. Over-emphasis on the popularity and inevitability moral principles and overlooks the general situation of
individual actions
Our experiences tell us that there is no definite distinction for everything.
Whether something is good or bad, right or wrong also depends on the changes in the external
environment. For example, under normal circumstances, we all agree that honesty is a virtue, something
we should abide by. However, the majority thinks that white lies are not immoral.
3. Different people have different views on important duties
Everyone has his/her own idea on duty. Kant considered “honesty” as the most important duty of all, but not everyone is
convinced. In contemporary society, some may prize “human rights”, “freedom”, or “equality” as the most important.
People who are more traditional may regard “humanity”, “righteousness, “ritual” and “wisdom” as the most important.
4. The conflicts between different duties are insuperable
Deontology briefly points out that we should act according to moral principles and not to do anything that are immoral. In real
life, however, what face us are often not the choices of good/evil or right/wrong.
Usually, what we do is to choose the less evil between the two and other moral dilemmas, for which deontology doesn’t
provide any clues.
Business Year 8
