Presentation Transcript

1. What is Ethics

2. What is Ethics? 1 • The sociologist Raymond Baumhart asked business people, "What does ethics mean to you?" Among their replies were the following: • "Ethics has to do with what my feelings tell me is right or wrong." • "Ethics has to do with my religious beliefs.“ • "Being ethical is doing what the law requires." • "Ethics consists of the standards of behavior our society accepts." • "I don't know what the word means."

3. dilemma • a problem involving a choice one does not want to make • often an undesirable or unpleasant choice • “Here am I brought to a very pretty dilemma; I must commit murder or commit matrimony.” • — George Farquhar • or an ethical dilemma • “The dilemma of “liberty versus order” • — J. M. Burns

4. What is Ethics? 2 • The nature of ethical dilemmas • Ethics is the systematic human endeavor to understand moral concepts and to justify moral principles • Purpose of ethics is to guide practice • Central role of justification

5. Comparison of Ethics, Religion, Law, & Etiquette

6. Consequentialism vs. Deontology • Consequentialism: • the view that an act is right if and only if it will maximize (or is likely to maximize) good consequences. • Deontological theories: • The view that there are some features of acts beyond their consequences that make them right or wrong. Ergo certain acts must be done (or not done) regardless of the consequences. (Sometimes it is called “absolutism”): • Judeo-Christian Ethics • Moral Theory of Immanuel Kant • Rawls: Two major moral theories in US • Utilitarianism (Consequentialism) • Rights/Duties (Deontological)

7. Consequentialism vs. Deontology • Consequentialism: • the view that an act is right if and only if it will maximize (or is likely to maximize) good consequences. • Deontological theories: • The view that there are some features of acts beyond their consequences that make them right or wrong. Ergo certain acts must be done (or not done) regardless of the consequences. (Sometimes it is called “absolutism”): • Judeo-Christian Ethics • Moral Theory of Immanuel Kant • Rawls: Two major moral theories in US • Utilitarianism (Consequentialism) • Rights/Duties (Deontological)