Worksheet for Moral

Deliberation
We are discussing no small matter, but how we ought to live.
Socrates, as reported by Plato in the Republic (ca. 390 B.C.)

Morality and Ethics

Morality - principle of right and wrong
Ethics - discipline/process of determining
what is right and what is wrong
Business Ethics - study of morality as it
applies to business; aims at developing a
reasonable moral framework for decisionmaking

Ethical Principles

Utilitarianism
Rights
Justice and Fairness
Virtue
Care

Utilitarianism
An action is right if and only if the sum total
benefits produced by that act is greater than
the sum total benefits produced by any other
act the agent could have performed in its place
Conceived in the 19th century by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart
Mill
Most popular in business because the cost-benefit analysis in business
is a form of this theory
The rightness of an action is judged in conjunction with the
consequences or effect on all persons affected (including the agent).

2 Main Limitations of
Utilitarianism
Difficult to use when dealing with values
that are difficult and perhaps impossible to
measure quantitatively
Ignores the question of rights and justice
rights - individual entitlements to freedom of
choice and to well-being
justice - how benefits and burdens are
distributed among people

Rights
Rights=individuals entitlement to
something
Moral/human rights=derived from a system
of moral standards that specify that all
human beings are permitted, empowered to
do something, or entitled to have something
done for them

Rights
Immanuel Kants Categorical Imperative:
2 Formulations:
Formulation 1:
I ought never to act except in such a way that I can
also will that my maxim should become a universal
law
An action is morally right for a person in a certain
situation if, and only if, the persons reason for
carrying out the action is a reason that he or she
would be willing to have every person act on, in any
similar situation.

Rights
Immanuel Kants Categorical Imperative:
Formulation 2:
Act in such a way that you always treat
humanity, whether in your own person or in the
person of any other, never simply as a means,
but always at the same time as an end.
An action is morally right for a person if, and
only if, in performing the action, the person
does not use others merely as a means for
advancing his or her own interest, but also both
respects and develops their capacity to choose
freely for themselves.

Rights - 2 Criteria for

determining right or wrong
Universalizability
Reversibility
similar to the Golden Rule: Do unto others
what you would want them do unto you

Justice and Fairness

Justice consists in treating equals equally
and unequals unequally, and in giving each
person his due

3 Categories of Justice and Fairness

Compensatory Justice
concerns the just way in compensating someone for
a past injustice or what he/she lost when wronged
by others

Retributive Justice
consists in the just imposition of punishment and
penalties on those who do wrong
related to procedural justice, referring to fair
decision procedures, practices, agreements

3 Categories of Justice and Fairness

Distributive Justice
involves the fair distribution of benefits and
burdens
arises when issues concerning common good are
at stake
Individuals who are similar in all respects relevant to
the kind of treatment in question should be given
similar benefits and burdens, even if they are
dissimilar in other irrelevant respects; and individuals
who are dissimilar in a relevant respect ought to be
treated dissimilarly, in proportion to their
dissimilarity.

Virtue
Virtue
dispositions, attitudes, habits that form the
character of a person, developing his/her highest
potentials.
Habits that enable a person to act in accordance
with reason, and acting in accordance with reason
is choosing the mean between the two extremes
(the extreme of excess and the extreme of lack)

Virtue
An action is morally right if in carrying out the action
the agent exercises, exhibits, or develops a morally
virtuous character, and it is morally wrong to the extent
that by carrying out the action the agent exercises,
exhibits, or develops a morally vicious character
Virtue ethics determines the rightness or wrongness of
an action by examining the kind of character the
action tends to produce or the kind of character that
tends to produce the action.

CARE
2 moral demands
we should preserve and nurture those concrete and valuable
relationships we have with specific persons who have
become part of our lives and have formed us as we are
we should care for those with whom we are concretely
related by attending to their particular needs, values,
desires, well-being as seen from their own personal
perspective, and by responding to these needs, values,
desires, well-being, especially of those who are vulnerable
and dependent on our care.

CARE
2 important points
An ethics of care should encompass larger systems
of relationship leading to a communitarian ethic.
An ethics of care provides a corrective to other
ethical principles that emphasizes impartiality and
universality.

Questions for making a moral decision

Does the action maximize social benefits and
minimize social injuries?
Is the action consistent with the moral rights of
those affected?
Will the action bring just distribution of benefits
and burdens?
What kind of person will one become if one makes
this decision?
Does the action exhibit care for the well being of
those who are closely related to or dependent on
oneself?

Ethical Decision-Making and Action Planning Process

Perceive a
Decision to be Made

Consider the
following:
1. Scope & Nature
of Dilemma
2. Obligation to Act

Impact on
Your Future
Flexibility
Impact on Others

3. Available Guidance
Perceive There
is a Dilemma

Trigger Event

4. Sanity Check on
Decision

Reasoning Process to
Develop an Ethically
Sensitive Decision

Impact on Your Company

Impact on Yourself

Determine the Most

Appropriate/Best Course
of Action

Rules on How One Ought to Act

Identify and Set up the Ethical Problem
State problem/thesis to be tackled
Identify immediate facts that have the most bearing
on the ethical decision that must be made (include
economic, social, political pressures)

Identify the stakeholders

Identify corresponding obligations towards
stakeholders
List at least 3 (2 are the extremes)

Rules on How One Ought to Act

Evaluate the Options
State benefits/harms of each option and which
alternative leads to best overall consequence
(Utilitarianism)
State moral rights of affected parties and which
option best respects those rights (Kant)
State course of action which advances the
common good
State which decision enables one to be and act
in ways that develops ones highest potential as
a person (virtue)

Rules on How One Ought to Act

Evaluate the Options
State which option treats everyone the same,
except where there is a morally justifiable
reason not to and does not show favoritism or
discrimination (Justice and Fairness)

Determine the Most Appropriate Action

Requires courage

Double-check the Decision

See to it that the arguments are consistent

Rules on How One Ought to Act

Double-check the Decision (contd)
See to it that the arguments are valid and sound
valid = one whose premises logically entail its
conclusion
invalid = one whose premises are true and one can
reject the conclusion without any contradiction
because premises do not entail its conclusion
sound=true premises and valid reasoning
unsound=invalid reasoning or has at least one false
premise

Rules on How One Ought to Act

Double-check the Decision (contd)
Identify best & worst-case scenarios if one chooses
particular option
Ask oneself: Can I honestly live with myself if I
make this decision?
Ask oneself: Will I be able to defend this decision
to that claimant who has lost the most or been
harmed the most?
Decision must be enabling rather than disabling
enabling=liberates us
disabling=prevents us from acting fruitfully or
effectively; prevents our growth as persons