Utilitarianism And Virtue Ethics

Utilitarianism as an ethical theory is seen as 'an act that is morally correct if it results in the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people affected by the act'. (Crane, Matten, Chapt. 3). It is a principle that concentrates on the outcome of an act and compares the good outcome with the bad outcome and supports the outcome that brings the greatest amount of good for all stakeholders involved.

Utilitarianism: “The idea that an action is right, as long as it promotes happiness, and that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the guiding principle of conduct (Oxford Dictionaries).” This theory was thought up as far back as the 17th century, but didn’t become well known until late into the 18th century when Jeremy Bentham a legal and social reformer gave a powerful presentation of the idea. “Create all the happiness you are able to create; remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you, will invite you to add something to the pleasure of others, or to diminish something of their pains (Jeremey Bentham).” Deontology: “An ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether

Virtue ethics sets itself apart from the other two; according to Consequentialists virtue ethics tends to promote good consequences. Virtue ethics does not benefit when it is with itself, but when it is with good standards and choices. It takes account more than just the knowledge of a human; Motivation, emotions, wisdom, moral education, and much more. It scales reason and emotions at the same level whereas consequentialism and deontology prefer reason over emotions. Virtue ethics is described as a more open topic that can be explained in multiple ways compared to consequentialism and deontology which tend to be monistic about value.

Virtue ethics focuses on the benefits, or ethical personality, whereas deontology focuses on responsibilities or guidelines. Utilitarianism focuses on the repercussions of activities. Virtue ethics is also called agent-based or personality ethics. When using the quality principles approach, one should take the point of view that in living their lifestyle they should try growing quality in all that they do (Boylan, Chapter 11, 2009). Utilitarianism is a way of consequentialism; significance that the ethical worth of an activity is established by its results. Utilitarianism indicates that an activity is fairly right when that activity generates more total application for the group than any other alternative (Boylan, Chapter 12, 2009). Deontological principles mostly judge the activity, depending on the action's sticking with a concept or guidelines. This principle uses guidelines and responsibilities to determine what is “right.” Deontology preserves the wrongness of activities in the kind of activity that it is, rather than the repercussions it triggers.

“The rapid changes caused new problems- economic faulty, thoughtless and unethical decisions have led to unpleasant consequences such as failed businesses, deteriorated relationships, and conflicts in society as well as in organizations”. To put in other words, the main problem is the lack of ethics and virtues in business that have resulted in wicked outcomes which affected on only businesses but the society in general as well. In his essay entitled “Vocational Virtue Ethics: Prospects for a Virtue Ethic Approach to Business”, David McPherson concludes by proposing a number of solutions as to how business organizations must overcome this problem that challenges to vocational virtue ethics. In this essay, I focus on analyzing three of the solutions, to wit, having a clear mission statement and hiring employees according to their willingness to commit to it, possessing a moral leadership, and reducing the tendency to avarice.

Virtue ethics is a normative theory whose foundations were laid by Aristotle. This theory approaches normative ethics in substantially different ways than consequentialist and deontological theories. In this essay, I will contrast and compare virtue ethics to utilitarianism, ethical egoism, and Kantianism to demonstrate these differences. There is one fundamental aspect of virtue ethics that sets it apart from the other theories I will discuss. For the sake of brevity and to avoid redundancy, I will address it separately. This is the fundamental difference between acting ethically within utilitarianism, egoism, and Kantianism. And being ethical within virtue ethics. The other theories seek to define the ethics of actions while virtue ethics does not judge actions in any way. The other theories deal with how we should act, while virtue ethics determines how we should be.

Regarding the case of the Citicorp Building, utilitarianism and virtue ethics have interestingly similar views.

The three ethical theories I will discuss from Chapter 1 include: utilitarianism, virtue and care ethics. First, the utilitarianism is moral standard and a theory of action by humans that are morally right in action. Utilitarianism is an action that is morally right if its consequences are more favorable. One way for businesses’, as our reading suggests (Fieser & Moseley, 2012), is make a list of all the good and bad for any particular act. If the good outweighs the bad then that action should occur. If the bad outweighs the good, then the action should stop. Utilitarianism theory attempts to keep things on the positive, happier side of the spectrum. A company using this theory is probably functioning well due to their morale analysis of actions related to safe products, good quality products and customer care, a fair price, and fair and equal treatment to their employees. In addition, because utilitarianism is a morale standard, a company would be environmentally conscious and find ways to help the community and the world. A company would work at making their products in an environmentally safe way, recycle surplus and make their products within the United States to support the economy. A company would also look at balancing goods over harm produced to the environment or people. Lastly, if a company were to be very successful, they should donate some of their proceeds back into the community (environmentally or local community support) or employees (bonuses,

In my view utilitarianism gives the well-being of other human beings in the society an upper hand. Doing the right thing is considered morally upright despite the motive behind the action. Actions that increase the quantity and quality of happiness in an individual while taking away pain are morally upright. In this case, I will argue that helping a drowning person is morally upright as pain is removed from the individual and happiness level up raised. Increasing the level of happiness in an individual eventually elevates the level of good actions in the society that is in line with utilitarianism ethics code. In this regard, I believe mutual responsibility has to be engraved in each for the society to benefit from the overall morally upright

After filling out the Ethical Inventory again I found that Utilitarianism and Virtue Ethics are the two areas that made the most persuasive thinking for me. Utilitarianism looks at the consequences and weighs the positives to see if it is going to bring happiness to the greater number. Every situation is looked at from a pros and cons point of view and a decision is made from there. One statement that is on the inventory sheet says, “When I am trying to decide what the right thing to do is, I look at the consequences of the various alternatives open to me.” In this example for myself I usually don’t think about consequences and react on emotions. After reacting from emotions I think about the consequences and realize most of the time it wasn’t the right thing to do. There are many times that I react and then realize I could’ve done things differently in that situation. I think about my own self interest before I think about the effects of the greater number. I see myself now looking at the situation and seeing both sides of it. I look at the positives and negatives before I react on emotions. By learning more about utilitarianism and changing my thought process I see my virtue ethics in a different perspective compared to what I did before this class. All the virtues that are stated in the book are virtues I hold very deeply in myself. These virtues are courage, generosity, honesty, loyalty to friends and family. Courage was one I had a hard time with because I don’t always

While utilitarian approach is based on the society as a whole, Aristotle’s virtue ethics gives us perspectives on harm reduction from an individualistic point of view. Aristotle defines good in terms of something we aim at and is related to the function one performs in a community. Society, for Aristotle is a conglomeration of citizens with good character, where each one performs the specific function assigned to him in the best possible manner. (Macintyre 2002: 52; Aristotle Politics Book II) Virtue ethics, unlike utilitarianism is not concerned with specific actions under specific circumstances, but rather with the ‘character’ of the individual (Aristotle Ethics Book II). While Ethics prescribes the kind of life we must lead to attain eudaemonia,

When it comes to faith, there are many different interpretations. There are people in the world who believe that faith is going to church, or another place of worship), reading the bible or another holy word, and praying or worshipping. Other people believe in spirituality with no designated religious affiliation. There are also people who do not believe in spirituality or religion. No matter which of these is the case, what you believe or specifically do not believe affects how you react to different situations ethically. Your ethics are developed by your faith or lack thereof.

you ask what the virtues are, it is likely you would be told that we

Virtue, when I hear that word I think of value and morality and only good people can be virtuous. When I hear the word ethics I think of good versus evil, wrong and right. Now when the two are put together you get virtue ethics. You may wonder what can virtue ethics possibly mean. It’s just two words put together to form some type of fancy theory. Well this paper will discuss virtue ethics and the philosophy behind it.

A virtuous being has an entire set of good character traits. Character traits aren’t simply things that you do, but actions that are engrained in you and are often your first instinct. Utilitarianism is an ethics of conduct while virtue ethics are of