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Why should my conscience bother me?

Decent Essays

Fin 330
Hand in Problem
“Wy Should My Conscience Bother Me?”

Howard Hehrer
12/3/2013

1. Identify some of the moral issues that are present in this case.
a. There are many moral issues, but the story seems to revolve around several cases of ‘passing the buck’, or rationalizing how small of a part each respective individual plays in the conspiracy. In most of these cases, like Gretzinger’s scuffle with Line, the individual is charged with risking his job for potentially little or no change. Each instance seems to have stemmed from the inability of anyone to challenge the hot-headed Warren and his faulty design. As the conspiracy developed further, to speak out about the conspiracy would mean a less believable narrative. This …show more content…

b. Using Utilitarianism argue why the decision was bad.
i. The results show that more harm was done than good. LTV was worse off, and the Air Force was worse off. The plant may have been okay in the end, but clearly redesigning the wheel at the expense of the anger of one hot-headed engineer (Warren) and possibly the job of himself (Lawson) would have caused less harm than the results of the resulting conspiracy.
c. Using Kant’s Categorical Imperative argue why the decision was bad.
i. If all engineers decided to ‘go along with the plan’, instead of employing their technical skills and standing up against fraud or conspiracy to commit fraud, many people would die from faulty inventions. Nobody would be able to trust what an engineer built. Further, if all people decided to ‘go along with the plan’ or if all people decided to lie, everybody would be worse off. Nobody could trust anyone, and nothing would get done as a society. Therefore, nobody should lie or go along with a lie, according to the Categorical Imperative.
6. There are several points in this narrative where there were opportunities to fix the problem. Pick out at least two examples of points at which moral imagination and or moral courage by the various participants could have headed off the catastrophe. Indicate the person and what they could have done to fix the problem.
a. Lawson
i. Lawson displayed courage by approaching Sink and later

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