Abstract The paper first looks at the forms of deontologicalethics, that include ethical formalism, religion, natural law and the ethics of virtue. The paper then turns to the teleological ethical systems, that include utilitarianism, the ethics of care and the ethics of egoism. The writer
considers himself first and foremost to be a utilitarian since he believes that the best criterion to judge our actions is by how they impact the world around us.
From the Paper "All ethical systems can be categorized as one of two types. The first type is the deontological, meaning that right and wrong are thought of as independent categories and that ethical decisions are made without regard to a specific outcome. In the other kind of ethical system, the teleological, there is an ultimate goal towards which the individual or the community is striving. The realization of that ultimate goal is what guides ethical decision-making. Pollock (2003) has identified seven separate ethical systems, each of which can be categorized as either a deontological or a teleological perspective."
Tags:ethical, formalism, religion, natural, law, virtue, utilitarianism, care, egoism
This paper discusses, by assailing deontologicalethics and virtue ethics and defending utilitarianism, a medical ethics case in which the medical professionals must decide whether or not to perform gender-altering surgery.
Abstract The paper explains that utilitarianism states that the morality of a surgical gender assignment can be derived as an outcome that would be considered either good or bad; the overall morality of the philosophy and procedure would then be determined based on the positive or negative outcome. The author points out that medical ethics does not fall under deontologicalethics because the philosophy states that there are absolute right and wrong answers for every case. The paper relates that, in a situation like surgical procedures, the solution to any problem must be derived on a case-by-case basis and, therefore, cannot have one universal truth; doctors do not have the freedom to decide the future of the newborns without statistical proof that their decision will benefit the child.
From the Paper "In this scenario, the surgery for many years was considered as a good alternative to going thorough life deformed. In the case study, it was uncovered that the twin John/Joan, as she aged, was not at all happy with her situation after it was documented in medical journals as a highly successful pro-surgery example. The results of the case study for the twin John/Joan was completely wrong and could even be considered a serious act of malpractice. The twin's brother even said that his medically altered sister was very manly throughout her early years and even suggested that she always wanted to be a garbage man. ?At the age of six or seven, Joan told her brother she wanted to be a garbage man: "Easy job, good pay."? Since the twin John/Joan's case was the basis for surgery in the majority of cases, it also should be the basis to not perform the surgery from this point forward. The utilitarianism moral issue now says the medical community should not perform the surgery in the bulk of the cases and it is also morally wrong to withhold the fact that the surgery was performed."
Abstract This paper looks at Kant's use of deontologicalethics - moral obligation, or duties that a person must perform to lead a peaceful existence. The author discusses the law of Traditional Duty Theory and problems with the theory.
From the Paper "All duties to others are the most basic since this must follows the mandate of natural law that we are to be sociable. Towards God, we have a theoretical duty to know the existence and nature of God and a practical duty to worship God, both internally and externally.
Towards ourselves, we have duties of the soul which means developing one's skills and talents and duties of the body which means not neglecting our bodies through gluttony or drunkenness and not killing oneself.
Concerning duties towards others these are ?divided into absolute duties which are binding on people and conditional duties which are the result of contract between people. Absolute duties should be to avoid wronging others, treating people as equals and promoting the good of others. First of the rules is to keep one's promises."
Abstract The paper discusses utilitarianism, an ethical philosophy which holds that the right course of action is the course of action which provides the greatest good. The paper then looks at deontologicalethics that believes a person has certain duties which he should carry out. The paper looks at Immanuel Kant's deontological beliefs of moral duties and discusses how duty requires a defense lawyer to zealously represent the defendant even if he/she knows that a client is guilty and believes that if the client is not imprisoned, he/she will commit more crimes. The paper further explains that an attorney is required to not take a case in which he cannot give zealous representation.
From the Paper "Utilitarianism is an ethical philosophy which holds that the right course of action is the course of action which provides the greatest good or the greatest number. As articulated by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, this ethic holds that the two controlling emotions in life are pleasure and pain. Man prefers pleasure. Thus, for the isolated individual, an action producing pleasure is good; an action producing pain is bad. For a person in society, an action is good if the pleasure felt by all those affected is greater than the pain felt by those affected. (Hollinger 2002, pp. 32-33; Bentham, 1949; Mill, 1979)"
Abstract The writer gives a brief description of the fundamental tenets of the two ethical perspectives before analyzing the case directly. The paper first looks at the 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who held that morality is based on deontological theories?specific and foundational principles of obligation. The other philosophy addressed is that of Clement of Alexandria, who taught virtue ethics.
From the Paper "In Virtue ethics, morality is derived from externally-imposed rules, such as "don"t kill," or "don"t steal." Therefore, individuals are acting correctly only when they conform with rigidly defined rules. By following these rules, they will develop good habits of character ("Ethics"). In this paper, the text "Who is the Rich Man that Shall be Saved," by Clement of Alexandria, will be used to represent the ethical perspective. God's will and salvation are the external elements that shape the laws of morality in this case. Therefore, people are encourage to developed the "soul's virtue" in order to claim the "prize" of salvation. Otherwise, they faced the threat of being destroyed by God (Clement of Alexandria 307). Therefore, the ideal rich man in this description is one who uses his possessions wisely by generously extending them to others in need. Therefore, he shows that he is not enslaved to his possessions; instead, he holds the wealth in his soul and is therefore in touch with God's spirit (Clement of Alexandria 303)."
Abstract This paper presents a case study of an employee who was asked to resign after she hired an investigator to collect information and find out who was leaking important company information. The paper discusses whether it was correct to ask her to resign even though she had the company's best interest at heart. The case is examined according to a deontological and utilitarian framework.
Tableof Contents:
The Case Outline
Deontological Utilitarian
Why is it a Legal Issue?
From the Paper "The law sides with the victim and hence no matter how Dunn tried to explain it, she couldn't possibly prove that it was all legal. This was an illegal activity which is punishable by law and hence she was asked to resign. We may argue that since the action itself was wrong but intention was good, Dunn could be excused. But that is not how law sees it. The law is concerned with the means and not exactly the intention in mind. Dunn should have been more mindful of the legalities involved with such actions. It is strange that a woman at her position was not aware of the laws."
Abstract The paper consists of two parts. Part I of the paper shows how corporations make decisions on the assumption that injury and death to innocent people is an acceptable cost for profits. The paper looks at the Ford Motor Company that did not reveal that their Pinto model had a gas tank that could explode and burn. The paper argues that the rise in white-collar crime is linked to the materialist, consumerist nature of our society, which is reflected in our legal systems. Part II of the paper analyzes these kinds of behaviors by applying normative theories to them. The paper shows how neither utilitarian, deontological nor virtue ethics theories can give a clear and definitive answer to the question of whether Ford made a correct choice.
From the Paper "An example of corporations putting profit before any other consideration may be found in the case of the Ford Motor Company. This company decided at one time to keep quiet about the fact that their Pinto model had a gas tank that tended to explode and burn in the event of a rear end collision. This of course resulted in injury to people inside the vehicles, and sometimes even death. Ford's reasoning was that it would be more profitable to settle resultant law suits than to recall the faulty vehicles. (Samuelson) It is important to note that this decision was not classified as a crime, even though one might expect it to be. It is argued in this essay that the reasons for this kind of thinking (both the decision Ford made, and the fact that it was not classified as a crime) go right to the root of the nature and values of our society, which in turn are reflected in our legal systems."
Abstract This essay brings out the positive and negative points in the three major systems of morality: teleology, deontology, and the Aristotle's virtue-based systems of morality. It then explains why Mill's theory of Utilitarianism (teleology) would be better in today's society.
From the Paper "The majority of the population, probably including yourself, claims they act "morally". Many of these people ask other people to act "morally", but when you ask these "moral" people what morality is they stand there for a minute, and almost every single person will give you the wrong answer. So what is morality? In brief, morality is a basic set of principles that people follow. A perfect example would be Osama Bin Laden, a man that believes completely in what he does, and does it to his best. He has his own set of "morals" which he follows perfectly. He is acting morally. On the other hand we have Saddam Hussein; he does not follow any set of standards consistently, and therefore is not considered "moral". Obviously someone who acts morally may be acting morally according to their set of standards, but in our opinion are very wrong. This is because we have different systems of morality. There are three major systems of morality: Immanuel Kant's theory of Deontology, Aristotle's theory on Virtues, and finally the theory of Utility, or the Utilitarian principles of Teleology."
Abstract The paper relates that the Bernard Ebbers conviction in the WorldCom scandal was considered to be a landmark success in the fight against corporate fraud. The paper discusses how Ebbers' harsh sentence appears to have set new boundaries on CEO liability. The paper then examines the case with the approach of utilitarian and deontologicalethics.
From the Paper "On March 15th, 2005, Bernard Ebbers was found guilty on all chargers pertaining to an accounting fraud perpetrated at his company, WorldCom, between 1999 and 2002. The basis of these charges was the overstatement of revenues and the understatement of expenses in order to improve the bottom line of Worldcom. The fraud was committed by a group of individuals in Worldcom's accounting department under the direction of CFO Scott Sullivan. By the time the fraud was discovered, Worldcom's assets were reportedly overstated by $11 million. Sullivan and the others all plead guilty; Ebbers went to trial and was found guilty. He had attempted to feign ignorance of the situation, famously claiming that he knows what he doesn't know, and he doesn't know accounting."
Abstract This paper discusses the history of nursing ethics. It first looks at issues of conduct and moral behavior as detailed by Florence Nightingale in 1893. The paper then describes and discusses the nine codes of ethics for nurses and their implications. The paper also discusses how nursing ethics differs from medical ethics. The paper concludes that in the modern era, the ethics of nursing has shifted toward the promotion of patient's rights.
From the Paper "Though much of nursing ethics has resulted from medical ethics, there are a few factors that set it apart from this. The key distinction is that paternalism, which is often a key element in theories of medical ethics, is generally not attuned with nursing ethics. This is because nursing theory seeks a shared relationship with the person in their case. It, as a result, emphasizes autonomy of the person being nursed over paternalistic practice where the health professional seeks to do what they believe to be in the person's or society's best interest. Codes of ethics for nurses have a tendency to be written in the ethical structure of deontology and are thus based on the rights of the patient and the duties of the nurse rather than on practical concerns of the consequences mitigating the act."
Abstract The paper explains that virtue ethics refers to the theory or a system of philosophical belief that focuses on the entire personality or disposition of a person instead of actions alone. The paper discusses how virtue ethics were developed by ancient thinkers Plato and Aristotle but it was in the 1950s that interest in virtue ethics was renewed by Anscombe's famous paper ""Modern Moral Philosophy."
From the Paper "Prior to the 1960s, the field of normative ethics was largely dominated by deontology, which was based on the values and beliefs of eighteenth-century philosopher Immanuel Kant, and utilitarianism, which was based on the views of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century philosophers Jeremy Bentham and J. S. Mill. In most of the books published up until thirty years ago, virtue was discussed in terms of deontology or utilitarianism. Gradually a change was witnessed as people began searching for something beyond deontology and utilitarianism as it was found that these two theories did not encompass many important issues or had no answers for some modern problems. This gave rise to virtue ethics, which was not exactly seen as the third approach at first but attained a distinguished status of its own as it began to grow in stature and importance."
This paper examines the ethics statement by the American Association for State and Local History to see how it might assure ethical behavior in large organizations and where it might be improved.
Abstract This paper briefly addresses the need for a process for making ethical decisions in companies and organizations. It goes on to examine the ethics statement offered by the American Association for State and Local History and uses it as an example for a company ethic statement. Finally, this paper analyzes some of the shortcomings of the ethic statement and provides some suggestions for improvement.
From the Paper "American society in recent years offers many examples of what happens when a company or an organization does not follow ethical rules. The need for a process for making ethical decisions in any organization is great. There are a large number of instances where ethical decisions are necessary, and corporations and organizations find that they can get themselves into trouble even when they are trying to be ethical if they do not have a strong and effective procedural structure to guide employees in making such decisions. An ongoing process of ethical decision-making creates an atmosphere in an organization that is beneficial, that contributes more to society, and that helps create an environment in which employees may flourish and do their best."
Abstract This paper examines the issue of corporate responsibility and the consequences of a lack ethics on today's business environment. The author attempts to define ethics and cites various studies which illustrate which ethical values people hold to be most important. The paper further discusses the intersection of ethics and sales. The author concludes by describing the relationship between ownership of values and ethical behavior.
Outline:
Introduction
Defining Ethics Finding the Connection of Ethics and Performance
Alleviating Ethical Meltdowns
Summary
From the Paper "There are as many definitions of ethics as there are of academicians, researchers, and scholars studying the topic. To align ethics with a specific religion is erroneous; there are many religions in the world that embrace honesty and truthfulness, yet do not provide the impetus for followers to willingly select these ethical approaches to interacting with others. One scholar, Josephson (2001), suggests that ethics involve first the ability to discern right and wrong, and second, the commitment to do what is good and aligning with what ethical conduct is. Ethics then requires action to be undertaken; to be ethical is to act in a consistently transparent and honest way. Josephson (2001) is specifically referring to the values a person has as shaped by their cultural, economic, religious, spiritual and social interactions accumulated over their lives. Ethical choices, according to Josephson (2001), place an equal weight of the values of an individual and their choice of behaving ethically or not. In a study conducted at the Institute for Global Ethics (1996), 272 individuals were asked to identify the 5 values from a list of 15 that were most important to them. Researchers found that the value of truth was by far the most frequent choice. What also emerged were the top three values of truth, compassion, and responsibility. When individuals were asked to pick the most important value, compassion was far and away the greater one chosen. The research went on to show that this small set of core values that is cross-cultural and universal."
Abstract The paper outlines the ethical value systems of virtue ethics, utilitarianism and the concept of equity. The paper then relates the writer's personal ethical perspective that the ultimate ethical virtue may be the willingness to depart from the strict application of any particular ethical philosophy for the overall purpose of achieving the most beneficial result for every particular circumstance.
Outline:
Introduction
A Survey of Ethical Value Systems
Personal Ethical Perspective for Responding to Ethical Dilemmas in the Workplace
Conclusion
From the Paper "Ethics is a set of principles or values that helps us define what courses of action in life are good and distinguishes them from courses of action that are bad. In the workplace environment, certain ethical issues arise that are defined by the rule of law (Daft 2005), but others may require us to apply personal values and ethical standards to determine the right course of action. Different systems of ethical analysis yield distinctly different results because they emphasize different criteria and underlying assumptions of the relative importance of the individual elements comprising ethical issues."
Abstract This paper examines two theories of ethics - Husted's symphonological ethic and the reflexive ethic. The author points out how ill-prepared nurses are to deal with ethical issues. The paper relates legal issues concerned with ethical problems.
From the Paper "Nurses usually receive little or no formal training in ethics and law and so are unqualified to deal with these issues when they encounter them in the clinical setting. Ethical and legal issues stemming from such medical issues as organ donation, end-of-life care, euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, genetic engineering and managing patient confidentiality in the age of electronic data management are all part of the modern practice of nursing. There are ethical legal and regulatory mandates that require a knowledge of these subjects in healthcare professionals so they ..."
