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Fudging records and misstating corporate revenue to management, shareholder, and the IRS is unlawful activity. Therefore, Alex in this case scenario must abide by the law and take the right action that is in accordance to the law. The ethical implications of this case the consequences of doing what it right to those who are involved in the scenario. This paper is going to analyze the theories of virtue ethicist, act utilitarianism, and Kant’s duty ethicists based on the given scenario for this case, and assume what a person representing these theories would recommend Alex as the right thing to do. Also inspect their justification process including some of the strength and weakness of each philosophical view. In addition, clarify my stance on what is the right thing to do for this case and the justification for it, and present proof to elucidate the unlawful practice presented in this case.
To begin with, based on the extensive examination of virtue ethicist on the second case study and using some of the words used by professor V, a person representing this theory may focus on achieving the gold of the human by knowing, internalizing, and applying objective principle to act morally correct. As said on case two, a virtue ethics is likely to recommend Alex to act as virtues person would act in his place. For this scenario based on this philosophical view, the morally correct virtues act is to be honest and abide by the law because of the emphasis of this theory on the rule of character and virtue. Therefore, they may recommend Alex to notify the internal audits of his findings regarding the misstatement of the corporate revenue, etc. The strength of this theory is it promotes goodness in many ways because its suggestio...
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...he Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. After, analyzing the three theories, virtue ethics and act utilitarianism, and Kant’s duty ethics, the two philosophical views favored Alex to be honest and abide by the law. In the theory of virtue ethics, it is because the virtuous action to be taken in this scenario is to be honest, and for the theory of Kant’s duty ethics, the only action to pass the CI formulation this scenario is for Alex to abide by the law. Even, for the theory of act utilitarianism, the recommendation can be subjective therefore it may favor Alex to be honest and abide by the law because of the overall effect honesty has on society which can be considered the greatest good for the greatest number.
Works Cited
Johnson, R. (2004, 02). The History of Utilitarianism. Stanford Encylopedia or Philosophy. Retrieved 11, 2013, from http://www.plato.standord.edu
Utilitarianism was initially a school of thought brought about by Jeremey Bentham throughout the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Centuries. John Stuart Mill would later go on to shape it closer to the form we know today. On the surface the Utilitarian way of thinking seems simple: every action must be done for the sake of the greater good. However, as one digs deeper into this notion it is clear that this cannot be achieved by relying solely on a common sense approach to life. In the following paragraphs we will explore the history of Utilitarianism and those who formed it, how it is meant to guide life, and how it is relevant to life in the Twenty-first Century.
Abbate, Cheryl. "Utilitarianism." Philosophy 2310. Marquette University. David A Straz Jr. Hall , Milwaukee, Wi. 03 March 2014. Class lecture/PowerPoint
It has been shown that the topic is and still remains to be controversial. In one instance, and from the view of the retributivists, the death penalty is seen as the appropriate course of action. In another it is seen as immorally wrong and a complete disregard for human life and human rights, with the latter forming the key basis of this argument, which will now be further discussed and analysed using the ethical theory of utilitarianism.
In this essay I will consider the objections to Virtue Ethics (VE) raised by Robert Louden in his article entitled On Some Vices of Virtue Ethics which was published in 1984. It is important to note at the outset of this essay that it was not until 1991 that the v-rules came up in literature. So Louden is assuming throughout his article that the only action guidance that VE can give is “Do what the virtuous agent would do in the circumstances. ” I will be addressing Louden’s objections with the benefit of knowing about the v-rules.
Aristotle, who was a Greek philosopher and scientist, talked about certain characteristics of virtue ethics such as being honesty, being kindness and being fairness with others. The virtue ethics says follow your moral characteristics, and it is very important to society. According to virtue ethics, Edward Snowden made honest and fair decision regarding US citizens. He was being honesty and being fairness about local public and let everybody known that every person on risk to use electronic devices and sharing confidential data. After his whistle blowing, all the people got attention of their privacy, and they secured
Utilitarianism: Explanation And Study of Criticisms The dictionary definition of Utilitarianism is: 'The doctrine that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the guiding principal of conduct.' When making a moral decision, we should look at the outcome of an action. Whatever brings the greatest happiness to the most people is the morally 'right' decision. It is a consequentialist principal where the majority rules.
[* The author of this essay has reason for believing himself to be the first person who brought the word utilitarian into use.
Utilitarianism is an ethical system that states that one should make moral choices based on which moral option brings the most pleasure and for the most people. This system is a consequentialist one, meaning that means or actions do not matter; only the consequences or results of one’s actions determine if the choice made was morally right or wrong. Actions and decisions can only be evaluated by the results they produce. If someone’s actions result in more pain than pleasure, then that action is determined to be a morally wrong one; if an action results in the most pleasure for the most people, then it is considered morally good. This system can be hard to apply when evaluating and weighing moral options since it is a consequentialist system;
Crisp, Roger: Routledge philosophy guidebook to Mill on utilitarianism / Roger Crisp. London : Routledge, 1997.
Driver, J. 2009. The History of Utilitarianism. [online] Available at: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history/#JerBen [Accessed: 14 Mar 2014].
There are numerous views and opinions regarding the field of philosophy, in particularly the different ethical theories. I am going to explain the main idea as well as discuss the differences between the utilitarianism, the deontological, and the virtue-ethical theories of morality by presenting what I find to be the strengths and weaknesses of each theory.
As a philosophical approach, utilitarianism generally focuses on the principle of “greatest happiness”. According to the greatest happiness principle, actions that promote overall happiness and pleasure are considered as right practices. Moreover, to Mill, actions which enhance happiness are morally right, on the other hand, actions that produce undesirable and unhappy outcomes are considered as morally wrong. From this point of view we can deduct that utilitarianism assign us moral duties and variety of ways for maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain to ensure “greatest happiness principle”. Despite all of moral duties and obligations, utilitarian perspective have many specific challenges that pose several serious threats which constitute variety of arguments in this essay to utilitarianism and specifically Mill answers these challenges in his work. These arguments can be determinated and analyzed as three crucial points that seriously challenges utilitarianism. The first issue can be entitled like that utilitarian idea sets too demanding conditions as to act by motive which always serves maximizing overall happiness. It creates single criterion about “being motived to maximize overall happiness” but moral rightness which are unattainable to pursue in case of the maximizing benefit principle challenges utilitarianism. Secondly, the idea which may related with the first argument but differs from the first idea about single criterion issue, utilitarianism demands people to consider and measuring everything which taking place around before people practice their actions. It leads criticism to utilitarianism since the approach sees human-beings as calculators to attain greatest happiness principle without considering cultural differ...
Ethics can be defined as "the conscious reflection on our moral beliefs with the aim of improving, extending or refining those beliefs in some way." (Dodds, Lecture 2) Kantian moral theory and Utilitarianism are two theories that attempt to answer the ethical nature of human beings. This paper will attempt to explain how and why Kantian moral theory and Utilitarianism differ as well as discuss why I believe Kant's theory provides a more plausible account of ethics.
This theory involves evaluating the individual making the decision rather than the actions or consequences themselves. Aristotle defined “virtue as a character trait that manifests itself in habitual actions.” (Boatright, 2012) This means that you are not considered virtuous because you did the right thing one time, you must be consistent. Virtue character traits include: compassion, courage, courtesy, etc. these traits not only allow for ethical decision making but they also provide happiness to the individual possessing the traits. When a person has virtue as a part of their character their actions will be moral and ethical without having to choose between what they want to do and what they should do – the decision would be the same. Their actions and feelings would coincide with the moral rationale of the virtue theory. Advantages of the virtue theory are instilling good moral character traits into individuals allowing for more ethical decision making based on personal character. Also, the virtue theory promotes happiness through good moral character which encourages people to make ethical business decisions but also ethical personal decisions – leading to a more fulfilling life. A disadvantage is virtue ethics is trying to determine a list of virtues that people should possess, each trait needs to be carefully
Business nowadays encounter with a lot of moral challenges in today’s global economy. Everyone is thriving to be more successful than their competitors, to make their next profits, to keep their job, to earn a big bonus, or to compete effectively. There exists temptation to bend lines, omit information, and do whatever it takes to get ahead of their competition. Many business employees and executives succumb. Sadly, the theme becomes...