Kantian Ethics As An Ethical Dilemma

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I have been given the opportunity to take an ethical controversy and explore how six different ethic theories would apply to the situation. The ethical dilemma is such, “Investment brokers sometimes have a few clients who live hundreds of miles from their offices. For example, a Wall Street broker may provide investment counseling for his hometown relatives in upstate New York. By arranging to see them during his vacation visits home, he can claim his plane fare or car rental fees and perhaps even many of his meals as business expenses. In other words, he can deduct them on his tax return or, if he is employed by a company, claim them on his expense account”. In this essay, I will discuss Utilitarianism, Kantian Ethics, Natural Law Theory, …show more content…

It is idea that we should do what makes the most amounts of people happy. In this, the consequences and benefits, short and long term, must both be considered and how they affect each person. This theory allows for personal gain or loss to be considered but it should not have more weight in the decision. Utilitarianism in the dilemma of the investment broker would say for that it is ethical for the broker to conduct business while on vacation as it would make him and the client happy but, the firm would be unhappy. The broker is on vacation while spending time with clients and having expenses paid for. The client is seeing the broker face to face as opposed to seeing talking through emails or phone conversations. The business is unhappy because the broker is using his vacation time to work with clients. The majority though are receiving a benefit, so according to Utilitarianism, working on vacation and submitting expenses is …show more content…

In this theory, there are three beliefs that stem for it: moral law is known by human reason, applies to all people, and is built off of human nature. In the Natural Law Theory, our actions should be what are going to help grow a person’s life as opposed to what could harm it. In other words, our actions should be not affect a person in a negative way. There is also a principle of double effect. This means that actions may be morally right even if the law says it is wrong, illegal. In the matter of the dilemma, the broker should not conduct his business while on vacation because it would be wrong according to the Natural Law Theory the broker is lying to the firm and using their funds to cover the cost of his vacation. The harm is that he is cheating the company out of money for his own personal

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