Ethics, Morality And Principles

Individualism Approach AKA Egoism

- Acts are viable when it considers the individuals best interest.

Ethical Dilemmas

- Are situations in which there is a choice to be made between two options, neither of which resolves the situation in an ethically acceptable fashion. - Ethical dilemmas assume that the chooser will abide by societal norms, such as codes of law or religious teachings, in order to make the choice ethically impossible.

Moral-Rights Approach

- Decisions and behavior should protect peoples fundamental rights and liberties. - This includes a person's right to privacy, free consent, free speech, freedom of conscience, due process and the right to life and safety.

Business Ethics

- Has an economic responsibility to produce the goods and services that society wants and to maximize profits for its owners and shareholders. - Has legal responsibility which defines what society deems acceptable with respect to appropriate corporate behavior. - Must serve company's best interests and not individuals. - Discretionary responsibility is purely voluntary and guided by a company's desire to make social contributions not mandated by economics, law, or ethics.

Utilitarian Approach

- Moral behaviors produce the greatest good for the greatest numbers.

Justice Approach

- Moral decisions must be based on standards of equity, fairness, and impartiality. - Distributive justice means there should be no differential treatment. - Procedural justice means rules should be fair. - Compensatory justice means they should be compensated for injuries from the one whom cause injury.

Moral Reasoning

- Moral reasoning is a thinking process with the objective of determining whether an idea is right or wrong.

Principles

- Principles can be described as rules or laws that are universal in nature. - Are about human behavior and set or govern the interaction between people in a society. - Can have individual principles.

Morality

- Principles or habits with respect to right or wrong conduct. - Enforced by personal ideas and values. - Usually consistent, although can change if an individual's beliefs change. - Morals are more abstract, subjective, and often personal or religion-based.

Ethics

- The rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group or culture. - Enforced by society - Reduces irrationality by providing a moral map - Ethics cover right, wrong and grey areas as well as responsibilities and rights - Ethics are dependent on others for definition. They tend to be consistent within a certain context, but can vary between contexts. - Ethics are practical, conceived as shared principles promoting fairness in social and business interactions.

Values

- Values are sets of beliefs about good and bad, right and wrong, and about many other aspects of living and interacting in the society with others. - Varies from culture to culture.