Moral Issues in Business Chapter Two Normative Theories of Ethics Consequentialist Theories • Egoism - Adam Smith • Egoism is a consequentialist theory. What matters for egoists is the consequences of their actions for themselves.
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Utilitarianism - Bentham and Mill o Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory. Right and wrong depends on the consequences of one’s actions for everyone who might be affected by them. Jeremy Bentham • Bentham was a hedonist. He believed that happiness was a matter of more pleasure and less pain. • Bentham thought you could assign pleasure points to an action according to the following categories: o Intensity: How intense is the pleasure? o Duration: How long will it last? o Certainty: How sure are you that the pleasure will occur? o Proximity: How soon will the happiness occur? o Fecundity: How much more pleasure will this lead to? o Purity: How much pain will be mixed with this pleasure? o Extent: How many people will experience the pleasure? Quality vs. Quantity o Bentham: Pushpin is as good as poetry. o Mill: It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied. o Bentham believed that all pleasures should count equally, but Mill believed that humanity would be better off if the intellectual, moral and aesthetic pleasures were more valued. Principle of Utility o The right action is the one that produces the greatest balance of pleasure over pain, or happiness over unhappiness, for everyone affected by that action. o Animals count too, since they can feel pleasure and pain. o Future generations count, since our actions can have farreaching consequences. Act Utilitarianism o This is the classic form of Utilitarianism. Each separate action must be evaluated in terms of the principle of utility. Rule Utilitarianism o Instead of looking at the consequences of a particular act, rule-utilitarianism determines the