Ethics: Theories and Concepts

There are many different theories and concepts concerning ethics. Some of which are Utilitarianism, Rights and Justice, The Market System, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Kantianism, Egalitarian Theory, Libertarianism, and Virtue Ethics.

One concept is called Utilitarianism, which is the ethical doctrine that virtue is based on utility, and that conduct should be directed toward promoting the greatest happiness of the greatest number of persons. (Random House Inc, 2006) According to the utilitarian principle, you must analyze all the alternatives, and then choose the solution where the most will benefit.

An example of this is say, Joe Shmoe, and Jane Plain, were assigned to a work assignment where they would have to work together to complete by the end of the week. The two would naturally divide up the work so they can finish the assignment before the deadline. After a week or so of working separately Joe calls a meeting with Jane, so that they can go over their progress. After twenty or so minutes Jane strolls in empty handed. Joe questions Jane about the location of her part of the assignment.  Jane responded with “I only was able to do one page; I have too much going on at home.” Now, Joe is faced with a dilemma, Jane obviously is not taking her part of the assignment seriously and corporate has to present their material to the Board of Directors in less than a week.  What should he do? If Joe reports her at this stage, corporate wouldn’t think he was fit to handle the management position that just opened up. If he just lets it ride Jane, him as well as corporate would come out looking incompetent. So even though it would be unfair to Joe to pick up Jane’s slack, everyone would benefit from it; hence, making a utilitarian decision.

When caught up in a moral dilemma we have to take two concepts in to account, rights principles and justice principles. Our rights principles pertain to our human rights. Rights principles grant you certain moral or human rights because you are a human being. These rights are associated with duties of others not to violate your rights and, in turn, you have duties not to violate their rights.(Fritzsche, 2005, p. 50) Justice principles are usually associated with issues of rights, fairness, and equality. A justice act respects your rights and treats you fairly.(Fritzsche, p. 52) There are three different principles concerning justice. These are distributive justice, retributive justice and compensatory justice. Distribute justice is when you take the circumstances of “why?” into account, where as in retributive justice you take the “what?” and match it with the punishment accordingly.  Compensatory justice is when one is compensated for the wrong doing.