Ethics and Utilitarianism Essay

What is Utilitarianism? Utilitarianism is an respectable framework for effective clean reach. Its a philosophical impression that holds an human activityion to be held recompensefield if it tends to promote joy for the great number of people. The essence of utilitarianism is in its concept of diversion and pain. It defines the honorablely right actions as those actions that maximize pleasure or happiness and decrease pain or evil. Utilitarianism is all about fashioning the right choices that pull up stakes consequently promote the greatest amount of happiness.It fag end be traced all the way back to the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, however the name most frequently associated with utilitarianism is that of Jeremy Bentham. According to utilitarianism, we should evaluate an action by looking at is consequences, weighing the good effects against the bad effects on all the people affected by it. If the good outweighs the bad, it tends to be a good action if the bad outweigh the good, it tends to be a bad action.(DeGeorge 45) Ethical principles and theories be the foundations of honourable analysis because bring evidential characteristics to the decision-making process. Every single theory shows different points such as predicting the subject and following unmatcheds duties to others in order to reach an respectable decision. But an ethical theory can only to be helpful if the theory is directed towards a common set of goals. Ethical principles are the common goals that each theory tries to achieve in order to be successful.These goals include beneficence, least harm, respect for autonomy and justice. Using utilitarianism in ethical business practice would consider the good and bad consequence for everyone the action would affect, treat everybody as having equal rights, with no bias towards self, and would use it as an objective, quantitative way to make a incorrupt decision. Utilitarianism should be employ in all business decision-ma king process to maximize effects and minimize negative out lights. Businesses seek to make a profit.The cost-benefit analysis is a figure of speech of utility calculation. Most business often use cost-benefit as a decision making tool. Companies attempt to find out how much something is handout to cost them before taking any actions that should result in consequences golden to everyone involved. Just simply put, the company could make a profit while the consumer benefit from the product. To understand the definitions and concepts of the theory, in relation to business ethics, I will use the cover Pinto Case as an example.The Ford Pinto was sold with monstrous design faults in the fuel tank in which management knew the caper existed. (bizcovering) In a roll over, the fuel valve had a tendency to divulge fuel. That did not stop design and production, they rushed to assemble the vehicle and be were kept low in order to sell the auto for $2,000. It was successful, until one yea r four people died and one little boy horribly burned and disfigured. Then there were many other incidents that resulted in Ford being sued and had to pay millions in compensation.The cost-benefit analysis demonstrated an abuse of utilitarian principles to suit their needs, because the engineers were aware of the flaws, yet the company continued to sell the car without safety modifications. Utilitarianism, far from being a self-serving approach to righteous issues, demands careful, objective, and impartial evaluation of consequences. This philosophy is based on the belief that the moral and ethical value of ones action should be judged by the consequence of such action.But utilitarianism states that the morality of an action is best judged by the utility or usefulness of such an action. During the 1980s, Oliver North had to explain wherefore he lied to congressional committees about his role in the Iran-Contra affair, the cut-rate sale of U. S. arms to Iran for the release of ho stages that were held by Iran, he replied, Lying does not come easily to me. But we all had to weigh in the balance the remnant between lies and lives. Norths conduct was an example of utilitarianism, his method of justifying his acts of deceit is a form of moral reasoning.So long as a course of action produces maximum benefits for everyone, utilitarianism does not care whether the benefits are produced by lies, manipulation, or coercion. Utilitarianism was once a radical philosophy. It attempted to set by a moral system obscure from divine revelation and scriptural morality. Utilitarianism focused on results rather than rules. But now has been embraced by so many simply because it seems to make a good deal of reek and seems relatively simple to apply. It provided for a way for people to live moral lives apart from the Bible and its rules.Logic rather than obedience to biblical principles guides the ethical decision-making of utilitarianism. While Jeremy Bentham developed his e thical system around the idea of pleasure and built it on ancient hedonism which pursued animal(prenominal) pleasure and avoided physical pain John Stuart Mill modified this philosophy and developed it apart from Benthams hedonistic foundation. Mill used the same utilitarian compaction but instead focused on maximizing the general happiness by calculating the greatest good for the greatest number.Whereas Bentham established act utilitarianism, Mill established rule utilitarianism. Act utilitarian holds that each item-by-item action, in all its concreteness and in all its details, is what should be to the utilitarian test. (DeGeorge 47) dominate utilitarian holds that utility applies appropriately t classes of actions rant than to given exclusive actions. (DeGeorge 48) According to Mill, one determines what is right by comparing the consequences of all pertinent factors of diffeerent rules for a specific circumstance.In conclusion, utilitarianism is all about making the right c hoices that will consequently promote the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. Work Cited DeGeorge, Richard T. Business Ethics. 7th Ed. New Jersey assimilator Hall. 2010 Applying Utilitarianism to Business Ethics The Ford Pinto Case. Annie Lundy February 6, 2009 Utilitarianism. utilitarianism. com. Henry R. West. n. d. Calculating Consequences The Utilitarian get down to Ethics. Claire Andre and Manuel Velasquez. n. d.