A.S.

M Kamrul Islam, Lecturer

 Areas Covered
2 Learning Outcomes of the Session
Focuses of ethical theories
At the end of the session, the learners will be
Types of ethical theories in relation able to
CSE Identify the theories of ethics in relation to
business
Cultural Relativism and
Explain the purposes of ethical theories in
Universalism business
Ethical Egoism Describe the aspects of different theories in
business
Utilitarianism
Analyses the application ethical theories in
business
More info

George Reynolds, Ethics in Information Technology, Thomson Course Technology, 2007. ISBN 13: 978-1-4188-3631-3

Fernando, A.C. (2009). Business Ethics, Pearson, Chennai, Delhi

Khan, A.R (2000), Business Ethics, Rubi Publications

 Ethical Theories: What do they Focus?
Ethical theory studies different philosophies or
systems used to explain and make judgments
regarding right/wrong/good/bad.

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 Why we need to study theories ?
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◈ It challenges to bring in clarity, substance, and precision of
argument into the area of morality.
◈ Ethical theories suggest justification for judgment regarding
the morality or immorality of actions, and they provide a
basis for claims about moral obligations. Ethical theories are
based on the ethical principles
◈ They also dispute on how we should value humans in our
actions.
Why our concepts of right and
wrong defer?
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 What Each Theories Emphasize?
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In order to further understand ethical theory, there must be some
understanding of a common set of goals that decision makers seek to
achieve in order to be successful.

Four of these goals include

• beneficence,
• least harm,
• respect for autonomy, and
• justice
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Let’s start with the first set of slides

 Concepts of right and world
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All over the world Culture to Culture
◈ Killing is bad ◈ Drinking
◈ Telling lie is bad ◈ Eating snakes
◈ Hurting people is bad ◈ Dresscode
◈ Cheating is bad ◈ Style of living
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 Two concpets
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Universalism Relativism
Universalism is the Relativism is a family of
philosophical and theological philosophical views which deny
concept that some ideas have claims to objectivity within a
universal application or particular domain and assert that
applicability. facts in that domain are relative to
the perspective of an observer or
the context in which they are
assessed.
 What to consider then?
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 Differences
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 So our ethical standards depend on
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Least harm

Autonomy and Justice 2

for all

Benefits for Individual

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and community
 Types of theories
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Normative Ethicial
Theories

Consequentialism Non-consequentialism

Egoism Utilitarianism
Deontology/Duty Ethics
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 Ethical Egoism: What it is ?
18 ❑ Egoism: The view that associates morality with self -interest is referred
to as egoism.

❑ Egoism is an ethical theory that treats self-interest as the foundation of

morality.

❑ Egoism contends that an act is morally right if and if only if it best

promotes an agent’s long –term interests.

❑ Ego means self; egoism can be thought of as self-ism.

❑ Egoism is a theory, in ethics, that human beings act or should act in

their own interests and desires.
For example, a cigarette smoker acts on his desire to smoke; smoking
causes health problems that are not in one's best interest.
 Ethical Egoism
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◈ Ethical egoism is the view that people ought to pursue their own self-interest, and
no one has any obligation to promote anyone else’s interests.

◈ It is thus a normative or prescriptive theory: it is concerned with how people ought

to behave.

◈ In this respect, ethical egoism is quite different from psychological egoism, the
theory that all our actions are ultimately self-interested.

◈ Psychological egoism is a purely descriptive theory that purports to describe a

basic fact about human nature.
 Objections to Ethical Egoism
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◈ Ethical egoism is not a very popular moral
philosophy.
◈ This is because it goes against certain basic
assumptions that most people have regarding
what ethics involves.
◈ Two objections seem especially powerful.
 More……
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◈ Ethical egoism has no solutions to offer when a problem
arises involving conflicts of interest.
◈ Many ethical issues are of this sort.
◈ For example, a company wants to empty waste into a river;
the people living downstream object.
◈ Ethical egoism advises that both parties actively pursue what
they want.
◈ It doesn’t suggest any sort of resolution or commonsense
compromise.
 More…..
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◈ Ethical egoism goes against the principle of impartiality.

◈ A basic assumption made by many moral philosophers—and many

other people, for that matter—is that we should not discriminate
against people on arbitrary grounds such as race, religion, sex,
sexual orientation or ethnic origin.
◈ But ethical egoism holds that we should not even try to be
impartial.
◈ Rather, we should distinguish between ourselves and everyone else,
and give ourselves preferential treatment.
 More examples
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 Utilitarianism: Ethics of Welfare
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◈ Utilitarianism is one of the best known and most influential
moral theories.

◈ Like other forms of consequentialism, its core idea is that

whether actions are morally right or wrong depends on their
effects.

◈ More specifically, the only effects of actions that are

relevant are the good and bad results that they produce.
 More…..
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◈ Utilitarianism is a family of
consequentialist ethical theories that promotes
actions that maximize happiness
and well-being for the affected individuals.
◈ Although different varieties of utilitarianism
admit different characterizations, the basic idea
behind all of them is to in some sense
maximize utility, which is often defined in terms
of well-being or related concepts.
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 Jeremy Bentham ( 1748-1832)
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 John Stuart Mill( 1806-1873)
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 Utilitarianism: Ethics of Welfare
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◈ According to the utilitarian principle, a decision is ethical if
it provides a greater net utility than any other alternative
decision.
◈ It promotes the welfare of all.
◈ It provides an objective means of resolving conflicts of
self-interest with the action for common good.
◈ It provides a flexible, result –oriented approach to ethical or
moral decision making.
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 Act Utilitarianism
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◈ Act utilitarianism is a utilitarian theory of ethics which states
that a person's act is morally right if and only if it produces
the best possible results in that specific situation.

◈ The consequences of the act of giving money to charity

would be considered right in act-utilitarianism, because the
money increases the happiness of many people, rather than
just yourself.
 Rule Utilitarianism
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◈ Rule utilitarianism is a form
of utilitarianism that says an action is right as
it conforms to a rule that leads to the greatest
good, or that "the rightness or wrongness of a
particular action is a function of the
correctness of the rule of which it is an
instance".
 What is Rule Utilitarianism Example?

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◈ Rule utilitarian would say that murder is
morally wrong because it leads to reduced
utility and reduced happiness in society.
◈ Thus, the individual scenario of murdering
Hitler in his young adulthood would be seen as
wrong.
◈ In less severe terms, road rules are
an example of rule utilitarianism.
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 Let’s review some concepts
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Relativism Universilism Consequentialism
Ethics defer from place to place Major concepts of ethics comes Result/ outcome matters only
from conscience

Utilitarianism Egoism Utilitarianism

Act Ethical Rule
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