"Philosophers should consider the fact that the greatest happiness principle can easily be made an excuse for a benevolent dictatorship. We should replace it by a more modest and more realistic principle / the principle that the fight against avoidable misery should be a recognized aim of public policy, while the increase of happiness should be left, in the main, to private initiative." - Popper

BAM321 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Session 3 Business and Management

Agenda for today Friedman and Porsche Consequentialism Utilitarianism Lying – Lafarge cement, Ford cars Your issues

Egoism version 2 People should pursue their own self- interest Our interests are different from our wants/desires Hobbes argued that it was in people’s interests to submit to authority to avoid the state of war that would otherwise exist

Hedonism Offers an answer to the question of what is of value Pleasure is intrinsically valuable It’s not valued because it enables us to achieve something else –It’s not of instrumental value We should pursue a life full of as much pleasure as possible

Hedonism We should pursue a life full of as much pleasure as possible And with as little pain as possible And herein lies a problem –With the pleasure of fine wine comes the pain of a hangover “Fine wine” – is the pleasure gained by a lager lout equivalent to that of a wine connoiseur?

Consequences Rational egoism –People should do what is in their own self interest Hedonism –People should do what brings them maximum pleasure There is concern for the consequences of people’s actions –But only the consequences for themselves

Theories Teleological –“Telos” – end; hence in these theories our judgments about actions depend on their consequences. Deontological –“Deon” – duty; hence in these theories our judgments about actions depend on whether they are consistent with our duties or obligations. Consequentialism

“That action is best, which procures the greatest happiness" Utilitarianism Frances Hutcheson Quoted on p129 of Graham, 2004

Utility is “That property in any object, whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good or happiness… or to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil or unhappiness." Utilitarianism Jeremy Bentham Quoted on p131 of Graham, 2004

Hedonistic (but recognising importance of pain as well as pleasure) –And so consquentialist Universalist (rather than individualist) Utilitarianism

Should we kill a healthy and solitary tramp to provide a new heart for a talented musician with life-threatening heart disease? and a liver for a brilliant scientist with a chronic liver condition? and a kidney for a teenager born with a defective kidney? Utilitarianism

No Although the action proposed would maximise happiness it would contravene a rule that contributes more to general happiness That rule is something like: do not wilfully kill the innocent Utilitarianism

Rule utilitarianism Act in accordance with those rules which, if generally acted upon, will lead to the greatest happiness This version of utilitarianism was proposed by John Stuart Mill ( )

Problems with consequentialism Consequences may be hard to predict Consequences have consequences… Consequences include things that don’t happen as a result of an action It may then be impossible to ascertain what the consequences of an action are

Inter-session tasks Reflect on session 3 Keep logging! Read about utilitarianism, eg Boatright ch.2 and see the links on the website Read Skrabec (2003) Read the Cohen article “A different take on what not to wear”