1. Chapter 2 Discussion: Ethical Principles in Business
Paul L. Schumann, Ph.D.
© 2004 by Paul L. Schumann. All rights reserved.

2. Utilitarian Moral Principle
What is the utilitarian moral principle?
In terms of “means” (methods) versus “ends” (results) in what way does the utilitarian moral principle focus on the “ends” (results)?
If an action does me (personally) the most good and the least harm of all actions I can take, that doesn’t mean the action is ethical according to the utilitarian moral principle. Why?
Does this principle only consider the direct and immediate consequences of our actions? Explain.

3. Utilitarian Moral Principle
In what ways is utilitarianism an attractive principle?
In a particular situation, if more good and less harm follows from telling a lie than any other possible action, then is lying in that situation morally correct according to the utilitarian principle? Explain.

4. Utilitarian Moral Principle
What are the alleged measurement problems with utilitarianism?
How do defenders of utilitarianism answer the alleged measurement problems?
What concerns involving rights have been expressed about the utilitarian principle?
What is the example of the sick uncle?
How do utilitarians answer the rights concerns?
Is it moral to kill one person in order to save the lives of many people? Explain.

5. Utilitarian Moral Principle
What concerns involving justice have been expressed about the utilitarian principle?
How do utilitarians answer the justice concerns?
What are the 2 main limits to utilitarian methods of moral reasoning?

6. Rights Moral Principle
What is meant by a “right”?
What is meant by “moral rights” (or “human rights”)?
How are moral rights different from legal rights?

7. Rights Moral Principle
How are moral rights tightly correlated with duties?
How are moral rights related to interests?

8. Rights Moral Principle
If the rights principle usually overrides the utilitarian principle, then under what circumstances should the utilitarian principle override the rights principle?

9. Rights Moral Principle
How do the ideas of Immanuel Kant fit into a discussion of moral rights?
What is the first formulation of Kant’s categorical imperative?
Under the first formulation of the categorical imperative, what are the 2 criteria for determining moral right and wrong?
How does this relate to the golden rule?
What is the second formulation of Kant’s categorical imperative?

10. Distributive Justice Moral Principle
What is the fundamental principle of distributive justice?
What’s fair according to egalitarianism?
Criticisms?
What’s fair according to capitalism?
What’s fair according to socialism?

11. Distributive Justice Moral Principle
What’s fair according to libertarianism?
Criticisms?
How does Rawls develop principles of fairness by using the “original position” and the “veil of ignorance”?
What is the principle of equal liberty?
What is the principle of fair equality of opportunity?
What is the difference principle?

12. Ethics of Care Moral Principle
What are the moral demands of the ethics of care moral principle?
What does the ethics of care take into consideration that is missing from the other moral principles?
Under what circumstance are we not required to exercise care for people with whom we have relationships?

13. Virtue Ethics What is a moral virtue?
What are examples of moral virtues?
The other moral principles focus on the morality of actions. In what way is virtue ethics different from the other moral principles?
How can we use virtue ethics to decide what actions we should take?

14. Integrating the Moral Principles
Why should we apply and integrate the 4 moral principles of utilitarianism, rights, distributive justice, and ethics of care?
How does virtue ethics fit in with the 4 moral principles?
Does it replace the other 4 moral principles?
Is it another (the 5th) moral principle?
Or something else?

15. Retributive Justice What is meant by retributive justice?
What are the conditions of retributive justice?

16. Compensatory Justice What is meant by compensatory justice?
What are the conditions of compensatory justice?

17. Morality in International Contexts
What are the 4 sets of questions that we should try to answer in order to apply the moral principles in an international context?

18. Case: Philip Morris’ Troubles
What moral issues are there in the case?
Let’s simplify, and focus on analyzing the following moral issue:
Is it ethical for a company like Philip Morris to sell a product that it knows has significant health concerns while denying to the public that there are any health concerns?