1. Ethics Theory and Business Practice
2.2 Utilitarianism – Part Two
Utilitarianism in Practice: Some Challenges And a Response

2. aims
to outline some difficulties with using utilitarianism in practice
to introduce rule utilitarianism as a response to these difficulties

3. two challenges to utilitarianism
its conclusions often conflict with ethical intuition
it offers an overly rigorous guide to action
to illustrate point 1, ask students to undertake task 1 in Exercise 2.2a
to illustrate point 2, describe the frequency with which we make ethically charged decisions in life and in business. Also refer to the complexity of those decisions and the difficulty associated with predicting consequences.

4. contrasting act utilitarianism to rule utilitarianism
act utilitarianism: we should follow the course of action that will lead to the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people
rule utilitarianism: we should follow rules that, if applied consistently, will lead to the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people

5. 1. bringing utilitarianism in line with ethical intuition
what general categories does the scenario under consideration fall into?
what good-maximizing rule is relevant to that scenario?
what course of action would be consistent with that rule?
ask students to complete task 2 and task 3 of Exercise 2.2a.

6. using Atlas Iron’s profit to maximize the good
theory in practice
using Atlas Iron’s profit to maximize the good
see Theory in Practice: Using Atlas Iron’s Profit to Maximize the Good

7. 2. reducing utilitarianism’s heavy decision-making burden
instead of carrying out utilitarian evaluation of all the available courses of action each time we confront an ethically charged decision
simply follow whichever good-maximizing rule is relevant to that situation
see Video Activity 2.3
this activity prepares the way for the discussion of the Principle of Corporate Maximization which comes in the next session

8. key points utilitarianism may lead to conflicts with ethical intuition
utilitarianism can be difficult to apply in practice
both of these difficulties are reduced if we take a rule-utilitarian, rather than an act-utilitarian approach to ethical evaluation