JAN. 25 Ethical Principles for Consideration (notes from Org. Beh. Readings)

The four ethical principals:
∑ Utilitarianism: work to make the largest difference for the largest number of people. This focuses on the outcome of our actions, not so much the ethical quality of the action itself (if the outcome is ethical, the action need not be).

"nature has put man under the governance of two sovereign masters: pleasure and pain." From this is derived the rule of utility: that good is whatever brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people.” – Jeremy Bentham.

“cultural, intellectual, and spiritual pleasures are of greater value than mere physical pleasure, because the former would be valued more highly by competent judges than the latter.” –John Stuart Mill

This seems to me to be the phase of young ambition; to reach a peak position where one can “change the world” so to speak. I see it leading quickly to a savior behavior which can trigger a power hungry drive to move too quickly in order to make the biggest changes possible. Dangerous. Described as “Hedonistic.”

∑ Individual Rights: each person is entitled to rights as a citizen and human being, Human rights are different in that they seek a higher truth in what is classified as “right or wrong.” Rather, individual rights focus on personal restraint and the recognition that it is each individual’s choice to behave as they see fit. Individual rights are codified within the framework set out by society as law.

This seems to make a lot of sense to me. It is important to recognize the strength of the individual to make good choices. It is also important to recognize that we as humans can come to grips with a set of common values, and I would also say it is important for us to recognize a higher order Truth (with a capital ‘t’) in discussing what makes ethical “right and wrong.” Now of course, I’m the first to admit that there is no way for us to identify the Truth and create universal law, but to recognize that it does exist and there is a moral higher ground beyond what we as humans can comprehend is vital to this basic philosophical understanding.

∑ Distributive Justice: benefits should be distributed equally across all groups. Known for a radical sense of equality, those that believe in distributive justice believe that resources should be equally distributed with no reference to similarities and differences of groups. This system does not take preferences into account, but focuses only on egalitarian principle.

It seems that this would be completely unrealistic, but I would also hope that somebody in society will always argue this as necessary. I can’t be that person because I don’t think I actually believe complete equality is what we want in healthy society, but somebody must consistently remind us of utopia. I say this as a privileged middle class white woman.

∑ Care Principle: The morally acceptable action is the one that best accounts and preserves relationships. Focuses on partiality- favoring people with which we share special relationships. I couldn’t find much more on this than the paragraph in my text. It seems to be very small-world and selfish.



So I believe I've moved through multiple versions of these ethical understandings. I've seen friends travel similarly through variations on a theme. It's amazing how it can change as we grow and learn how to fit ourselves into the world.