Consequentialist

Consequentialist

1. Rightness/ goodness of an action can only be judged on its consequences. Produce greatest benefits at lowest costs for society (Crane and Matten, 2010)

2. Utilitarianism: Jeremy Bentham - "Greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation. Man is controlled by avoidance of pain and gain pf pleasure (Crane and Matten, 2010)

   • Utilitarianism is the most popular consequentialist theory. The underlying idea is the notion of 'utility' - Bentham sees as the ultimate goal in life. Man is seen as a hedonist, whose purpose in life is to maximise pleasure and minimise pain. An ethical decision should maximise the benefits to society and minimise harm. It is helpful when thinking through an ethical dilemma.
     • A utilitarian perspective would approach an ethical dilemma by identifying the stakeholders in a [articular situation as well as the alternative actions and their consequences. When analysing two possible actions in a single business decision, can assign a certain utility to each consequence and person involved. The consequence with the highest aggregate utility can be determined 'morally correct- close to cost-benefit analysis.

3. Consequentialist (sometimes teleological) ethics focus on the consequences of an action to decide what is right/ wrong. Action provides some benefit or inflicts some harm 'greatest happiness principle'. Unlike egoism, it doesn't only look at each individual involved, and ask whether their desires and interests are met, but it focus on the the collective welfare that is produced by a certain decision.

4. Challenges

   • Subjectivity - need to think creatively, and assessing consequences such as pleasure/ pain may heavily depend on the subjective perspective of the person who carries out the analysis. However - utilitarians were aware of the limits of the theory - led to refinement of the theory act/ rule utilitarianism.
     • Example, Mark Felt (Deep Throat) revealed his identity as a secret source who was secretly telling the Washington Post. Led to the resignation of Bob Dixon for his involvement in the burglary at Democratic Headquarters. The two reporters at the Washington Post turned the information into a film. Felt's motivation is not understood, but it is assumed that his position as number 2 at the FBI encouraged him to weigh up the consequences of the harms and benefits to society of Some believe that he did the right thing as his decision served the greater good of American society and helped preserve democracy.
     • Difficult to measure costs/ benefits
   • Obligated to make the best ethical decision for society. A challenge of this is that it requires you to step out from thinking about yourself, and consider the impact on society - think about the impact on all those affected
   • Distribution of utility - Assessing the greatest good for the greatest number of people, the minorities can be overlooked. For example, slave holders in the old south argued the greatest good for the greatest number would be to continue slave labour. However, rest of society would disagree that system does not respect human rights - Problem of justice
   • Problems of quantification - Difficult to assign costs and benefits to every situation. It is difficult to obtain all of the information required to evaluate the consequences for all stakeholders who may be affected by the decision/ action direct or indirectly. In business when does a person have all of the facts? Could deep throat have known what each of the outcomes would be? And it becomes significantly time consuming to consider the outcomes every time a new ethical dilemma arises.

5. Consequential approach - important in business ethical decision making. Most admit that considering consequences of a decision/ actions underlies ethical decision making. Business managers usually rely on this approach.

6. Two different types of utilitarian ethics (Emerged from the subjectivity of the model)-

   • Act utilitarians - weigh the consequences of each individual action (pain/ pleasure caused by every decision)
   • Rule utilitarians - look at classes of action and asks whether the underlying principles of an action produce more pleasure than pain for society in the long run.

7. Egoism (Smith) (Maximisation of desires/ self- interest)

   • Each person ought to do whatever maximises their own self-interest, regardless of how this affects others (Harrison, 2005) "Egoist practices for utilitarian results" (Beauchamp and Bowie 1997). Egoism is based on the "pursuit of interests" (Graham 1990). An egoism based on interests approaches the idea that one way of acting is objectively better or 'more ethical' than the other. Leads to notion of 'enlightened egoism'
   • Action is considered to be morally right if it pursues short term desires or long term interests.
   • Criticism
     • Criticism of egoism based on 'desire' is that it renders different approaches to life as being equivalent e.g. two situations such as a student getting drunk every night and a student working hard for a 1st both admirable if both followed their desire
     • Theory works if there are mechanisms in society that makes sure no egoist pursues his/ her interests at the expense of another egoist.

8. Strengths

   • Utilitarianism reflects our current society - useful in reality, we live according to the needs/ wants of society - e.g. voting system
     • Theory is subjective so it remains flexible and applicable to the greatest number
       • Theory looks at consequences - most people judge the merits of an action on its outcome.
         • Bentham theory encourages pleasure for the greatest number of people
           • Utilitarian perspective is strengthened by the fact it has an egalitarian basis, Upholds the belief in the equality of mankind. By encouraging the happiness as the majority, Bentham and Mill are aiming towards a universally assurable state.