SMG LA 245 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, Slippery Slope
Document Summary
Ethics - what is it: applying values to our decisions, business ethics: applying our values to business decisions. How does the law relate to our discussion of ethics: the law provides a floor, but what do we do when something is legal, but may be unethical. Utilitarianism: championed by jon stuart mill and jeremy bentham. Judge actions by outcomes - make the decision that is going to lead to the best income for the most people: best outcome maximizes happiness for the most people and minimizes pain, cost/ benefit analysis. Focuses on the motives, not the results. It is important to do the right thing, regardless of the results: emphasizes the value of every human being, provides certainty, not arbitrary. Weaknesses: really difficult to live in absolute terms. Being ethical is about fairness and equality. No one framework will fit every situation. Should consider impact of decisions on all parties that will be impacted.
