Ethical Principle in Business

Course Teacher:
Professor Md. Zakir Hossain
Telephone/Mobile:  01712909421
E-mail: zakir2001bd@yahoo.com

LECTURE- 3
 Ethical Principle in Business
• Normative ethical theories help us to
determine what actions in business are right
and wrong. The popular normative theories
include-
• Utilitarianism
• Categorial Imperative/Duty Based
• Virtue ethics
• Intuitionism
 Utilitarianism
• An action is said to be right as long as it
satisfactorily causes good consequences for all
affected by the action compared to alternative
actions. It is said wrong if it does not.

• For example: Stealing is wrong because it makes

people unhappy to lose their possessions. It
also against personal property right.
 Problems with Utilitarianism
1. How to utilities of different actions have for
different people be measured and compared?

2. Some benefits and costs seem intractable to

measurement. How, for example, can one
measure the value of health or life?
 Problems with Utilitarianism
3. Some benefits and costs of an action can not
be reliably predicted and measured. For
example the benefits and costs of scientific
knowledge.
4. Some time, it is not clear exactly what is to
count as a benefit and what is to count as
cost.
Utilitarian Replies to Measurement Problem

1. Intrinsic and Instrumental Value

2. When quantitative data are unavailable, one
may legitimately relies on shared and
commonsense judgments of the comparative
values things have for most people.
3. A commonsense criterion that can be used to
weigh goods is the distinction between
needs and wants.
 Problems with Rights and Justice
• The major difficulties with utilitarianism are
that it is unable deal with two kinds of moral
issues:
1. Those relating to rights
2. Those relating to justice.
Rule Utilitarian ( A reply to the objections on
rights and justice.
• According to the rule utilitarian, an action is
said right from an ethical point of view if and
only if the action is done by those rules that
are correct.