EscobarWeek 1 DiscussionCOLLAPSE Part 1: What is the distinction between ethics and morality? What are some examples that elucidate the distinctions between these definitions? Ethics are moral...

Part 1: What is the distinction between ethics and morality? What are some examples that elucidate the distinctions between these definitions?

Ethics are moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity. At the heart of ethics is a concern about something or someone other than ourselves and our own desires and self-interest. Morals are a lesson, especially one concerning what is right or prudent, that can be derived from a story, a piece of information, or an experience. Both morality and ethics loosely have to do with distinguishing the difference between “good and bad” or “right and wrong.”

Part 2: How do moral obligations apply to business organizations? Can companies be held accountable for what they do, or are the individuals who make up the company the ones we must hold accountable? What special ethical issues face multinational corporations?

In the business world, it is a moral obligation to follow the laws that govern the transaction of business between different organizations and individuals. It is often argued that only individual human beings can be morally responsible and that the actions of a firm are those of its individual members. However, corporations should be considered morally responsible and accountable for an action also. Multination corporations must make a cautious effort to evaluate and measure the rules and regulations governing the countries in which businesses are carried out. Conflicts in ethics can arise if the norms and practices of the cultures in the host countries are vastly different from that accepted in the home country.

Part 3: What are the distinctions between traditional utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism? Why did theorists come up with rule utilitarianism in the first place?

Traditional utilitarianism defines a philosophy of ethics that happiness for most people in the society is considered as good. Actions are considered ethical only if the results of those efforts are more than those of the same act conducted by an agent applying an alternative approach. Rule utilitarianism is a form of utilitarianism that says an action is right as it conforms to a rule that leads to the greatest good, or that "the rightness or wrongness of a particular action is a function of the correctness of the rule of which it is an instance".

Jeremy Bentham founded traditional utilitarianism. His version of the theory assumed that we can measure and add the quantities of benefits produced by an action and subtract the measured quantities of harm it will cause, allowing us to determine which action has the most benefits or lowest total costs and is therefore moral. The utility Bentham had in mind was not the greatest benefit for the person taking the action, but rather the greatest benefit for all involved.