But rule utilitarianism is morally more sound and does not require calculating the consequences of each action. It realized that the shareholders and customers would have to face more negative consequences when compared to the benefits enjoyed by the employees. In rule utilitarianism, there is the possibility of conflicting rules. Suppose the business person happens to be the CEO, who may believe that it is ethically correct to arrive at important meet-ings on time as the members of the company will benefit from this decision. Key Concepts. Triage rules are potentially justified by a form of rule utilitarianism ⦠Rule Utilitarianism When employees in a firm asked for a pay hike, the management assessed the expenses involved in it. So treating a ⦠. Though not fully articulated until the 19 th century, proto-utilitarian positions can be discerned throughout the history of ethical theory.. . Recall the example of the business person running late for a meeting. A particular action, such as stealing my neighborâs car, is judged wrong since it violates a moral rule against theft. What Utilitarianism Is. A generation later, utilitarianism found its most effective exponent in John Stuart Mill.Raised by his father, the philosopher James Mill, on strictly Benthamite principles, Mill devoted his life to the defence and promotion of the general welfare.With the help his long-time companion Harriet Taylor, Mill became a powerful champion of lofty moral and social ideals. Chapter Two. In turn, the rule against theft is morally binding because adopting this rule produces favorable consequences for ⦠Ethics and the Law. For example, when faced with multiple simultaneous patients in the emergency department it is important to have a way of reaching a decision quickly about which patient to attend to first. Utilitarianism is one of the most powerful and persuasive approaches to normative ethics in the history of philosophy. A teleological approach to ethics is based on the concept of seeking a "telos" in ethical decision-making. E.g., you start a business to make money, ... Egoism leads to a rule-based theory that certain rules of conduct are in the interest of everyone to observe. For example, Singer thinks that the negative consequences for the animals involved in factory farming outweigh the benefits, but as Regan points out, "[t]he animal industry is big business," and although "[i]t is uncertain exactly how many people are involved in it, directly or indirectly, . Telos is a Greek word meaning "end" or "goal"; thus, teleological ethics is concerned with how choices will affect a particular desired moral outcome. by John Stuart Mill (1863) Chapter 2 What Utilitarianism Is. Certain ethical issues are represented in law and in this respect are firm to a point (see the detailed notes about ethics and law below); Ethics which are not covered clearly by law are usually a matter of subjective judgement, especially, but not exclusively, by the reasonable majority, whose view is significant in deciding whether something is ethical or not. Lee Harvey Oswaldâs assassination of President John F. Kennedy), while rule utilitarians focus on the effects of types of actions (such as killing or stealing) and how to handle them in terms of rules and laws.. Business analysts, legislators, and scientists weigh daily the resulting benefits and harms of policies when deciding, for example, whether to invest resources in a certain public project, whether to approve a new drug, or whether to ban a certain pesticide. Example: suppose Jack is competing against Jill for a job. In the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth we read the complete spirit of the ethics of utility. His argumentâhell, his ruleâstates that treating any human being as a means to some other end is the basis of all unethical behavior. Ethical egoism would say. Act utilitarianism is simple and easily understood. A PASSING remark is all that needs be given to the ignorant blunder of supposing that those who stand up for utility as the test of right and wrong, use the term in that restricted and merely colloquial sense in which utility is opposed to pleasure. Act Utilitarianism : An act is right insofar as its consequences for the general happiness are at least as good as any alternative available to the agent. ... we ought to lie. Act utilitarians place a focus on the effects of oneâs individual actions (e.g. Act utilitarianism is the most familiar form of direct utilitarianism applied to action, whereas the most common indirect utilitarian theory of duty is rule utilitarianism. And thatâs exactly what Kant is talking about. To do as you would be done by, and to love your neighbour as yourself constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality. The CEO Rule-utilitarianism, then, offers a three-tiered method for judging conduct. Likely that last example made you squirm a bit and think Iâm kind of a dirtbag. For example, perhaps we can do the most good overall if we forcibly stop people from wasting their time and energy on pointless or harmful things like driving SUVs, watching television, eating meat, following sports, and so on.