P.S.

Swathi
Associate Professor

The Utilitarian Theory

The Theory of Rights and Duties
Theory of Justice
The Ethics of Care

The Utilitarian theory is broadly based on the view

that any action or policy should be evaluated on the
basis of benefits and costs it will impose on the society.
The basic approach of this theory is that plans,
programmes and actions of any organization should be
chosen to produce the greatest net benefits for the
largest number of people associated with the business
which includes the society.
To determine net benefits, all the costs and benefits
(or damages) be it financial or otherwise should be
taken into account.

The theory of rights and duties holds that all people

have some basic rights, concerned with the power of
an individual to choose, pursue and protect his or her
interests, and all such rights are associated with
correlated duties.
When these rights arise from legal provision or social
convention, they become moral rights.
If a company prohibits or denies such rights to its
employees, it may be said to be unfair to its employees
and its action would not be adjudged moral.

The theory of justice revolves around the fundamental

principles to guarantee a just and morally acceptable
decision.
It implies that the actions are guided by fairness,
equity and impartiality.

The ethics of care refers to necessity of showing extra

care and consideration to protect someone else from
the adverse effect of ones choice that can make
someone vulnerable in a particular situation.
Ethics of care necessitates examining contextual details
of the situation in order to safeguard and promote
specific interests of those involved because they are
interdependent for accomplishing their specific
interests as long as the interests are moral and legal.

Those aspects of the deal or action that help in judging its

morality and rightness from the ethical standpoint:
1.
2.

3.

To find or determine the alternatives available to the doer

of an action of a given situation.
To estimate direct and indirect benefits and costs of the
deal or action for each alternative, and examine how it
benefits or affects each person concerned in the shortterm as well as long-term.
To choose a particular alternative which produces the
greatest benefits and utility to the maximum number of
people (affected by the action), and is also morally and
ethically appropriate as per the rules of moral reasoning.

Those aspects of the deal or action that help in judging its

morality and rightness from the ethical standpoint:
1.
2.

3.

To find or determine the alternatives available to the doer

of an action of a given situation.
To estimate direct and indirect benefits and costs of the
deal or action for each alternative, and examine how it
benefits or affects each person concerned in the shortterm as well as long-term.
To choose a particular alternative which produces the
greatest benefits and utility to the maximum number of
people (affected by the action), and is also morally and
ethically appropriate as per the rules of moral reasoning.

The Utilitarian approach is difficult to apply when

dealing with values that are difficult to measure (or
estimate) in order to determine the maximum benefits
to all affected persons.

This approach seems inadequate while handling

situations that involve rights and justice.

Rule-utilitarian prescribes that an action should be judged in

both contexts maximizing utility and correct moral rules
and not in isolation of each other.
The qualitative aspects of rule-utilitarian principle are:
An action is right from an ethical point of view if and only if
the action would be required by those moral rules that are
correct
A moral rule is correct if and only if the sum total of utilities
produced, when everyone were to follow that rule, is greater
than the sum total of utilities produced by following some
alternative rule. Rule-utilitarianism modifies the correctness
of decisions over utilitarianism

Rights are of two types, legal and moral.

Legal Rights are conveyed to a person by the statue of
law or the constitution of the nation.
Legal rights are limited by the jurisdiction within which
a person or a business operates.
Moral Rights devolve from social norms and moral
standards, and are independent of any legal system.
Moral rights are also called human rights.

Rights attained by the absence of law or prohibition.

Rights that accrue from employment, authorization or
empowerment to do something either to secure the
interest of others or the interest of self or society.
Rights that descend by default.
Rights that devolve from moral standards and social
norms.

Duty is either contractual obligation or mutually

understood obligation.
However, obligations for duty cannot force an
employee to do any immoral or unethical job.

Contractual rights and correlative duties are not

universal.
Contractual rights and correlative duties can arise only
when there is a contract or agreement or transaction
between particular parties with the provision of
considerations and benefits.
Contractual rights and duties can be imposed only if
the performances involved are a part of the publicly
recognized systems or laws.

Both parties in a contract must have clear

understanding and full knowledge of the nature of the
agreement they are entering into
Neither party to the contract shall intentionally
misrepresent the facts of the contractual situation to
the other party
Neither party to the contract must be forced to enter
the contract under duress or coercion or deceit
The contract must not bind the parties to any immoral
or illegal act.

If something is moral to me, it must be morally right

for others too.
Everyone is of equal value and has equal freedom.
Kants principle plays a dominant role in safeguarding
ethics in the contractual dealings of business
operations, and has particularly benefitted workers or
employees in industries and business houses.

Distributive Justice
Retributive Justice
Compensatory Justice

Distributive justice says that equals should be treated

equally and unequal should be treated unequally, and
there should be consistency in the treatment.

Distributive justice is commonly called for in business in areas like employee gradation and promotion, wage
policy, eligibility for different types of perks, dealers
commission, dividend distribution, etc. with a view to
ensuring equality, uniformity and consistency in
operations.

Retributive justice demands that a just action should

be taken either as penalty or reward in a manner that
deserves the cause for which the penalty or reward is
being meted out.
It generally deals, in practice, with the conditions
under which it is just to punish a person for a
wrongdoing.

Compensatory justice is that which deals with the

justice of restoration for being wrongfully harmed by
somebody else.
It demands that a person who has done wrong should
restore or equally compensate for what has been lost
or harmed.

Justice of equality states that every person working in a

group should be given equal shares of the groups benefits
and burdens. It applies to society, business and families.

Justice based on contribution states that benefits and

burdens should be distributed in proportion to what each
individual contributes to the cause or action.

Justice based on needs and abilities states that the burden

of work should be distributed as per peoples ability, and
benefits should be distributed as per peoples needs.

Justice of fairness is based on three basic principles (a)

principle of equal liberty (b) principle of inequality, and
(c) principle of fair and equal opportunity

Each of us lives and exists in an environment of care and

concern in the society, and we should preserve and nurture
these environments and relationships;
Each of us should exercise care for those with whom we are
socially and otherwise related by attending to their needs,
wellbeing and desires as seen from their own personal
perspective, and by responding positively to the same so as
to preserve the values of those relationships;
Ethics of care is more than just following the moral
principles discussed earlier; it involves attending and
positively responding to the wellbeing and welfare of those
persons with whom we share close and valuable
relationships.

Ethics of virtue complement and add to utilitarianism,

rights, justice and care by looking not at the actions
people are required to perform, but at the character
they are required to have.
A moral virtue is an acquired quality that is praised and
valued as a part of a persons character. It is indicative
of good moral character.
Some important ethics-related-virtues that make for a
good individual or a successful manager are courage,
prudence, wisdom, justice, fairness, temperance and
intelligence.

To him, justice is an unconditional calim to certain

universal, natural, inherent and inalienable rights
earned by duties.
He was influenced by the theory of karma ( action, as
enshrined in Hindu religious scriptures, espectially the
Gita)
Gandhi placed much more significance on Karma
without any attachment and expectation of rewards.

Gandhi has talked about six different types of justices

1. Social justice
2. Pure Justice
3. Justice as natural rights in some situations,
4. Justice in the absence of duress
5. Justice as fair treatment ,Justice as a situation where
no harm is done to an opponent in dispute
6. The Satanic concept of justice

According to Gandhi an action is just when it does not

harm either party to a dispute
This idea of justice is the very heart of Gandhis satyagraha
and conflict management
According to him the cheating game of employers towards
the workers was the Satanic notion of justice prevalent
among the capitalists in the Western or modern works
According to him pure justice is that which is inspired by
fellow-feeling and compassion.
Gandhis concept of justice is a combination of two
important philosophical theories the Kantian deontic
philosophy and the philosophy of consequentialism.