Juan Carlos Gorbea Reading Questions Week 9 Class B Utilitarianism For the first three questions refer to Ethical Principles in Business Utilitarianism Velasquez pp 70 80 Do NOT read the article on charity What Should a Billionaire Give and What Should You 1 What are three misconceptions regarding utilitarian theory When the utilitarian principle says that the right action for a particular occasion is the one that produces more utility than any other possible action it does not mean the right action is the one that produces the most utility for the person performing the action Rather an action is right if it produces the most utility for all persons affected by the action The utilitarian principle also assumes that we can somehow measure and add the quantities of benefits produced by an action and subtract them the measured quantities of harm the action will have The right action from an ethical point of view would be to choose the policy that would produce the greatest amount of utility 2 What are two arguments for this theory Utilitarianism is in many respects an attractive theory For one it matches fairly nicely the views that we tend to advocate when discussing the choice of government policies and public goods Also utilitarianism also seems to fit in rather neatly with the intuitive criteria that people employ when discussing moral conduct Moreover this theory has the advantage of being able to explain why we hold that certain types of activities are generally morally right All these views are also highly influential in economics 3 What are two arguments against this theory Two arguments against utilitarianism is that some things are hard if not impossible to measure in order to compare to other costs and benefits Moreover sometimes it is not clear what might be considered a cost vs what might be considered a benefit Another argument against this theory is that it is unable to deal with two kinds of moral issues those relating to rights and those relating to justice 4 What critique of Utilitarianism is implicit in The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas The citizens of Omelas were taking part in what is known as Utilitarianism that claims that something is right to the extent that it diminishes social costs and increases social benefits Even though the citizens understood the child s misery they believed that the social benefits outweighed the child s care The problem with this kind of thinking is that one cannot measure the benefits of society comparing them to the cost of others 5 Would you walk away from the Omelas Why or why not I believe that I would not walk away from the Omelas It is not that I am self centered and would not care about the poor child and his misery but I believe that this story is a reflection of our common society and we still live by it For example most of the clothing we wear comes from cheap labor found outside our country s borders Even though we feel bad because many of these people endure low working wages and hard conditions society keeps buying those clothes because they help save money Being realistic one realizes that the law of scarcity will always be there and we will never have enough resources so that everyone is completely satisfied with their objectives Thus differences in social classes will always exist and we must accept them and help them when necessary 6 How much is a human life worth according to the article As U S Agencies Put More Value on a Human Life Businesses Fret Why must businesses put a monetary value on life The Environmental Protection Agency set the value of a life at 9 1 million last year in proposing tighter restrictions on air pollution The agency used numbers as low as 6 8 million during the George W Bush administration Businesses put a monetary value on life in order to conduct a cost benefit analysis and how would one alternative impact the whole objective of the problem 7 According to Mr Sandel in the article In Economists We Trust market morality which increases efficiency and social utility is concerning Why According to Mr Sandel in the article In Economists We Trust market morality increases efficiency and social utility is a concern because our human nature is beginning to loose the true value of our objectives For example what if colleges solved their student body search with the most efficient way possible would this be the right thing to do Even though now a days you can buy a catchphrase some things can t have a dollar tag with them