The Different Normative Ethical Theories
Commonly Used in
Business Decision Making
• The Different Normative Ethical Theories
• Norms Of Morality
• Kantian Ethics
• The Principles Of Machiavellian
• The Principles Of Utility Or Utilitarianism
• Legal Positivism
• Divine Command Theory
• Ethical Egoism (Ayn Rand)
• Rand’s Arguments
• Virtue Ethics
• Hedonist
• Pragmatism
Normative Ethics
•is the study of ethical action. It is the branch of
philosophical ethics that investigates the set of
questions that arise when considering how one
ought to act, morally speaking.
•it examines standards for the rightness and
wrongness of actions
Normative Ethical Theories
•Normative ethical theories represent systematic
attempts to describe and explain moral or ethical
phenomena.
•To be precise, in normative ethical theories it is possible
to isolate a tripartite structure that comprises a moral
standard, general moral principles and particular
moral principles and judgments.
Definition of Moral
•concerned with the principles of right and
wrong behavior and the goodness or badness
of human character.
Definition of Immoral
•not morally correct.
•not conforming to accepted standards of
morality.
•badness of human character
Moral Standard
•it specifies what characteristics all moral actions must
possesses.
“Actions are moral to the degree that their consequences
produce the most happiness.”
(Harris, 61-62.)
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General Moral Principle
•principles that focus on general action classes
•that claim that all actions in a certain class are either
moral or immoral.
“It is immoral to act with the direct intention to kill a human
being”
Particular Moral Principles And Judgments
•These principles and judgment focus on more specific
action classes or on specific actions.
"Rape is immoral“
"Spousal abuse is immoral"
Normative Ethics vs Descriptive Ethics
•Descriptive ethics is the study of how people do behave,
and how they think they should behave
•Normative ethics - it examines standards for the
rightness and wrongness of actions
Let’s set an example:
Descriptive ethics would be concerned with determining what
proportion of people believe that killing is always wrong,
while Normative Ethics is concerned with whether it is correct to hold
such a belief.
Kantian Ethics
•The difference between the Categorical and the
Hypothetical Imperatives
•The various formulations of the Categorical
Imperative
•Kant's understanding of the universalization of
maxims
Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804)
• one of the most influential philosophers in the
history of Western philosophy
• His contributions to metaphysics, epistemology,
ethics, and aesthetics have had a profound
impact on almost every philosophical movement
that followed him.
Three Major Works:
• The Critique of Pure Reason
• The Critique of Practical Reason
Difference between Categorical and
Hypothetical Imperative
• Hypothetical imperatives are a means to an end.
They claim that something is good for something else.
They are saying if you want to do X, you should do Y.
“A shovel is good for digging holes.”
• The Categorical imperative on the other hand is claiming that
some X is good in itself, or morally good.
“Saving someone's life is good in itself.”
Categorical Imperative
•Act only according to that maxim by which you
can, at the same time, will that it become a
universal law.
•You should not do anything which could not be
universalized into a law of nature.
Categorical Imperative
•Act only according to that maxim by which you can,
at the same time, will that it become a universal law.
•Maxim - Proposed conduct
•Universal Law - Everyone's doing it
Asking someone for money
and lying for giving it back
• I want 100 pesos, is it ok for me to ask someone for 100 pesos
and lie about paying it back.
Will I get my desired outcome?
• We all know that Lying is immoral conduct
• Once your maxim is universalized, even it is contradictory to
your end goal, then it is immoral.
• It's a lot of contradiction
Maxim: Speeding in order to arrive quicker
Universal Law: Everyone's doing it
• Did you get your desired outcome?
Or
• Did you get to your destination quicker?
The answer is : No, you can get into an accident prior in a couple of
seconds.
Maxim: Asking someone for money
and lying for giving it back
• In this case, if everyone is doing the same kind of conduct,
everyone is lying about paying back the money in order to get it.
• Well, then the very first person that I ask in the first place is also
doing the same thing.
• Then he/she will say "We all know that everyone ask for 100 pesos
and lies to say that they’re going to pay it back.
• The Desired outcome is different on actual outcome.
Maxim: Lying in order to deceive
Universal Law: Everyone's doing it
•Do you get your desired outcome for deceiving
someone?
- Absolutely not, because the moment you say something
that's not true, everyone in turn, knows it's not true, so
they cannot believe you in the first place, therefore, you
Summarization
You should not do
anything which could not
be universalized into a law
of nature.
The Principles of Machiavellian
Niccolò Machiavelli (Niccolò di Bernardo dei
Machiavelli)
BORN: MAY 3, 1469
FLORENCE, ITALY
DIED: JUNE 21, 1527
• PHILOSOPHER
• HUMANIST
He was known of his writings of “THE PRINCE”
in 1513.
WHAT IS MACHIAVELLIANISM?
Conceptualized as one’s propensity to
distrust others, engage in amoral
manipulation, seek control over others
and seek status as oneself
.
In psychology it refers to a
personality trait which sees a person
so focused on their own interests
they will manipulate, deceive and
exploit others to achieve their goals.
Machiavellianism is not defined
personality disorder, although the
extreme forms of it may be classified
as Antisocial Personality Disorder.
Machiavellianism is a part of what is
called the Dark Triad which also
includes Psychopathy and Narcissism.
MACHIAVELLIANISM
NARCISSISM
PSYCHOPATHY
Machiavelli believed as a ruler, it was
better to be widely feared than to be
great loved. A loved ruler retains
authority by obligation while a
feared leader rules by fear of
punishment.
Machiavelli said: “Its better to be feared and
respect than to be great loved.”
ME:
The Principles of Utility
or Utilitarianism
UTILITARIANISM
Utilitarianism gets its
name from the term
“utility” which in
this context does not
mean “useful” but, rather,
means pleasure or happiness
The principle of utility states that action or
behavior are right in so far as they promote
happiness pleasure, wrong as they tend to
produce unhappiness or pain. Hence, utility is a
teleological principle.
Utilitarianism is a moral principle that
holds that the morality right course of
action in any situation is the one that
produce the greatest balance of benefits
over harms for everyone affected.
LEGAL POSITIVISM
Legal Positivism- is the belief in a
postulated code of conduct based
upon social facts, adopted by
authorized institutions, and used as
an instrument of control for the
people of a state.
2 KINDS OF LEGAL POSITIVISM
UTILITARIANISM POSITIVISM: there are no natural
human rights, nothing like a natural law.
NON-UTILITARIAN NARROW POSITIVISM: there is
something like natural law (universal human
rights, universal moral principles)