Two Approaches to Ethics
We may face moral and ethical questions on a daily basis. We may be thinking about a personal moral dilemma, such as whether to be honest with a friend, or large-scale issues such as whether our society’s prison system is ethical. Making decisions or forming opinions about moral issues can be challenging. How should we think through a moral issue? What values, rules, customs, or consequences should we consider? Philosophers have been thinking and writing about how to resolve ethical issues for millennia. There are several main approaches. Two of the main approaches are utilitarianism and fairness (or justice).
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism was developed in the 19th century and has since been expanded upon. Philosophers originally developed utilitarianism as a process that could help lawmakers decide which laws would be morally superior.
Utilitarianism is the idea that the best moral action is the action that yields the most good. Utilitarianism is based on results, meaning the morality of an action is assessed on the consequences that follow the action. According to utilitarianism, we should maximize good, including the good of others and not just ourselves. In addition, every person’s happiness (or “good”) is equal—your good does not count any more or less than anyone else’s.
The Utilitarian Approach
The most moral action is the one that delivers the greatest amount of good to the greatest number of people. Therefore, to use the utilitarian approach to make a moral decision, you would: Identify the possible actions you could take. Consider any persons or groups that could be affected by each possible action, and decide what help or harm will be caused to each person or group. Choose the action that will cause the greatest help (or good) and the least harm.
Fairness (Justice)
In ethics, the idea of fairness, or justice, is based on the writings of Aristotle. This approach sees fairness as the basis for every moral choice. With this philosophy, we should always ask: How fair is this action? Does the action treat everyone as equals, or is it founded in favoritism or discrimination? Another philosopher who was a proponent of fairness was John Rawls. He said that if people are to develop rules for a just society, they should use the following thought experiment: Pretend you do not know the specific details of who you will be in a society (i.e., your race, gender, income level). Now, create the rules that you want to exist in that society. This thought experiment is sometimes called the “veil of ignorance.” If people used that thought experiment, Rawls believed they would identify two principles of justice: equal liberty (i.e., that people in the society have an equal right to the liberties available in that society) equal social and economic opportunity (i.e., social and economic structures arranged to be to everyone’s advantage such that anyone could rise to any position in the society)
The Fairness (Justice) Approach
Using a fairness approach, to make a moral decision, you would: For each action, ask yourself: Is this action fair? Is it free from favoritism or discrimination? For each action, ask yourself: Is the action consistent with the principles of justice? Does it support equal liberty, social, and economic opportunity? These are two of the main approaches that philosophers have developed to help us deal with moral issues. Each approach has its proponents and critics, but learning more about them can help us make decisions in our own lives.
Explanation:
BC ITS RIGHT
