4. Ethical Reasoning Frameworks

Ethical Reasoning Strategies An ethical reasoning strategy is a way of reasoning through an ethical dilemma and come to a decision.

Ethical reasoning strategies are: “systematic attempts to provide and justify answers to questions such as What should I do? And What kind of person should I be?” (Bonevac, 2010, p. 8).

Ethical Reasoning Strategies We will discuss four ethical reasoning strategies: Utilitarian Rights Justice Virtue

The Utilitarian Approach The right action is whatever produces “the greatest good for the greatest number.” – Jeremy Bentham

The ethical course of action in any situation is the one that produces the greatest balance of benefits over harms (or pleasure over pain) for everyone affected. As long as a course of action produces maximum benefits for everyone, utilitarianism does not care whether the benefits are produced by lies, manipulation, or coercion.

The Rights Approach The ethical course of action is one that respects the basic rights of each of the individuals involved. Actions are wrong to the extent that they violate the rights of individuals. Negative rights: privacy, life, property. Positive rights: health care, education.

More on the Rights Approach Daniel Bonevac discusses the Rights Approach, and specifically Immanuel Kant, who believed: You have to act on principle, without exceptions. Every person should be treated with respect The ends do not justify the means (10).

The Justice Approach If two people (or groups) are equal, we must treat them equally. If they are unequal, we can choose to treat them unequally in order to create equity.

In evaluating any ethical decision, we must ask whether our actions treat all persons equally. If not, we must determine whether the difference in treatment is justified. If it is not justified, then we must make adjustments to create an equal situation. The ethical course of action is one that provides each person the same chance.

The Virtue Approach The ethical course of action is one that corresponds to how a wholly virtuous person would act. The fundamental question of ethics is not "What should I do?" but "What kind of person should I be?"

More on the Virtue Approach Plato’s Cardinal Virtues are prudence, justice, restraint and courage. Daniel Bonevac (2010) writes about virtue and about Aristotle, who argued that: “A good person does the right thing at the right time, in the right way, for the right reason.” A good person acts rationally. A person can naturally tell right from wrong. To become virtuous, you have to do virtuous things (8).

Works Cited Bonevac, Daniel. Introduction. Today's Moral Issues: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives. 6th Ed. By Bonevac. Columbus, OH. McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2010. 7-12. Ethical reasoning strategies summarized from: Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, A Forum for Research and Discussion in All Areas of Applied Ethics. Santa Clara University, 2014. Web. 17 Feb 2014.