UTILITARIANISM,THEORY OF RIGHTS

,THEORY OF JUSTICS ,ETHICS OF CARE

AND VIRTUE ETHICS
MADE BY - GURMEHAR KAUR
ROLL NO.45
UTILITARIANISM
• The decision that produces the greatest good for the greatest number
of people is best
• It is believed that actions are right if they are useful to majority of
people
• The morality of an act is determined by its consequences because of
this reason it is also sometimes known as consequential principal
• The main consideration is on the consequences of actions and not on
how these consequences are being achieved
• Results are more important than the means adopted to get those
results.
FORMS OF UTILITARIANISM
According to David lynch there are two forms of utilitarianism defined as
under
• Act Utilitarian
• Rule Utilitarian

1. Act utilitarian state an action is justified if it provides maximum benefits

or does the least harm

2. Rule utilitarian denotes that an action is justified if it conforms to a set of

rules that the general acceptance of which would provide the maximum
benefits or does the least harm to stakeholders
Main points of criticism of this theory
Main points of criticism of this theory are
 weak concept
 majority not defined
 unethical
 difficult to foresee
 ethical dilemma
Theory of Rights
British philosopher John Locke developed Theory of Rights
He wrote that people form societies and societies form governments in
order to assure enjoyment of natural rights
locke defined government as a social contract between rulers and ruled
He said that citizen should give allegiance only to government that
protects the human rights
Government must systematically protect the human rights of its
citizens
General classification of rights

General classification of rights

1. Positive rights
2. Negative rights
3. Moral rights
4. Legal rights
5. Human Rights
6. Natural rights
7. Civil rights
8. Inalienable rights
I. Positive rights are those rights that others have a duty to supply ;for example ,right to
education that the government has a duty to fulfill individuals needs
II. Negative rights are the rights free from interferences by others in pursuing ones right
of life ,liberty and property
III. Moral rights are rights which are based on moral norms entitling all persons to do
something or to have something to be done from them
IV. Legal rights are right provided by the legal system or the constitution of the country
V. Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings
VI. Natural rights are moral rights that humans have because of their nature, or in virtue
of being human
VII. Civil rights are moral rights that constitue free and equal citizenship in a liberal
democracy
VIII.Inalienable rights are those which cannot be transferred
THEORY OF JUSTICE
• Justice is the first virtue of social institutions as truth is of systems of
thought
• Justice means to give what is ones due
• If the social gains are sufficiently large, a certain level of injustice may
legitimately be tolerated
Concept of original position and veil of ignorance : the chief task of the
representative members of the society would not be to protect individual rights
but to promote social welfare of society.the representatives operating from
behind the veil of ignorance would design a society that is fair and acceptable by
all
• original position situation where imaginary group of rational person meet to
chose principles of justice by which their society will be governed
• veil of ignorance-parties to original position do not know what particulars
characteristics {particular about gender,race,religion ,income ,social status} each
of them possess to ensure none protect their own special interest;means no
favouritism,not being partial.
• Classification of justice
1. Distributive justice is concerned with fair distribution of society benefit and burdens among its members
2. Retributive justice concerned with justice imposition of punishment and penalty on those who do wrong
3. Compensatory justice concerned with justice of resorting to a person what the person lost when wronged by
someone else

• Principles governing justice

a. The Liberty principle states that every person basic liberty must be protected from interferences by other
b. The Difference principle states that inequalities in wealth and social position be arranged

• Criticism of theory of justice

i. Least advantaged over emphasis on primary social good
ii. Concept of veil of ignorance not acceptable
iii. over emphasis on primary social good
iv. Every individual is different
 Ethics of Care
This theory states that while performing a duty we should not only consider justice and autonomy but also other factors like
taking care of others

Features of ethics of care

• caring is focus on person’s well being not on things
• it concentrates on taking into account contextual details of each place

Basic premises of ethics of care

• we have an obligation to exercise special care for particular person
• a morality of care rest on understanding of relationship as response to another in the terms
• special care for those with whom we are concretely related
• Ethics of care should also encompass the large system of relationship that make up concrete communities
• it must be noted that all kind of relationships do not have value are not under its preview

Objections to Ethics of care

• unjust favoritism
• people sacrifice their own needs and desires to care for the well-being of other
Law
• law for business consists of a set of required norms of behaviour .
• the essence of law is that it commands behaviour under threat of
punishment or satisfaction
Ethics and Law
1. law formal,written document vs unwritten principles
2. interpreted by courts vs interpreted by each individual
3. established by legislations vs presented by
philosophers,professionals
4. appicable to everyone vs personal choice
5. priority decided by court vs priority determined by individual
6. court makes final decision vs no external decision maker
7. enforceable by police and courts vs limited enforcement
Virtue ethics
Virtues are really embedded in the personality of individual and are not
the forced one and it is not a one time affair
Major elements of virtue ethics theory
• Eudaimonia means happiness and fulfillment
• Agent Based Theory means virtues are mainly determined by
common sense institution which we find admirable
• ETHICS OF CARE
Objections Against Virtue Ethics
Objections against virtue ethics are:
I. Self centred
II. Personal rather than action based
III. Various factors are ignored
IV. Does not provide clear guidance on what to do in moral dilemmas
Concept of universalism
Universalism refers to religious ,heological and philosophical concepts
with universal application or applicability
Universalism is a term used to identify particular doctrines considering
all people in their formation