ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN

BUSINESS–JUSTICE AND
FAIRNESS
The Concept of Right

 Right is individual’s entitlement of something

 A person has a right when he is entitled to act
in a certain way
 Rights are powerful devices whose main
purpose is to enable individual to choose
freely
Rights: Characteristics

 Right is an individual's entitlement to

something
 Rights are derived from legal system and are
limited by jurisdiction
 Moral or human rights are based on moral
norms and not limited by jurisdiction.
Moral Rights

 Moral rights are tied up with duties and

responsibilities
 It provides a individuals with autonomy and
equality to pursue their interests freely
 It provides a basis for protecting rights of
others
- and + Rights
- Rights : I have the right and others should
not interfere with my enjoyment of rights

+ Rights: If I have rights, I also have the duty to

respect others’ rights
A Basis for Moral Rights: Kant

 Kant’s theory is based on the moral principle

–that requires that everyone shall be treated
as free person equal to everyone else.
 Everyone has a moral right to such treatment
and everyone has the correlative duty to treat
others in this way.

 Firing and employee because of his race!

Criteria for Determining Moral Right & Wrong

 Universalizability – person’s reason for acting

must be reasons that everyone could act on
at least in principle
 Reversibility - person’s reason for acting must
be reasons that he or she would be willing to
have all others use, even as a basis oh how
they treat him or her
Kant’s Categorical Imperative Formulas

 Never do something unless you are willing to

have everyone do it
 Never use people merely as means, but
always respect and develop their ability to
choose for themselves.
Problem with Kant

 Not clear to be useful

 What are the limits of rights
 Universalizability and Reversibility cannot be
untenable in all instances
Justice and Fairness

Issues divided in to 3 categories:

 Distributive justice
 Retributive justice
 Compensatory justice
Distributive Justice

Fundamental principles of Distributive Justice

can be expressed as follows:
 Individual who are similar in all respects
should be given similar benefits and burdens
even if they are dissimilar in other irrelevant
respects;
 Individual who are dissimilar in a relevant
respect ought to be treated dissimilarly even
though they are similar in other respects.
Justice: Different Interpretations

Justice as Equality: Egalitarianism:

 Every person should be given exactly equal
share of a society’s benefits or burdens

Justice based on Contribution: Capitalist

Justice
 Justice should be distributed according to the
contribution the individual makes to a
society, task, group or exchange
Justice: Different Interpretations

Justice as Fairness: Rawls

 This is based on the assumption that conflicts involving
justice should be settled by devising a fair method of
choosing the principles by which the conflicts are
resolved.
 Once it is devised, the principles we choose by using
that method
Justice: Different Interpretations

Justice as Fairness: Other Dimensions

 Principle of equal liberty
 Difference principle- society unequal but take steps to
give equality to needy
 Principle of fair equality of opportunity
 Original position – An imaginary meeting of rational or
self-interested people who must choose the principles of
justice by which society shall be governed.
 Veil of Ignorance – Ignorance of above-stated people
about what could hinder their efforts of bringing justice
to the society.
Justice: Different Interpretations

Justice based on Needs & Abilities: Socialism

 Work burden should be distributed as per
individual’s abilities and benefits should be
distributed as per people’s needs

Justice as Freedom: Libertarianism

 No way of distributing benefits/ burdens could
be considered just or unjust apart from the free
choice that individuals make. Any distribution is
just if it is the result of individuals freely choosing
to exchange with each other goods each person
already owns.
Retributive Justice

 It concerns the justice of blaming or

punishing others for doing wrong.
 It has several counterpoints:
 People cannot be blamed for something about
which they are ignorant.
 People cannot be punished on flimsy grounds
 Just punishment should be proportionate to the
wrong done by the individuals.
Compensatory Justice

 It concerns the justice of restoring to a person

what the person lost when wronged by
someone else.
 It believes in the moral responsibility of
returning to the loss already afflicted to the
aggreived.
The Ethics of Care

 It believes that ethics should be impartial

 It emphasizes preserving and nurturing
concrete valuable relationships
 It states that we should care for those who
are dependent to or/ and related to us.
Integrating Utility, Rights, Justice, and
Caring
 These are four moral standards that form the
basis of our moral judgment and brings
different considerations I our moral reasoning
 The basis of integration is
 Evaluation of social costs and benefits
 Respect for individual rights
 Just distribution of benefits and burdens
 caring for those in strong relationships