critical response
Critical Response Essay
Fred’s Dilemma
1. - If Fred were a Utilitarian, what would he do?
Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory where right and wrong depends on the consequences of one’s actions for everyone who might be affected by them. In other words, utilitarian individuals are trying to bring the best system to the society than any other system. Sometimes utilitarianism is summarized as "the maximum well-being for the maximum number". We know that life is full with situations that are difficult to solve without damage to anyone and it is the case of Fred. As we read, Fred is a worker of Greyarea Inc., a company that produces cigarettes. For the protection of the company, Fred has signed a confidentiality agreement that unable him to leak out any kind of information to the public that could affect the company’s benefits. Greyarea Inc. could sue Fred if he decides to tell the public that the cigarettes are harmful as he found in his research. If Fred decides to tell the truth about the cigarettes real effects, it does not make sense that he would be right or wrong. But focusing in that Fred is utilitarian, he would want to tell the public the real consequences of Greyarea Inc. cigarettes and what could happen if they continue buying those cigarettes. But he could not ignore that his decision could affect his own economic stability and also his family and his career. As I mentioned before, Fred’s moral beliefs would tell him that he best state of things is that in which the sum of what is valuable is as high as possible and so much more important than himself and the consequences of them.
2. - If Fred were a Deontologist (Kant), what would he do?
Deontologist refers to an ordered set of duties and moral obligations of the professionals of a certain subject. People have an obligation and are forced to their duty. Also, people need to act from their duty if they want to act morally in the right way. Kant argued that we do not need
Fred’s Dilemma
1. - If Fred were a Utilitarian, what would he do?
Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory where right and wrong depends on the consequences of one’s actions for everyone who might be affected by them. In other words, utilitarian individuals are trying to bring the best system to the society than any other system. Sometimes utilitarianism is summarized as "the maximum well-being for the maximum number". We know that life is full with situations that are difficult to solve without damage to anyone and it is the case of Fred. As we read, Fred is a worker of Greyarea Inc., a company that produces cigarettes. For the protection of the company, Fred has signed a confidentiality agreement that unable him to leak out any kind of information to the public that could affect the company’s benefits. Greyarea Inc. could sue Fred if he decides to tell the public that the cigarettes are harmful as he found in his research. If Fred decides to tell the truth about the cigarettes real effects, it does not make sense that he would be right or wrong. But focusing in that Fred is utilitarian, he would want to tell the public the real consequences of Greyarea Inc. cigarettes and what could happen if they continue buying those cigarettes. But he could not ignore that his decision could affect his own economic stability and also his family and his career. As I mentioned before, Fred’s moral beliefs would tell him that he best state of things is that in which the sum of what is valuable is as high as possible and so much more important than himself and the consequences of them.
2. - If Fred were a Deontologist (Kant), what would he do?
Deontologist refers to an ordered set of duties and moral obligations of the professionals of a certain subject. People have an obligation and are forced to their duty. Also, people need to act from their duty if they want to act morally in the right way. Kant argued that we do not need