Deontological and Utilitarian Inclinations in Moral Decision Making

Reply: Britney Rosati 

According to Zúñiga (2015), the notion of moral good in deontology is concerned with doing what is good regardless of the resultant consequences. It based on the analysis of what is right and wrong on the premise of the principality. It is focused on the action as opposed to the consequences of the action. The judgment of an action will be based on the processes that finally lead to it. According to the post by Rosati, identifying what is regarded as moral good is concerned with characteristics of the actions and the universal laws without necessarily regarding the consequences. The utilitarianism theory outlines a different perspective of what is referred to as morally good or bad. It is mainly focused on the consequences of the action. Rosati summarizes utilitarianism by asserting that if an action is more favourable to a majority of people, then it is regarded as morally right. Therefore, through her posts, Rosati clearly differentiates between deontological and utilitarianism viewpoints of moral good are that the latter focuses on the consequences while the former emphasizes on the processes leading to the result or consequences . The utilitarianism takes into account the influence of the action on everybody affected by it. She is also successful in distinguishing the two theories is that whereas the utilitarianism goes beyond the perspective of the individual; the deontological aspect analyzes the effect on the person. 

Conway and Gawronski (2013) asserted that both the deontological and utilitarianism notions of moral good could lead to different approaches with regards to addressing a problem irrespective of whether the result will be similar or the same. Rosati further in her posts says that the deontological approach follows an approach that is characterized by analyzing the actions of everyone, relating actions to goodwill without necessarily taking into account the consequences. On the other hand, the utilitarianism approach seeks to solve problems in the society by aiming at the overall happiness of the highest number of people. The emphasis is on making a majority of people happy as asserted by Rosati in her post. The consequences of the action matter most than any other thing. An example of the approach in real life would be a failure to report a family member to the law enforcers for fear that they might lose a family member due to imprisonment. Therefore, it is critical to note that due to the differences in approach between the two theories, it is more likely that the outcomes will always be divergent. 

Reply: Christine Freche 

The idea of morality or moral good in virtue ethics majorly centers on the character a person acquires as they live and associate with others as posted by Freche. It offers a different perspective to both the deontological and utilitarian approaches by focusing on the characters and not the actions as asserted by BilBoroughs (2011). Freche in her post further postulates that virtues first begin with natural urges. The virtue ethics philosophy focuses on the urges and natural tendencies that are employed by people. In her explanation, Freche attempts to explain the cause of negative behaviours such as overindulgence and other vices such as insensibility. She blames the dissatisfaction of the natural urges of individuals as the reason for these vices. In her argument, she states that the hallmarks of virtues include truthfulness, justice, restraint, and temperance. 

Freche in attempting to differentiate moral good in virtue ethics and utilitarianism sheds light on the Starbucks utilitarian approach. The Starbucks utilitarian approach focuses more on the consequences irrespective of whether they are ethical or unethical. The virtue ethics deals with characters which in turn shape an individual making them ready to face challenges that present themselves in life. Freche characterizes the utilitarianism theory by using the Starbucks approach which involved using a socially and environmentally responsible program in ensuring that the farmers remained in the business. 

References 

BilBoroughs R.S, (2011, February 16). Introducing virtue ethics . Pearson 

Conway, P., & Gawronski, B. (2013). Deontological and utilitarian inclinations in moral decision making: a process dissociation approach. Journal of personality and social psychology , 104 (2), 216. 

Zúñiga y Postigo, G. (2015). The moral good in three traditional ethical theories . Routledge.