Reference no: EM133483715

Assignment:

But Carr suggests there are separate ethical domains, stating, "...Millions of businessmen feel constrained every day to say yes to their bosses when they secretly believe no and that this is generally accepted as permissible strategy when the alternative might be the loss of a job. The essential point ... is that the ethics of business are game ethics, different from the ethics of religion. .... That most businessmen are not indifferent to ethics in their private lives, everyone will agree. My point is that in their office lives they cease to be private citizens, they become game players who must be guided by a somewhat different set of ethical standards. .... ...The golden rule, for all its value as an ideal for society, is simply not feasible as a guide for business" (1 & 3).

So, according to the examples Carr gives in his article, I should be an Ethical Egoist, or adhere instrumentally to a restricted version of Utilitarianism.

1. What is Ethical Egoism?

2. What reasons does this ethical theory give which justify my not following the golden rule, or even make it wrong to do so?

3. What is Utilitarianism?

4. I see that Carr's version of Utilitarianism restricts the community of all concerned to corporate shareholders, a corollary of the cost-benefit analysis problem and one of the theory's vulnerabilities. What reasons does this version of Utilitarianism give which justify my not following the golden rule, or even make it wrong to do so?