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Ethics and Social Justice

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Ethics and Social Justice
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This paper discusses the following aspects among others:

1) The definition and description of utilitarian theory.

2) Reviews the article “Interest s, Universal, and Particular: Bentham’s Utilitarian Theory of Value.”

3) Reflects on recent events in the news chronicling human rights violation in public and nonprofit organizations trough the selection of 3 specific examples of human rights violations in a public or nonprofit organization

4) Consideration of how the resolution of these violations could be ranked according to utilitarian theory

Ethics and Social Justice

Introduction

The area of ethics and social justice is a wide area, one that requires active participation of all the members in a society to ensure its full realization. Shaw, W. H. (2009) defines the word utilitarianism as the notion or idea suggesting that when an individual undertakes an action, the moral worth of that action is singularly determined by the usefulness of the action in enhancing utility maximization leading to a minimal negative utility as a result of the action. In this case, utility is defined as the knowledge, preference satisfaction, pleasure among others that all form sentient beings. Therefore, utility can be termed as a form of consequence in that the moral worth of any action is dependent on the actions outcome. The successful implementation and observance of ethical behavior and the promotion of social justice leads to the creation of a harmonious society, one that respects the rights of its members and promotes their well being.

According to Bentham, J. (1998) in his “Utilitarian Theory of Value” in the article ‘Interests, Universal, and Particular’, an emphasis should be made to enhance societal political and moral philosophy ensuring that it effectively promotes public utility and seeks to ensure the moral responsibility and accountability of each member in the society. This he suggests are directly linked to the



References: Bentham, J. (1998). An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Garden City: Doubleday publishers. Originally published in 1989. Cooper, T. (2006). The responsible administrator, Application: Utilitarian Theory and Human Rights. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons publishers, 2006. Dyzenhaus, D., Moreau, S. R. and Ripstein, A. (2003). Law and Morality: Readings in Legal Philosophy, 3rd ed. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 2003. Print. Lyons, D. (2005) "Forms and Limits of Utilitarianism". Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Rawls, J. (2001) A Theory of Justice, United Kingdom: Harvard University Press, 2001. Ryder, R. D. (2001) Painism: A Modern Morality. Ohio: Centaur Press, 2001. Shaw, W. H. (2009) Contemporary Ethics: taking account of utilitarianism. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 2009 Singer, P Singer, P. (2003) Practical Ethics, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Baxi, U. (2006) Bentham’s Theory of Legislation, 7th ed. (reprint), 2006, New Delhi: Lexis Nexis publishers, 2006. Bodenheimer, E. (2006), Jurisprudence the Philosophy and Method of the Law, 5th ed

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