| The Seven Moral Philosophies | Compare and Contrast Research Paper | | Terence A. Betts | 3/27/2011 |
Instructor: Kimber Cramer
Davenport University

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The textbook breaks down seven philosophies used in business decisions; they are Teleology, Egoism, Utilitarianism, Deontology, Relativist, Virtue ethics, and Justice. In this paper I will define each of the seven listed and compare and contrast so that it is clear to decipher each one from the other. Also I will provide an example of each philosophy to help provide further clarity. The first of the seven philosophies I will be discussing is Teleology. Teleology is defined in where an act is considered acceptable if the outcome or result is a desired one. This
An example of virtue ethics is when a company knowingly has bad parts and still sends them out an employee would consider this wrong. Other employees may see this employee’s passion for wanting to do the right thing but also will see it as the situation being out of their control and the other employees will just continue to go along with the unethical production of these bad parts. This can lead to whistle blowing in comparison to a enlighten egoist but contrast an enlighten egoist due to the employee not having his self interest first but the well being of other.
In the textbook it stated the difference between deontology, teleology, and virtue ethics is that deontology and teleology are applied deductively to problems. Virtue ethics on the other hand are applied inductively to problems (Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2010). This means that Virtue ethics draws general conclusions from specific observations. Deontology and teleology will take a general observation and make a specific conclusion.
The seventh philosophy is Justice. Justice is defined as the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness. Justice would be centered on deontological philosophies rather than teleological or utilitarian philosophies. This basically this says that in the business world justice acts to what an individual feels is their rights and