Ethical Perspectives

Four perspectives from which decision makers examine ethical issues:

1. Relationships - From a relationships perspective, actions that nurture and support a web of relationships are right. Actions that harm or destroy relationships are wrong. When decision makers examine ethical issues from the perspective of relationships, they may overrule considerations of fairness.
2. Fairness - A fairness perspective assumes that people are naturally competitive and willing to fight to gain an advantage over one another. By agreeing to cooperate, societies avoid conflict and work toward shared interests. Competitive people cooperate with one another as long as everyone is treated equally. In a fairness perspective of right and wrong, actions that treat people equally are right. Actions that show preference or bias are wrong. A fairness perspective is generally useful only after the rights of all parties to a decision have been recognized.
3. Rights - A rights perspective applies an absolute standard to measure ethicality. Right actions are always right, regardless of whether they provide utility for the society. Absolute "rights" define what members of a society must always be permitted to do or always be prohibited from doing. Rights can be positive and grant access to certain privileges, such as the right to freedom of speech. They may also be negative and prohibit society from denying privileges, such as the right to be free from invasions of privacy. Decision makers generally examine decisions from a perspective of rights only after the utility of an action or decision has been established.
4. Utility - Actions that bring benefits or happiness to many people provide utility. Decisions or actions that provide benefits to many people are generally considered more ethical than those that benefit only a few people. The utility of an action or a decision is the most fundamental measure of its ethicality.