Contemporary environmentally ethical dilemma in the business world Research Paper

Contemporary environmentally ethical dilemma in the business world - Research Paper Example Velasquez & Rostenkowski (1982) averred that â€Å"an act with ethical or moral consequences is that such an act involves decisions freely taken that will have positive or negative consequences for others†. To determine the morality of a decision or an action, one approach is that of utilitarianism which holds that a moral decision or action is one that results in the greatest good for the greatest number of people (Gilbert 2000). The philosophers most commonly identified with this view are two nineteenth century Englishmen, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. The assumption of this approach is that pleasure causes happiness and pain takes it away. Since pleasure and the happiness it causes are the ultimate good for humans, the act that causes the greatest pleasure or happiness for the greatest number of people is the morally good act. (Gilbert 2000: 4) Socrates, known to be the father of utilitarianism (Kofman & Porter 1998), shares the same view as examining an action based on its consequence for the good of a greater number of people. In this case, the overdevelopment of Florida’s beaches by private conglomerates only satisfies the purpose for profit of a few individuals. The public, who remains to the greatest recipient of these beaches, in the end, suffer from the wanton destruction of these beaches. Another approach to examine the issue of morality in environmental situations is the concept of rights and duties made famous by Immanuel Kant. According to Gilbert (2000), this approach is better explained, to wit: â€Å"the basic position here is that individuals have rights, either as humans, as citizens of a given country or state, or as occupants of a particular position. These right rights confer duties on others, and the morality of a given decision or act can be determined by an analysis of these rights and duties.† The rights of the concerned citizens of Florida