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Philosophy 223
Normative Ethical Theory:
Challenges to the Dominant Theories
Adding to Our Vocabulary
 A common moral concept that we have not yet considered is the
concept of a Right: a legal or moral claim (entitlement) to do or
refrain from doing something or to choose or not choose to have
something done to them.
 This is a particularly important concept for Business Ethics,
where it takes the form of a discussion of workplace rights.
 The ethical category of rights addresses situations when an
individual’s well being is vulnerable to the activity of others
(individuals or institutions).
1)Most of us must work.
2)Few of us control how we work (in all relevant respects).
-----------------3)Most of us are profoundly vulnerable in the workplace.
 Rights serve to protect the vulnerabilities of individuals.

Example: Right to Free Speech.
Rights Based Theories
 Rights Based Theories hold that rights form the basis of
obligations because they best express the a key purpose
of morality: the securing of liberties or other benefits
from rights holders (31).
 The TRA for RBT focuses on the correlation between
rights and obligations.
 If an agent has a right, then other relevantly situated
agents have an obligation relative to the right.
Different Concepts of Rights
 Given the proximity of the concept of rights to
the concept of freedom, it should not be
surprising that a distinction we recognized as
operating in the latter also operates in the
former.
 A negative right is a valid claim to liberty, and a
negative obligation requires that we not interfere
with the obligations of others.
 A positive right is a valid claim to a good or service
and positive obligation requires that a person,
organization, or state provide such goods or services.
Different Types of Rights
 The concept of rights as it is commonly employed
applied can take four different forms.
 Contractual: based in explicit, contractually established agreements.
 Benefits packages, Term of employment.
 Legal: based in legislative or judicial acts.
 Minimum Wage; EEOC.
 Moral: entitlements independent of any legal or contractual specification.
 Right to work, respect, participation, safety, privacy
 Human: entitlements based in membership in the human race (or perhaps
in moral humanity).
 Kantian notion of dignity.
Criticisms of Rights Theories
 One common criticism of RBTs points to the
proliferation of rights.
 Construed merely negatively, rights seem to be limited, but
when we consider the range of positive rights, their
number expands considerably.
 Another common criticism points to the
apparently inevitable conflict between
rights.
 The issue becomes how to adjudicate between these
conflicting claims.
Character vs. Acts
 Though historically speaking, Virtue Ethics is the
first systematic, philosophical ethical position, it
had until somewhat recently been pushed aside by
the other ethical theories we’ve studied.
 One reason for this is that these other theories
have focused our attention on the ethical
evaluation of acts, while VE focuses on character.
 There are lots of (not necessarily all good) reasons
to prefer the former.
An Ethic of Virtue
 The lack of attention (until recently) paid to VE has
the result that there is still a great deal of
disagreement about the basic structure of VE.
 We can say a few basic and uncontentious things
about such theories.
 The first and most important one is the VE reverses
the tendency that we’ve seen in other ethical
theories and makes the concepts of virtue and vice
basic.
 Right and Wrong become derivative concepts.
Virtue and Vice
 Virtue: a trait of character or mind that typically
involves dispositions to act, feel, and think in
certain ways and that is central to a positive
evaluation of persons.
 Honesty, Courage, Justice, Temperance, Beneficence
 Vice: a trait of character or mind that typically
involves dispositions to act, feel and think in
certain ways, and that is central to a negative
evaluation of persons.
 Dishonesty, Cowardice, Injustice, Intemperance,
Selfishness
A TRA for Virtue Ethics
 On the basis of the distinction between virtues and vices, it is
possible to articulate a general TRA for VE.
 An action is right iff it is what a virtuous agent (acting in
character) would not avoid doing in the circumstances under
consideration.
 If a virtuous agent would do it, the action is obligatory; if
they might do it, the action is permissible; if they wouldn’t
do it, the action is forbidden.
 “Acting in character” points to the concept of “practical
wisdom” and the significance of moral judgment for VE.
Advantages of VE
 It is consistent with our moral intuition that there
may be more than one right answer in the face of a
moral dilemma.
 It is not inconsistent with our conviction that traits
of character are importantly out of our control,
inasmuch as they are influences by genetics and
circumstance.
 It encourages us to take a holistic view of our
moral circumstances.
Disadvantages?
 What about the virtues and vices
themselves?
 Who is a virtuous agent?
 How do we know if they are “acting in
character?”
 What if we lack a virtuous character?