Ethical Theories - Essay Example

Although the act of Paige seems neutral since the negative consequences seem to be balanced out by the positive ones, yet analysis of the two positive and the two negative outcomes suggests that the two don’t weigh equal. The positive outcomes benefited only two people i.e. Liz and Paige whereas the negative outcomes affected a lot of people i.e. the hotel as a whole and also, the woman and her child. In addition to that, although the grant of $50 note to Paige seems to be a positive outcome for her, yet that is bribery and has negative impact not only upon the whole society but also for Paige who would be held accountable for her act in this world or/and in the world hereafter.

Agreed that Liz had remained a hardworking and loyal member of the staff and deserved special treatment, but not if that had to come on the cost of others’ peace. Therefore, the negative consequences of Paige’s act outweigh the positive ones, so Paige’s action was wrong. According to the third course of action, Paige could have granted Liz access to the room, but with the condition that she would clear the room within a maximum of ten minutes as soon as the expected customer arrives. Doing this, Paige would have respected the hotel’s rules, satisfied Liz as well as the customer.

So according to the utilitarian theory, Paige should have granted Liz with conditional access to the room. The theory of ethical hierarcicalism suggests that “[a]n actual person is more valuable than a potential person” (jan.ucc.nau.edu, n.d.). In light of this principle, at the time when Paige was conversing with Liz, Liz was the actual person because she was there and the woman and her child were. This essay discusses that although the act of Paige seems neutral since the negative consequences seem to be balanced out by the positive ones, yet analysis of the two positives and the two negative outcomes suggests that the two don’t weigh equal.

The positive outcomes benefited only two people i.e. Liz and Paige whereas the negative outcomes affected a lot of people i.e. the hotel as a whole and also, the woman and her child. This essay discusses that although the act of Paige seems neutral since the negative consequences seem to be balanced out by the positive ones, yet analysis of the two positives and the two negative outcomes suggests that the two don’t weigh equal. The positive outcomes benefited only two people i.e. Liz and Paige whereas the negative outcomes affected a lot of people i.e. the hotel as a whole and also, the woman and her child.

 According to the third course of action, Paige could have granted Liz access to the room, but with the condition that she would clear the room within a maximum of ten minutes as soon as the expected customer arrives. Doing this, Paige would have respected the hotel’s rules, satisfied Liz as well as the customer. Paige should have granted Liz with conditional access to the room.  The theory of ethical hierarchicalism suggests that “an actual person is more valuable than a potential person” (jan.ucc.nau.edu, n.d.). In light of this principle, at the time when Paige was conversing with Liz, Liz was the actual person because she was there and the woman and her child were potential people as they were expected but not there.

Therefore, Paige’s act of granting Liz access to the room was ethically justified. But another principle of the ethical hierarchicalism suggests that “A complete person is more valuable than an incomplete person” (jan.ucc.nau.edu, n.d.).  Concluding, the course of action that is deemed justifiable by both theories of ethics is for Paige to grant Liz with conditional access to the room.