Utilitarian ethical analysis - Essay Example

Utilitarian school of thought suggests that our actions and morals are based upon the notion of greatest good. According to this school of thought, any action which can bring highest good to the highest number of people should be considered as moral and ethical regardless of the actual outcome of the action. Accordingly, utilitarian approach therefore does not take into account the consequences of the action if the same action results into greater good for the greatest number of people. (Schofield) Utilitarian approach is significant in the sense that it provides an ethical outline of justice and how it could be achieved.

The concepts of justice under the utilitarianism therefore are of critical importance in judging the moral outcomes of any action and how they can be implemented. Unitarian approach therefore can be widely used under different settings and can be important tool in assessing the moral outcomes of actions. (Hartman) There are two different schools of thoughts within utilitarianism i.e. act utilitarianism as well as rule utilitarianism. Both the approaches differ in some details and as such may be important in analyzing the case study provided.

The situation described in the case study therefore suggests that the Ford took actions which were deliberate in nature and avoided to take the responsibility. Under the utilitarian approach this sort of actions may not be considered as ethical or moral because they created the higher probability of inflicting loss to the general public. The resulting accidents and losses suffered by the drivers of Pinto car therefore may suggest that Ford failed to take into account the overall cost of this mistake.

A closer analysis of the situation would suggest that Ford has the option of including the required part in order to remove the deficiency in the car and make proper and fit for the purpose of driving. Despite the calculations of the cost and benefit, Ford however, failed to take into account this and did not include the required part. The audience who were mainly affected by this action of the Ford included all those people who were willing to purchase and drive the Pinto car. The over all size of the people getting affected by this action may be hard to estimate but all those potential and current drivers and owners who were running the car may be considered as the audience which was either directly or indirectly affected by the decision of Ford for not including the required part in the car.

The negative impact of the action taken by Ford however, may not just be limited to the fact that Car could get fire when hit from the rear. The resulting injuries as well as the cost of insurance and health care could also be included in the overall cost. Since this cost was collectively shared by the society as a whole therefore the impact of this action may be applicable to the whole society of the US. Expenditure on the health care has to be born by the taxpayers therefore higher number of accidents may require more resources of the society being spent in rehabilitation of the affected people.

As such the probability of the negative impact may be higher and society as a whole may have to suffer as a result of this action by Ford. It is also however, important to understand that by not including the required part in the vehicle, Ford has kept the price of the vehicle at low level. Low priced cars therefore may have off-set the overall impact as the savings which society as a whole could have made by using a cheaper and fuel efficient car may be more than the overall losses it can suffer.

However, it may be difficult to assess the utility of each option and as such without assigning utilities to each option, it may be difficult to assess as to which option is more important than the other. (Sensat) The best course of action Ford could have adapted however would have been the use of extra part in the car in order to reduce the chances of injury and losses. The overall impact of the injuries in terms of the claims on the company itself and the health administration costs to the society as a whole may be difficult to assess.

It is therefore important to note that the best course of action for Ford should have been to include the part into the car to make it more secure for the purpose of driving. Bibliography Hartman, Laura Pincus. Perspectives in Business Ethics . New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2004. Schofield, Philip. Utility and Democracy: the Political Thought of Jeremy Bentham. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Sensat, Julius. Kant. 30 October 2001. 16 September 2011 .