Can Utilitarianism Be Distributive? Maximization and Distribution as Criteria in Managerial Decisions

Utilitarianism is commonly defined in very different ways, sometimes in a single text. There is wide agreement that it mandates maximizing some kind of good, but many formulations also require a pattern of distribution. The most common of these take utilitarianism to characterize right acts as those...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Audi, Robert (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Cambridge Univ. Press 2007
In: Business ethics quarterly
Year: 2007, Volume: 17, Issue: 4, Pages: 593-611
Online Access: Volltext (JSTOR)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)

MARC

LEADER 00000naa a22000002 4500
001 1824200196
003 DE-627
005 20221202052654.0
007 cr uuu---uuuuu
008 221202s2007 xx |||||o 00| ||eng c
024 7 |a 10.5840/beq20071741  |2 doi 
035 |a (DE-627)1824200196 
035 |a (DE-599)KXP1824200196 
040 |a DE-627  |b ger  |c DE-627  |e rda 
041 |a eng 
084 |a 1  |2 ssgn 
100 1 |a Audi, Robert  |e VerfasserIn  |4 aut 
245 1 0 |a Can Utilitarianism Be Distributive? Maximization and Distribution as Criteria in Managerial Decisions 
264 1 |c 2007 
336 |a Text  |b txt  |2 rdacontent 
337 |a Computermedien  |b c  |2 rdamedia 
338 |a Online-Ressource  |b cr  |2 rdacarrier 
520 |a Utilitarianism is commonly defined in very different ways, sometimes in a single text. There is wide agreement that it mandates maximizing some kind of good, but many formulations also require a pattern of distribution. The most common of these take utilitarianism to characterize right acts as those that achieve “the greatest good for the greatest number.” This paper shows important ambiguities in this formulation and contrasts it (on any plausible interpretation of it) with the kinds of utilitarian views actually defended by major proponents of utilitarianism. The aim is not to defend any of these views but to formulate them in a way that facilitates using them—or, more likely, some revised version suggested by the paper—in guiding decisions in business. The analysis provided here should also facilitate appraisal of utilitarianism, contribute to clarity in discussions of business ethics, and suggest a range of ethical standards that merit consideration for certain kinds of decision. If the results of the analysis are correct, a distributive reading of utilitarianism is at best misleading as a representation of its central thrust; it should not be described as the view that ethics calls for achieving “the greatest good for the greatest number”; and, understood as its major proponents take it, utilitarianism differs more from Kantian ethics than distributive readings imply and is more difficult to defend than it appears to be when viewed as intrinsically distributive. 
601 |a Distribution 
773 0 8 |i Enthalten in  |t Business ethics quarterly  |d Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Press, 1991  |g 17(2007), 4, Seite 593-611  |w (DE-627)341900230  |w (DE-600)2069764-8  |w (DE-576)273911066  |x 2153-3326  |7 nnns 
773 1 8 |g volume:17  |g year:2007  |g number:4  |g pages:593-611 
856 |3 Volltext  |u http://www.jstor.org/stable/27673202  |x JSTOR 
856 4 0 |u https://doi.org/10.5840/beq20071741  |x Resolving-System  |z lizenzpflichtig  |3 Volltext 
856 4 0 |u https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-ethics-quarterly/article/abs/can-utilitarianism-be-distributive-maximization-and-distribution-as-criteria-in-managerial-decisions/084B5ED1F46D81458DAEA61BDB9DF848  |x Verlag  |z lizenzpflichtig  |3 Volltext 
935 |a mteo 
951 |a AR 
ELC |a 1 
ITA |a 1  |t 1 
LOK |0 000 xxxxxcx a22 zn 4500 
LOK |0 001 422301837X 
LOK |0 003 DE-627 
LOK |0 004 1824200196 
LOK |0 005 20221202052654 
LOK |0 008 221202||||||||||||||||ger||||||| 
LOK |0 035   |a (DE-Tue135)IxTheo#2022-11-29#919BD1F97B0D3F04A1C00AB7FA33566DB7D9CBF0 
LOK |0 040   |a DE-Tue135  |c DE-627  |d DE-Tue135 
LOK |0 092   |o n 
LOK |0 852   |a DE-Tue135 
LOK |0 852 1  |9 00 
LOK |0 866   |x JSTOR#http://www.jstor.org/stable/27673202 
LOK |0 935   |a ixzs  |a ixrk  |a zota 
ORI |a SA-MARC-ixtheoa001.raw