Scenario 1
After reading the first scenario, one of the major consequences of the Mayor accepting gifts from people who “might” do business with his city in the near future could blackmail the Mayor into doing whatever they want because of the gifts they gave him. The secondary consequence to this scenario is that it can make the mayor seem like he’s taking a bribe for a few favors, most people can usually pick up on dirty activity from high ranking officials which the mayor is; this could hurt his chances for re-election. There are people who could benefit from these gifts like his family, his friends or people who the mayor associates with. The consequences of the major’s actions don’t ethically outweigh the benefits because anyone knows that these favors would come off as extortion, blackmail or bribery in exchange for sharing his mayoral powers which could hurt him.
Scenario 2
This scenario is a double-edged sword, both the students and the instructor gain advantages & losses. For the instructor, the only benefit she would gain from giving the same lectures, tests and assignments is that it’ll leave her a lot of time to do as well as finish work that pertain to getting her doctorate. Another advantage is that the students know the material well which means she doesn’t have to teach it to them, the likely chance of students getting an A+ in the class could be great but it would be kind of suspicious and questionable. The consequences of this is that it can cause a large amount of students in her class to be absent because they’re not being taught anything new, the lack of challenge in the class could leave some students complaining about the instructors lack of direction in the class. These actions are likely to catch the eye of the Dean of students or the Superintendent. The consequences don’t even begin to justify the instructor’s actions because she’s not doing her job as an instructor.
Scenario 3
Todd & Edna are the textbook definition of the word unethical, there’s no benefit in this scenario for either Todd or Edna, the true consequence of their lack of ethics is that now they’re going to have a child that neither one of them are capable of loving because they don’t love each other; the baby’s needs are going to suffer as a result of this. The bigger consequence of this couple’s actions is that their lack of parenting will be obvious to most people which will cause the couple’s friends to worry about the baby continuously. It’s also evident that neither Todd nor Edna can take care of themselves because of their respective personal problems which again, the baby will catch the brunt of because they’re not going to think about that baby; just themselves.
Locke’s Analysis
Locke would’ve addressed the problem with Todd and Edna as people who care about their private happiness because ultimately, they’re both negligent of the fact that they’re self-destructive ways are doing more damage than good.
The answer that Locke would’ve given to everybody in the scenarios are the same as mine, they’re only thinking about their private happiness and the benefits of it regardless of who gets hurt or suffers.
References
John Locke ehtical theory. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/people/locke-john-ethical-theory.html
The free dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Ethical theory
