- In this week's reading, the authors make a claim that public administration, at the level of service providers, is teleological. Explain why it can be argued that public administrators use a teleological approach. Do you agree or disagree?
According to the teleological approach, an action is considered ethical on the basis of the consequences of the action, long term effects of the action and if the action promotes the greatest happiness to others . The public administrators can be thought to use a teleological approach in their actions as their decisions are usually made on the basis of the possible consequences of their actions. The public administrators consider the long term effects of their actions on the people and take decisions on the basis of actions that they think shall promote the greatest happiness to others. The public administrators have a sense of responsibility towards working for the welfare of the general public and tend to adopt a parental attitude towards the others. The public administrators feel that they can take decisions on the behalf of others and their decisions shall be for the welfare and benefit of others.
- The following statement summarizes a problem with the utilitarianism views, "it (utilitarianism) provides only a general approach but no clear method of assessing happiness to determine what constitutes the greatest happiness" (Gueras & Garofalo, 2011). In your own words, explain this statement and offer your analysis (do you agree or disagree and why?).
Utilitarianism provides only a general approach but no clear method of assessing happiness to determine what constitutes the greatest happiness. I agree with this statement. The theory of utilitarianism judges the people on the basis of actions only and does not provide any concrete details about what constitutes greatest happiness for others. The theory does not provide any details about the various parameters that make other people happy. Further, the theory does not have any method of assessing the impact of actions on others such as producing happiness for others. The theory merely states that actions may be right or wrong on the basis of their impact on the happiness of others and does not provide any details about what kind of impact the actions may have on others.
- Explain some problems with the theory of ethical relativism. In spite of these issues, do you think it is possible for someone to be an ethical relativist? Why or why not?
According to the theory of ethical relativism, the concept of morality is not absolute but relative to other individuals, communities or societies . It may be possible for few people to relate to this theory and be an ethical relativist as the theory seems to reflect the value of their tolerance for the beliefs or traditions of other people. Some problems with the theory of relativism include the belief of some people that morality depends on the individuals themselves and not on the culture or beliefs and is subjective in nature . Also, the theory of ethical relativism cannot be implemented uniformly as the moral beliefs and principles differ in the different parts of the world and each culture or religion has its own moral principles and moral beliefs.
References
Geuras, D., & Garofalo, C. (2011). Practical Ethics in Public Administration. Virginia: Management Concepts, Incorporated.
Pojman, L., & Fieser, J. (2011). Cengage Advantage Books: Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong. Boston: Cengage Learning.
