Analysis
The plan of ABC Company to build an adult entertainment retail store in the newly acquired land raises an ethical issue. The ethical issue arises from the fact that Owen is Luke’s brother who works for the company and has been assigned to develop the land for the construction of the entertainment facility. The construction of the facility would reduce the market price of the estate. Owen intends to sell the land and, therefore, Luke is concerned that the land belonging to his brother will deteriorate in price. Luke considers telling his brother Owen about the construction to save him from the loss. On the other side, as an employee of ABC Company, the information is confidential. This is an ethical dilemma because Luke has an interest in two conflicting ideas. In this situation, Luke knows that he must do the right thing. However, identifying the right action is difficult for him. Ethics is of interest to many people and therefore, many theories have been put forward to explain all matters concerning ethics. The theories do not give a clear answer as to what should be done in a particular situation but explain general directions that ethical dilemmas take. The Golden Rule, Virtue Ethics, Utilitarianism and Kant’s Categorical Imperative are some of these theories.
The Golden Rule
The concept behind this theory is that do to others what you would like them to do to you in the same situation. The rule requires one to imagine himself in another’s place or situation. Like other ethical theories, The Golden Rule does not prescribe a specific procedure but advocates for consistency of people's acts to others with their desires (Altman, 69).
While referring to this theory, Luke is expected to do to his brother and the company he works for the same way that he would like someone else to do to him. The theory, therefore, does not give Luke a direct solution but guides him in acting in a manner that his actions are consistent with his desire if caught in the same situation.
Luke has an option of informing his brother about the future plans of the company. Owen would in this situation sell the land at the current market price. Luke expects that if he was in the same situation his brother can also inform him to save him from the loss. Another option available to Luke is to consider the confidentiality of the company’s information. Luke would fail to tell his brother because he has a moral obligation to the confidentiality of the company’s information.
Virtue ethics
Virtue ethics is one of the approaches applied in normative ethics. According to Altman, 215 virtue ethics considers moral character of individuals in solving ethical issues. Its interest is the moral character in an individual while performing a task and not the ethical obligations or the outcome of an individual’s actions. The main emphasis of this theory is giving a guide on the characteristics that will be of interest to a good person. That is, the theory does not emphasise on whether an action is right or wrong.
According to virtue ethics, Luke should not consider the moral rule or obligation but should act according to his moral character. Luke can decide to inform his brother about the company’s plans that will reduce the price of his land after considering virtues like loyalty and honesty in their friendship and brotherhood. The information will be useful to Owen as he will sell the piece of land at the current price. In this decision, Luke does not consider his moral duty of confidentiality of the Company’s information.
On a different opinion, like can consider virtues like loyalty to the company and fail to disclose the confidential information. The implication of this decision is failing to inform Owen about the forecasts concerning the value of the land. In this case, Luke considers his moral character of safeguarding the information of his employer and not his moral duty to care for the welfare of his brother Owen. It is clear that the theory does not give a direct solution as to the actions that Luke should take. It provides guidance on the application of moral character and virtues in an ethical dilemma.
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is a crucial and one of the most fundamental approaches to normative ethics. Atman (187) argues that the ideology in this theory is that individual’s moral actions are best if they will result in maximization of utility. It is a theory concerned with the end result without considering whether the actions are wrong or right. The implication of application of this theory is that the outcome of an action will justify the procedure applied and this becomes a limitation of this theory.
Application of utilitarianism by Luke would imply that the end result will justify his decision. In order to maximize the utility, Luke can decide to save his brother from a decrease in the price of the piece of land. On a different decision, Luke can also retain the confidential information and fail to inform his brother to sell the land as soon as possible. In this decision, Luke would be aiming at improving the utility of the employer that is, the well-being of ABC Company. The theory does not give a clear solution to the dilemma but indicates that the decision made should aim at maximizing utility.
Kant’s categorical imperative (i.e., Universal ethics)
“The theory by Immanuel Kant stresses on the question whether the action is universally good or bad” (Altman, 101). The theory, therefore, does not pay much attention to the effect of an action to other people. So long as the act is universally good, then the rest does not matter. Kant was in the opinion that good actions will be universal.
While considering this theory, Luke would wonder which best decision is universal. For example, Luke should tell his brother Owen of the future trend in prices of the piece of land. In this scenario, Luke would not consider the effect of disclosing that information to the company and to the other persons selling their land. On the other hand, Luke can fail to inform Owen and assume that maintaining the confidentiality of the information is the universally good. Again this theory does not give a specific answer in this situation hence limiting its application. On a positive angle, the theory guides Luke on application universally good actions although deciding between universally good and bad actions remains a challenge.
Conclusion
The analysis above shows that Luke should inform Owen of the price decrease after the construction of the entertainment facility. Owen should immediately sell the land at the current price to avoid the loss after a decrease in price. The theories discussed above does not give Luke a direct or clear explanation of the course of action to take but give a guide on the available options after considering the postulates of the theory. A general criticism of the above theories is that they do not give an elaborate solution to the ethical dilemma. No any of the above theories has a clear stand as to what one should exactly do in the given situation. Therefore, it is wise if Luke informs Owen about the project and the consequences it has on the prices of his land in order to sell it before the price falls. It is also advisable that Luke warns his brother from disclosing the information to a third party.
Work Cited
Altman, Matthew C. Kant and Applied Ethics: The Uses and Limits of Kant's Practical Philosophy. Chichester [etc.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. Print.
