In his paper “Replaceability, Career Choice, and Making a Difference”, William MacAskill discusses career choice and the question of which altruistic career paths are ethically preferable to other careers. The common sense answer is careers that are directly beneficial and make a difference, the most typical example being charity work. MacAskill suggests that one can make an even greater difference through a high-impact ethical career; his main suggestion is Professional Philanthropy. MacAskill makes his argument from a consequentialist standpoint. Consequentialism determines whether an act is right or wrong only on the consequences of the action whereas in Non-consequentialism whether an act is right or wrong does not depend only on the consequences …show more content…
A morally innocuous career is one that is inoffensive and harmless to others, which would mean there is no strong non-consequentialist reason against pursuing that career. His Strong Claim, which he argues in favor of the most, holds that most times, it is ethically preferable to pursue philanthropy by following a higher paying but morally controversial career path than the path of a morally innocuous charity career (270). A morally controversial career is one that there typically is a strong non-consequentialist reason against pursuing that type of career. Being that one will spend 80,000 hours of their life working, career choice is one of the most important decisions to be made. If one wants to have the best career that makes the greatest difference, what should they …show more content…
Like the petrochemical engineer, the person pursuing financial trading is most likely altruistically minded and doesn’t intend to harm the poor and rather is just taking that job to make the money that allows them to make donations to make a difference. If they could make the same amount of money doing something less harmful, they would. Like the petrochemical worker, the harm being done by the financial trader would have happened regardless of who had the job but instead the person taking the financial trading job is affecting who gets harmed due to which companies and products they decide to trade on
It is up to the people whether they want to be models who endeavor for more or disgraces that fail to try. In “A Model of Christian Charity” by John Winthrop and “Art of Virtue” by Benjamin Franklin, both authors acknowledge human flaws, but more importantly they also acknowledge the capability to strive for good for themselves or for
In fact, it may be this same reflection that leads to an individual’s decision to prioritize practicality. Not all those who choose the practical path do it for themselves. Many may do it for their families, as a safe and stable means of supporting their loved ones. Others may take this opportunity to give back to their community through the ways they are most skilled. Instead of pursuing a single interest in a certain field, they choose to follow their callings.
Through the eyes of the prosperous, a lack of wealth indicates a fault in character, while their own success is the product of self-control. Paul Buchheit, who analyzed seven different psychological studies in his article titled “Ways the Poor Are More Ethical Than the Rich,” found that “ample evidence exists to show a correlation between wealth and unethical behavior, ...wealth and a lack of empathy for others, and…wealth and unproductiveness” (Buchheit). The relationship between wealth and poor character implies that when people become rich, they start caring more about maintaining their money supply and less about the well-being of others. As wealth increases, generosity, integrity, modesty, and other positive characteristics diminish. Paul Buchheit also noted that “low-income Americans spend a much higher percentage of their income on genuine charitable giving, [with] about two-thirds of ‘charitable’ donations from the rich go[ing] to their foundations and alma maters” (Buchheit). This proves that the wealthy are generally self-absorbed because a large proportion of them, despite having an abundance of money, refrain from devoting it to those in need. When donations are made, it’s only for their own personal benefit. Because the wealthy are programmed to be self-centered, they fail to serve others with their money and instead serve
It is widely believed that charity is voluntary, a supererogatory action, while a duty is an obligatory action. Singer shares this view, but there are reason to think that he should not. Singer’s principle seems to imply that it should not be considered a voluntary action to create change and help those in need. And, not only does it only suggest that we should change the way we think, but it indicates that we should do everything that we can to minimize the suffering because it is our moral
The objection says that Singer’s analyses of moral duty conflicts with society’s current outlook on charity, which views it as not an obligation but a personal choice, where those who choose to give are praised for their philanthropy but those who choose not to give are not condemned (236). Singer retorts this objection by saying that we as a society need to essentially change our perspective of charity (236). What Singer means by this is that we need to drastically revise our ideas of what a moral duty is because, in agreement with Singer’s premise that we are morally obligated to help those who are suffering if it is within our power to do so without causing something equally as bad as the suffering to happen (231), charity should be considered as our moral responsibility and a mandatory duty for society
Cullity argues the conclusion that we should always help others who are in need as long as doing so does not cause significant harm to yourself is too demanding, it seems as though mostly all sources of personal fulfilment would be morally impermissible if the demand to donate to aid agencies were to be fully carried out. If, for example, I wanted to do anything with my free time that involved what could be considered unnecessary spending then this would be considered immoral because theoretically the money you would spend on yourself could have been spent on donating to an aid agency which could use the money to save a child’s life. It is for this reason that Cullity argues in his paper that the Severe Demand can be rejected from an appropriately impart...
Farmer’s amazing outlook exemplifies this highly ethical characteristic of being a hero. In the biography, “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” It is made clear that he believes that it is still imperative that we always do what we can to at least attempt to save, or improve, lives. “In his mind, he was fighting all poverty all the time, an endeavor full of difficulties and inevitable failures.” (Singer, 210) Paul Farmer’s devotion to people in need is extremely admirable and is an ethical trait that he exhibits in all aspects of his life, but we can’t all be as saint like as Paul Farmer. As a Harvard doctor, Paul Farmer is, in a way, more capable of saving lives with the use of medical care than most people are. A simple and small contribution such as $200, or the equivalent to the cost of a pair of shoes, is much less effective than a direct contribution of highly expensive medical supplies and supplements. Singer’s analogy does not succeed in showing that the shallow pond case and the charity case are ethically similar, because the two scenarios have unequal costs, impacts, and outcomes. Not all charities are truly life-saving, but pulling a child out of a pond and into safety is. Although we should all do what we can to help others and essentially “cure the world,” we cannot judge one’s ethical character poorly if they do not donate
...r occupations where one can dress stylist and dine at fine restaurants and climb the corporate ladder, there could not be a more honorable and satisfying career that a person could give to their community and their society.
Stocker highlights the constraints that motives impose on both ethical theory and the ethical life in order to show that only when justifications and motives are in harmony can people lead the good life. Stocker believes that mainstream ethical theories, like consequentialism and deontology, make it impossible for people to reconcile their reasons and motives because these theories demand that people perform acts for the sake of duty or for the good, as opposed to because they care about the people who are affected by their actions.
Journal of International Development, No.10; pp. 427. Anonymous (1995). Make a Difference: An Outline Volunteering Strategy for the UK, Volunteering Unit, Home Office Public Relations Branch, London. Eberts, Marjorie and Margaret Gisler (1991). Careers for Good Samaritans and Other Humanitarian Types.
Analyzing career theory is an important task, not only as an individual but also on a large scale. If everyone has the career they are best at and enjoy above all others, the world would be a much happier place. Imagine a world where each individual viewed work as not something they have to do, but as something they want to do. Productivity would increase at all levels. Charitable foundations and businesses would be abundant. Whereas this ideal may not be fathomable at this point, if each person used this information, it would be only a matter of time before we are moving in that harmonious direction.
Consequentialism and non-consequentialism are both action based ethical frameworks that people can use to make ethical judgments. Consequentialism is based on examining the consequences of one’s actions as opposed to non-consequentialism which is focused on whether the act is right or wrong regardless of the outcome (Burgh, Field & Freakley, 2006). The three sub-categories of consequentialism are altruism, utilitarianism and egoism.
I discovered how sticking to one’s morals should be the topmost priority for everyone involved in business, whether personal or professional. Regardless of what the consequences may be, the intensity of the problem, and the complexities it may bring, sacrificing one’s integrity should never be an option, as integrity goes hand-in-hand with the morals of an individual (Duggan & Woodhouse, 2011). They further go on to say that having individuals take part in building a code of ethics that supports employee integrity, they will act ethically. Also, I believe that companies should place more emphasis on the moral behavior of their employees, and clear-cut policies should be set regarding such ethical situations. Furthermore, I realized how serving justice while making decisions really helps in the long run, and that opting to go for the ideal rather than they deserved is not always the best option, and could hurt a company in more than one
Volunteering enables a person to develop new skills that he or she would otherwise not have been able to develop. Unlike most other organizations, a charitable organization is happy to give positions to passionate, though inexperienced, individuals who desire to help others and benefit the community. Therefore, an individual with little experience in a field of work can gain meaningful skills that he or she can use in the future. For example, while I volunteered at the hospital this summer, I learned about the daily work lives and professional duties of doctors and nurses. Had I not volunteered, I would not have learned about these things. I was always interested in the medical field, but volunteering at the hospital let me explore my interests and en...
Ethics are the driving force behind good business. Every ethical choice made by a professional can and will have a much different outcome than any unethical choice. Bad ethics can ruin many aspects of a business and as (Gaye-Anderson, 2007) states how quite easily the lives and professional reputation of the employees can even be severally damaged (para. 3). Everything from morale to motivation can be severely affected by poor ethical choices. Customers will take their business elsewhere. Employees will abandon ship. Other, competing businesses reap the benefits of the bad moral choices. Ultimately, the entire business can be brought down by one poor ethical choice.