The Business Ethics (Essay Sample)

BUSINESS ETHICS
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Business Ethics
A right is something that is considered as morally acceptable or justifiable. It can also be said to be a legal or moral entitlement to act in a certain way, to have something or to be treated in a particular way. A legal right is defined as a recognized, protected and justifiable interest or claim on a particular intangible or tangible property. Legal rights are thus provided to an individual through a legal system and can, therefore, be amended, restrained or even repealed by human laws. Moral rights are defined as the rights that are developed from human consciousness. These rights are supported by the moral force of the human mind. However, it's essential to note that these rights are not enforceable in law, and, therefore, a violation of a moral right cannot result in a legal action. Moral rights include the rules of courtesy, moral behavior, and good conduct. However moral rights are enforceable within a society set up, for example through punishment. Moral rights may also vary among different communities since they are mainly influenced by culture.
Human rights are defined as rights inherent to a human being irrespective of the nationality, sex, place of residence, color or ethnic origin. Human beings are thus entitled to these rights equally and without discrimination. Human rights are thus understood to be fundamental rights inherently entitled to an individual basically for being a human being. Human rights cannot be denied to an individual unless as a result of a due legal process. These rights include the right to association, freedom from torture and freedom of execution. These rights are all related in that they aim at promoting harmony and peaceful co-existence in society. In the absence of these rights and the established mechanism to enforce them human co-existence would be tense. These rights also reinforce each other, and a shortcoming in one would be provided by the other (Orend, 2002).
According to Shue's concept moral rights are characterized by three features. A moral right thus provides a guarantee against standard threats, rational basis for justified demand and actual enjoyment of a substance (Payne 2008). Moral rights are distinct from legal rights in that they are discovered and not created, there is no injustice in their distribution and thus equal, they cannot be taken away without one's consent, and are the same for all individuals irrespective of where they are. This is, in fact, the exact opposite of the legal rights.
Often people tend to recognize and appreciate their rights more than they do of others. Its, therefore, likely that people will recognize the rights of others only when someone is aggrieved and want to protect his right. It would, therefore, means that we know and acknowledge people have rights when they enforce their rights. This perception can, however, be changed if people could understand that where their right ends it's where the rights of others begin. Understanding one's self-rights could, therefore, help in knowing and also appreciating that other people too have rights since these rights are universal to all. We can also know other people rights through advocacy groups. There are various groups which are involved with advocacy of other people rights, for example, there are various human rights organizations that advocate human rights for various groups of people. Such advocacy can, therefore, assist us in knowing that people have rights. Going against people rights is likely to lead to some form of consequences, for example, violation of legal rights may result in imprisonment or payment of fine or damages. Thus being held liable for violation of rights could also help us in recognizing the rights of other people.
Utilitarianism is considered to be an influential moral theory, with its core idea being whether effects concludes actions to be morally right or wrong. According to utilitarian view, to the intention and the purpose of morality is to ensure a better life by increasing good deeds and reducing bad deeds in the world. For example, increasing happiness and pleasure while, reducing unhappiness and pain. Thus, the utilitarianism views how people should evaluate a broad range of things involving the choices that people face. According to Immanuel Kant, moral rights are based on a standard of rationality, which he referred as "Categorical Imperative”. Thus, immorality involves a breach of the Categorical Imperative (CI) and it's, therefore, irrational. Kant argued that everything has a purpose for its existence, and, therefore, the world has ultimate principles, and it's ordered. He further claimed that happiness is for those not gifted with rationality. The facts that human beings are rational would, therefore, mean that they can do things beyond happiness. The ability of human beings being rational thus allows them to differentiate right and wrong rather than just considerations of happiness and pleasure. Morality is thus considered to be in t