Utilitarianism, Deontology, and virtue ethics. These are
three schools that touch on ethics. Utilitarianism is the belief that the
morally right decision is the decision that is the most good. Deontology is the
belief that we should assess our choices of what we ought to do. And Virtue
ethics emphasizes moral character. Personally, I have utilitarian ethics. Actions have consequences, sometimes good and
sometimes bad. But if you know that your actions will result in an overall good
outcome, wouldn’t you continue with that action? Offering incentives can have positive
consequences. Offering incentives for charitable acts rewards and encourages
those to go out of their way to help. Just because someone receives an
incentive for their charitable act does not make it less meaningful. The point
behind charity is giving to those that need help, and if an incentive helps us
give to those that need it, and then charities should be able to offer
incentives without being criticized about the ethics of the incentive.
Incentives help to get those who wouldn't normally give an opportunity to give
and help out. The effect of offering incentives for charitable acts is that it
increases participation for these charities.
Marissa, I totally agree with you on your concept of utilitarianism. Everything has some kind of consequence. I also agree that charities should not be criticized for offering incentives. Charity is about giving to the less fortunate and if incentives helps to get people to donate to a charity then there is no harm in that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you! I feel like most of the times kids are bribed to participate in some community service or charity act, which in the long run doesn't really teach the individual anything. However, through that incentive they are building skills that may inspire them to do more charitable acts. Plus in the end-- it goes towards a good cause. So what is there to lose? Great post!
ReplyDeleteThe ethics behind whether or not offering an incentive for doing a charitable act is not a simple black and white answer to me because I can see both sides. I understand that the whole point of the incentive is to get more people to do it, but does that make it right? No I don't believe it does, the whole point of a charitable act is to do it out of the goodness of one's heart and because they want to do something for others. The flip side is, if an incentive makes more people fulfill charitable acts, then keep on offering these incentives, because the more people the merrier. In reading Freakonomics this summer, we learned the human condition is to act on incentives. It makes sense people want to get something in return for what they do. It's like working for no pay, yeah that might last for a little while, but eventually if they ask for pay and don't get it, their going to quit. Just like their not going to bother with charitable acts if their not getting a reward for it.
ReplyDelete