用功利主义分析道德困境

Ethical Dilemma (Utilitarianism)I. Case study：An American manager pays a visit to a factory in a very poor country, the local manager shows him around. The American manager finds a young girl is working in the factory and asks her name and age, and then he tells the local manager to fire her since hiring underage worker is a violation to the company’s rules. Without the job, the little girl has to become a prostitute to support her and her little brother. One year later, the little girl dies of AIDS, and her little brother has to beg in the street. One year later, the little boy also dies of hunger.Now there is an ethic dilemma, we should judge whether the American Manager does in this case is right or wrong? If he knows the consequence the action brings, will he fire the little girl?II. Presentation:Today, in my presentation, there are totally 3 parts. First, it is the theory of Utilitarianism. Second, I’ll analyze the case according to the theory; and in the end, a conclusion will be made on the basis of Utilitarianism.今天，在我的课堂呈现中，总共有三部分。

第一，是功利主义的理论。

第二，我会就这个理论分析案例。

最后，在功利主义的基础上我会做一个总结。

Now let’s move to the first part. Utilitarianism is a theory that was proposed by John Stuart Mill, a philosopher from Britain. His theory is mainly focused on the consequences of an action, rather than its process. There is a principle that defines the theory, which is called Greatest Happiness Principle. The principle means when we judge if an action is right or wrong, we should evaluate the happiness it brings.现在让我们进入第一部分。

功利主义的理论是由John Stuart Mill提出的，他是一个英国的哲学家。

他的理论主要集中于一个动作的结果而非过程。

有一个原则能够定义该理论，就是最大快乐原则。

这个原则意思是当我们判断一个动作是好的还是坏的，我们应该评估这个动作所带来的快乐。

Next, I will say something about the case. According to the theory, I hereby divide the consequences of the case into 2 parts, one is the pleasure and the other isthe pain. First, in terms of pleasures, for companies who employ child labor, they will gain a greater profit since they pay a little money to child labor. For them, more money brings more pleasure. Regarding those families who send children to work, they will have more income, although not much, it can still help them pay bills.接下来，我会谈谈这个案例。

根据这个理论，我把这个案例的结果分为两个部分，一个是快乐，另一个是痛苦。

第一在快乐方面，对于这些雇佣童工的公司，他们会获得更多的利益因为他们支付给童工很少的钱。

对他们来说，更多的钱就意味着更多的快乐。

至于这些家庭，他们把孩子送去工作，他们会有更多的收入，尽管不多，但依然能够帮他们清偿一些债务。

Now, how about the pains? Pains will emerge simultaneously. First, for companies who employ underage workers, this behavior is immoral and as a result, they will be blamed by the society. What’s more, their reputation will be undermined. Second, for those young children, they cannot go to school, they have to work long hours, and often in a poor working condition, all these lead to pains for them. Referring to families, the income from their children is far from enough to live a decent life; besides, they can hardly gain respect and social status. In other words, they remain a disadvantaged group. Finally, for the whole society, if school age children cannot get education, in the long run, its pace of development will slow down. We all know that children represent future, when these children grow up but without necessary education, the society will fall behind others in the world. It is a great pain.那么，痛苦又是怎么样的呢？痛苦会同时出现。

第一对于雇佣童工的公司来说，他们的行为是不道德的，所以他们会被社会所责备。

此外，他们的名誉会受到损坏。

第二，对于这些年轻的孩子来说，他们不能去学校，他们不得不在非常简陋的工作环境中工作很长时间，这也给他们带来了痛苦。

至于家庭，孩子的收入远远不足以让他们活得很好。

此外，他们几乎没有尊严和社会地位可言。

换句话说，他们依旧是一个弱势群体。

最后，对整个社会而言，如果学龄儿童无法接受教育，长此以往，社会发展的步伐会减慢。

我们都知道孩子代表了未来，当这些孩子长大了之后却没有必须的教育，这个社会会落后于其他国家。

这是一个巨大的痛苦。

So, after comparing the pleasures and pains, it is obvious that pains far outweighpleasures, so employing child labor does not follow the Greatest Happiness Principle. Therefore, I think that what the American manager does in the case is right.所以，在对比了快乐和痛苦之后，很明显，痛苦远远超过快乐，所以雇佣童工并不遵循最大快乐原则。

所以我认为美国经理做的是对的。

III. Q&A:Question：In this Case, the little girl and her brother died in the end, the action of American manager brings pains to the little girl and her brother, how can we agree with the action of the American Manager?Answers: That’s a good question, first I agree with you that the action really brings pains to the girl and her brother. However, we should make it clear that the theory of Utilitarianism follows the principle of Greatest Happiness, it refers to the happiness of all parties involved, not merely one or two individual parties.IV. Suggestion:Suggestion: in this case, we should not blame the manager and her company, since they alone don’t have enough power to change such things. However, it seems that the government has been absent throughout the whole issue, they should be responsible for the death of the girl and her brother. But in poor countries, even the government can’t do something to change the situation. The international organization can help to support and change. Like World Bank Group, the purpose of this organization is to provide these poor countries for low-interest loan, interest-free credit and donation.。