If the outcome leads to the greatest good (or the least harm) for the greatest number of people, then it is assumed the end justifies the means. If subconcussive blows are the cause of C.T.E., how much impact is too much? Given the obvious conflict of interest, the studies have been criticized on that ground. [20] Philip H. Montenigro et al., Cumulative Head Impact Exposure Predicts Later-Life Depression, Apathy, Executive Dysfunction, and Cognitive Impairment in Former High School and College Players, Journal of Neurotraumua 34(2) (2017). A public health professor has said that letting pre-teens play tackle football is “an abdication of moral responsibility for children’s welfare.”. [23] Steven Senne, Student Athletes Still Reluctant to Report Concussions, Nationwide Children’s Study Finds, Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 24, 2019, at https://www.dispatch.com/news/20191124/student-athletes-still-reluctant-to-report-concussions-nationwide-childrens-study-finds. [34] Munro Cullum, Is Football Bad for the Brain? https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(19)31097-8.pdf, Greshko, Michael, “Ancient Bird Foot Found in Amber Has Bizarrely Long Toes,” National Geographic, July 11, 2019. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/07/fossil-bird-in-amber-has-unusually-long-toes/, Lawton, Graham, “Blood Amber: The Exquisite Trove of Fossils Fueling War in Myanmar,” NewScientist, May 1, 2019. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24232280-600-blood-amber-the-exquisite-trove-of-fossils-fuelling-war-in-myanmar/, Nelson, Alexandrea, “The Materiality of Morality: Conflict Minerals,” Utah Law Review, 2014: 1, p. 219 (2014). [1] Ingfei Chen, Exactly How Dangerous Is Football?, The New Yorker, Feb. 1, 2020. Business Law and Ethics Case Study. [86] Ted Tatos, Playing Games with College Athletes’ Lives, The American Prospect, May 20, 2020. Utilitarian theory and business ethics Human approach towards anticipation for maximizing of pleasure and elimination of suffering and pain brings about the fundamentals established in the realm of moral philosophies that date back to a distant past (Robertson & Walter, 2007). Ethics â Four Branches (3) Metaethics = The study of ethical terms, statements and judgements. Is Getting Soft. [83] Des Bieler, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy Says His Team Needs to Play for Benefit of State Economy,” Washington Post, April 7, 2020, at https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/04/07/oklahoma-states-mike-gundy-says-his-team-needs-play-benefit-state-economy/. If so, how would you go about guarding against it have a deleterious impact? Rule utilitarianism helps the largest number of people using the fairest methods possible. How about the reverse—why do many people who believe football players should be free to decide what they do with their bodies take decidedly un-libertarian positions on issues such as abortion, marijuana legalization, and assisted suicide? [3], A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is “a disruption in the normal function of the brain that can be caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head, or penetrating head injury.”[4] A concussion is a form of TBI where the blow causes the brain to move rapidly back and forth, bouncing around in the skull and suffering various types of structural damage. If the outcome leads to the greatest good (or the least harm) for the greatest number of people, then it is assumed the end justifies the means. [5] Although concussions can carry serious consequences, they are termed a “mild” form of TBI because they are not typically life threatening. As with Bentham's formulation, utilitarianism in business ethics is primarily concerned with outcomes rather than processes. Explain. Riding a bicycle carries risk and not a whole lot of parents are not letting their kids ride a bike. The word total is important here: if you act ethically according to utilitarianism, youâre not maximizing yourhappiness, but the total happiness of the whole human race. For many years this mining area has been protected by the Kachin Independence Army. See Bennet I. Omalu et al, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football League Player, Neurosurgery, 57: 128-134 (2005); [9] Ann McKee et al., The Neuropathology of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, Brain Pathology, 25: 350-364 (2015). Mill's approach is to argue that the pleasures of the intellect are intrinsically superior to physical pleasures. [82] Stephen S. Hanson, ‘He Didn’t Want to Let His Team Down’: The Challenge of Dual Loyalty for Team Physicians, Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 45(3): 215-227 (2018). Utilitarianism in business can lead to a bottom-line mentality in which decisions are based on achieving the greatest good for the organization as it pertains to the greatest number of stakeholders, including shareholders and all others affected by the actions of the organization The outcome is the determining factor, not the intent of the actors or whether people are treated humanely. See also Michael Cunningham, Player Safety Takes Back Seat as NCAA Rushes to Allow Campus Workouts, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 22, 2020. Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number. [44] Julie Mack, What Parents Need to Know about Football, Concussions and Head Injuries, mlive.com, Nov. 24, 2019, at https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/11/what-parents-need-to-know-about-football-and-head-injuries.html (quoting neuroscientist Julie Stamm). Specifically, decis⦠[62] Matt Ventresca, The Curious Case of CTE: Mediating Materialities of Traumatic Brain Injury, Communication & Sport, 7(2): 135-156 (2019). b. Explain. A study of former high school and college football players found that RHI exposure predicted later-life apathy, depression, executive dysfunction, and cognitive impairment. Chen noted that “there is no such thing as an acceptably risky crib,” but contrasted it with sports like football where “hazards are part of their attraction.” She asked: “How much risk is too much?”. Chapter 5: Ethical Theories. However, many such studies were funded or carried out by the NFL, owners of NFL franchises, universities that earn millions of dollars from football, and other interested parties. [48] Kathleen Bachynski & Daniel S. Goldberg, Time Out: NFL Conflicts of Interest with Public Health Efforts to Prevent TBI, Injury Prevention, at https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/24/3/180.full; Ingfei Chen, Exactly How Dangerous Is Football?, The New Yorker, Feb. 1, 2020; Mark Fainaru-Wada & Steve Fainaru, League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions, and the Battle for Truth (2013). Therefore, added benefits of rule utilitarianism values justice and includes beneficence at the same time. Is there a case to be made for “justified harm” in any of these leagues? We Know Little About the Long-term Effects of Concussions, Statnews, Sept.27, 2019. A 2007 study found that retired NFL players experienced levels of depressive symptoms no worse than those of the general population. Which approach do you find more persuasive, and why? Utilitarian? [15] Everett J. Lehman et al., Neurodegenerative Causes of Death Among Retired National Football League Players, Neurology, 79(19): 1970-1974 (2012). The term may also refer to pleasure or satisfaction that people derive from being somewhere. [18] Ernest L. Abel, Football Increases the Risk for Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Perceptual Motor Skills, 104(3): 1251-1254 (20007). Explain. Utilitarianism is a reason-based approach to determining right and wrong, but it has limitations. In business contexts, utilitarianism implies an obligation for businesses to do what they can to act in a way that maximizes happiness and minimizes suffering. A study of 3,904 Wisconsin men found no significant harmful association between playing football in high school and cognitive impairment or depression later in life. It is completely fine to exploit workers. According to research by neuroscientists, “There seems to be greater consequences if you’re getting your head hit when the brain is rapidly developing [below age 12].”. Discuss your reasoning. (Probably not; other kinds of brain abnormalities, such as inflammation or damage to neural wiring from head injuries, may play a role.)”. As with Benthamâs formulation, utilitarianism in business ethics is primarily concerned with outcomes rather than processes. In economics, utility is the pleasure or satisfaction that people derive fromconsuming a product or service. One expert said “It really seems right now that if your [football] practices are highly controlled and reduced as much as possible and you only play four years of high school, your [CTE] risk is probably pretty low.”. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982216311939?via%3Dihub, “Dodging Rumour and Insurgency: The Hunt for Burmese Amber Goes to the Heart of Myanmar’s Turbulent North,” Financial Post, Jan. 26, 2017. https://business.financialpost.com/commodities/mining/dodging-rumour-and-insurgency-the-hunt-for-burmese-amber-goes-to-the-heart-of-myanmars-turbulent-north, “It is Time to Bring Global Attention to the Trade in Burmese Amber,” NewScientist, May 1, 2019. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24232283-300-it-is-time-to-bring-global-attention-to-the-trade-in-burmese-amber/, American football is a rough and dangerous game. How is justice accommodated? And How Will It Change in 2019?, ESPN, Aug. 19, 2019, at https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27372974/did-helmet-rule-actually-work-2018-how-change-2019. [49], The NFL has taken other concrete steps to respond to the controversy. However, in 2017 the Myanmar government dropped leaflets from helicopters informing the population in northern Kachin that civilians and Kachin militants who remain in the region will be considered hostile opposition to the government military forces. [30] Julie M. Stamm et al., Age of First Exposure to Football and Later-life Cognitive Impairment in Former NFL Players, Neurology, 84(11): 1114-1120 (2015). This would arguably produce the greatest good for the greatest number. They’re all 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22-year-olds. Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics, or the ethics that define the morality of actions, as proposed by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. [59] At the end of the day, the jury still seems to be out on the question of whether you can go to a football game or watch one on television and still feel good about yourself for supporting a sport that seems to cause irreversible traumatic brain injuries. If a healthy person wanders into the hospital, his organs could be harvested to save four lives at the expense of his one life. [49] Lisa Bero, Industry Sponsorship and Research Outcome: A Cochrane Review, JAMA Internal Medicine, 173(7): 580-581 (2013). Explain. [8] Jeanne Marie Laskas, Concussion (2015). Utilitarianism is a theory of morality, which advocates actions that foster happiness or pleasure and opposes actions that cause unhappiness or harm. At work, you display utilitarianism when you take actions to ensure that the office is a positive environment for your co-workers to be in, and then make it so for yourself. [35] Munro Cullum, Is Football Bad for the Brain? How do the tau clumps relate to the clinical syndrome—do the lesions fully explain the mood and memory problems? Therefore, there is no correct way to treat employees. In today's Western democracies, policymakers are generally proponents of free markets and some base level of government interference in the private lives of citizens so as to assure safety and security. [38] Jesse Mez et al., Duration of American Football Play and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopothy, Annals of Neurology, 2019; DOI: 10.1002/ana.25611. This yellow to reddish-brown translucent material has been used in a number of ways, including to make jewelry, in Egyptian burials, and in the healing arts. [35] Other studies have involved skewed samples, including one where all the NFL players’ brains had been donated because of mental declines that the donors had suffered before their deaths.[36]. [21] Adnan A. Hirad, A Common Neural Signature of Brain Injury in Concussion and Subconcussion, Science Advances 5(8), Aug. 2019. A hard-core utilitarian would say that outcomes are all that matter. Utilitarianism is a tradition of ethical philosophy that is associated with Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, two late 18th- and 19th-century British philosophers, economists, and political thinkers. 2. The action is described as the right one when it is beneficial for most people and has positive consequences. [32] Matt Ventresca & Mary G. McDonald, Forces of Impact: Critically Examining Sport’s “Concussion Crisis,” in Sociolcultural Examinations of Sports Concussions (Ventresca & McDonald, eds., 2019). Its prevalence is unknown, and the neuropathological diagnostic criteria are no more than preliminary. Alan Schwarz et al., N.F.L.’s Flawed Concussion Research and Ties to Tobacco Industry, New York Times, March 24, 2016. Examples of Utilitarian Ethics One example of utilitarianism in business is the practice of having tiered pricing for a product or service to different types of customers. While some researchers and universities feel as though they should refrain from making such amber purchases, their failure to participate enables many private collectors to remove collections from the public or to charge researchers an exorbitant fee for access. Over two regular seasons (2012-2014), NFL players sustained 4,384 injuries, including 301 concussions. The first theory, utilitarianism, we will consider in this lecture. Empirical research supports the notion that allowing children to engage in dangerous forms of play is key to their optimal development. For example, assume a hospital has four people whose lives depend upon receiving organ transplants: a heart, lungs, a kidney, and a liver. The author of this theory suggests that firm must be valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and perfectly non sustainable. [4] Center for Disease Control, at https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/index.html. Children between the ages of 9 and 14 make up the largest cohort of football players in the U.S. Another study found that greater RHI exposure correlated with higher levels of plasma t-tau (a biomarker for CTE) in symptomatic former NFL players as compared to the study’s control group. Bry’s answer is that only the football players are being paid to do this “for our entertainment.”. If option A will create more happiness (or less misery) overall than option ⦠[93] Daniel Goldberg, What Does the Precautionary Principle Demand of Us? Utilitarianism is a specific type of consequentialism that focuses on the greatest good for the greatest number. Myanmar amber is plentiful, high quality and contains inclusions within the resin. In liberal democracies throughout the centuries, the progenitors of utilitarianism spawned variants and extensions of its core principles. Myanmar is a small southeast Asian country that contains about 130 diverse ethnic groups recognized by the government. This favoritism has created ethnic and religious conflicts resulting in government-enforced discrimination. [12] Jesse Mez et al., Duration of American Football Play and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopothy, Annals of Neurology, 2019; DOI: 10.1002/ana.25611. They have a duty to preserve the players’ health, but simultaneously feel pressure to get players back out on the field so the team can win. A study of former NFL players found that those who began playing football before age 12 tended to show greater later-life cognitive impairments as compared to those who began after age 12. John Stuart Mill was a nineteenth-century British philosopher and classical liberal economist who spent his working years with the East India Company. A 2016 study found no elevated risk of suicide in a population of players with at least five years in the league. 30 videos - one minute each - relate recent scandals in the news and give ethical insights. High school athletes are reluctant to report concussions. 4. [74] Dave Bry, American Football is Too Dangerous, and It Should Be Abolished, The Guardian (UK), Jan. 4, 2016. Over time more evidence has indicated that even mild concussions suffered by high school football players can cause serious consequences. The more expensive upper-class seats help to ease the financial burden that the airline created by making room for economy-class seats. An example of rule utilitarianism in business is tiered pricing for a product or service for different types of customers. [53] Christie Aschwanden, Football’s Concussion Crisis Is Awash with Pseudoscience, Wired.com, Oct. 2, 2019. [76] Dave Bry, American Football is Too Dangerous, and It Should Be Abolished, The Guardian (UK), Jan. 4, 2016. Some people accuse the media (and others) of hysterically overhyping the dangers of tackle football to the brain. [36] Munro Cullum, Is Football Bad for the Brain? Are there other cognitive biases and heuristics that might adversely affect your moral reasoning if you are not careful? They’re all in good shape. We Know Little About the Long-term Effects of Concussions, Statnews, Sept.27, 2019. Utilitarianism is used frequently when business leaders make critical decisions about things like expansion, store closings, hiring, and layoffs. Is it always a consideration that buyers should take into account? In act utilitarianism any action is permissible given that it increases pleasure for the greatest number of people and a successful business does exactly this. [14] Jesse Mez et al., Clinicopathological Evaluation of Chronic Traumatic Encepahalopathy in Players of American Football, JAMA, 318(4): 360-370 (2017). The main idea of utilitarian ethics is: secure the greatest good for the greatest number. Explain why and how using that approach might play out. Application of utilitarianism to business ethics. Many recent studies point to how dangerous football is to players’ long-term brain health. Why or why not? Deontological? [56] Christie Aschwanden, Football’s Concussion Crisis Is Awash with Pseudoscience, Wired.com, Oct. 2, 2019 (quoting brain scientists Adnan Hirad). As such, it is the only moral framework that can justify military force or war. [17] Kevin M. Guskiewicz et al., Association between Recurrent Concussion and Late-Life Cognitive Impairment in Retired Professional Football Players, Neurosurgery 57(4): 719-726 (2005). [77] Dave Bry, American Football is Too Dangerous, and It Should Be Abolished, The Guardian (UK), Jan. 4, 2016 (quoting CBS News quoting, in turn, Dr. John York). This hostile takeover of the profitable Kachin amber mines ensures that amber purchases from researchers and private collectors will help fund the government side of the Myanmar ethnic civil war. A 2012 study of 3,439 NFL players with five years or more in the NFL found that their neurogenerative mortality was three times that of the general U.S. population, and four times higher for two subcategories: Alzheimer’s disease, and Lou Gehrig’s Disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS). So, although utilitarianism is surely a reason-based approach to determining right and wrong, it has obvious limitations. An example of act utilitarianism could be when pharmaceutical companies release drugs that have been governmentally approved, but with known minor side effects because the drug is able to help more people than are bothered by the side effects. A limitation of utilitarianism is that it tends to create a black-and-white construct of morality. Why or why not. [51] Kevin Seifer, Did the Helmet Rule Actually Work? Cam-bridge: Blackwell, pp. [27] Bryan R. Cobb et al., Head Impact Exposure in Youth Football: Elementary School Ages 9-12 Years and the Effect of Practice Structure, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 41: 2463-2473 (2013). See also Ann C. McKee et al., The Spectrum of Disease in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, Brain, 136(1)): 43-64 (2013)(study of donated brains of 64 athletes found “the stage of [CTE] correlated with increased duration of football play, survival after football and age at death” for 34 football players). Tom would do this because he is promoting his well being above everyone elseâs (QUT, 2011). the best business transactions are ones where the greatest number of people are happy (shareholders, stakeholders, customers). Do you think these critiques are counterbalanced by the fact that the riches that are often lavished upon NFL players go disproportionately to African-Americans as well? In deciding whether it is ethical for you to buy amber from Myanmar, do you need to guard against the self-serving bias unduly affecting your decision? Rule utilitarianism is put in place to benefit the most people by using the fairest methods possible. [11] Justin Ehrlich et al., Mortality Risk Factors Among National Football League Players: An Analysis Using Player Career Data, F1000Research 2019, 8:2022. Russell, The Value of Dangerous Sport, Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 32: 1-19 (2005). UTILITARIANISM ETHICS 2 Utilitarianism Ethics Utilitarianism Theory of Ethics Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that responsibly distinguishes rights from wrong by potentially looking at the outcome of the events. Utilitarianism holds that an action is right if it tends to promote happiness and wrong if it tends to produce sadness, or the reverse of happiness—not just the happiness of the actor but that of everyone affected by it. [10] David W. Lawrence et al., Descriptive Epidemiology of Musculoskeletal Injuries and Concussions in the National Football League, 2021-2014, Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 2015:3(5):2325967115583653. [85] Michael Cunningham, Player Safety Takes Back Seat as NCAA Rushes to Allow Campus Workouts, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 22, 2020 (quoting Huma). Relatedly, should fans of the game be ashamed of themselves? We have an incomplete understanding of the extent or distribution of pathology required to produce neurological dysfunction or to distinguish diseased from healthy tissue, with the neuropathological changes reported in apparently asymptomatic individuals.”[33], Neuropsychologist Munro Cullum argues: “I worry the pendulum has swung too far. 5. Concussion Suit, New York Times, April 22, 2015. Years with the East India Company do the tau clumps relate to the controversy also evidence that NFL! 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