Evaluating Various Ethical Perspective

Midterm Exam Essay 2
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Midterm Exam Essay 2
The deontological ethical perspective, also known as Kantian ethics, was developed by German ethicist Immanuel Kant and is founded on the idea that ethical actions should follow universal moral laws. Unlike consequentialism, which judges the morality of actions by their results, deontology is an ethical perspective based on duty and the natural inclination to do what is right (Kant, “Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals,” p. 1). On the other hand, utilitarianism is an ethical perspective started by Jeremy Bentham which advocates actions that result in pleasure and opposes actions that result in pain. John Stuart Mill, a follower of Bentham, improved upon the rather hedonistic theory of pleasure by explaining that there are differences in quality of pleasures with intellectual inclinations, which are the aspiration of every rational being, having greater value than sensual pleasures. This essay will apply the utilitarian and deontological schools of thought to analyze the awaited FDA decision concerning the continued operation of Juul, an e-cigarette manufacturer, in the U.S. market after it became a public health villain for marketing to young people and subsequently contributing to the teenage vaping surge (Kaplan, 2021).
Kantian ethics are often divided into three formulations: act only on categorical imperatives that you would want to be universal laws of nature; always treat every individual as an end and not as a mere means to that end; and behave as if you were both initiator and recipient of those ends (Frederick, “Companion to Business Ethics,” p. 2). Juul’s early marketing campaign, which was targeted at minors, violated all three formulations of Kantian ethics. For instance, the first formulation states that businesses should act on maxims that they would be comfortable with if they were made into universal laws. Unfortunately, the real impact of exposing children to the dangerous effects of nicotine started a teenage vaping epidemic that resulted in thousands of lawsuits against the e-cigarette company. Worse, Juul failed to inform teenage users, most of whom had never smoked before, that their tobacco- and menthol-flavored pods were potent nicotine delivery systems capable of inducing addiction. If advertising e-cigarettes to minors were made into a universal law, the majority of teenagers (including the company’s shareholders’ children) would be caught up in the tragic vaping epidemic.
The second formulation of Kantian ethics states that business should always treat every individual as an end and not as a mere means to that end. It cautions against coercing or deceiving (negative freedom) as this is an affront on the humanity of the person and instead advocates developing that person’s human capacities (positive freedom) (Frederick, “Companion to Business Ethics,” p. 5). In the case of Juul, the e-cigarette company took advantage of the impressionability and naivety of minors to generate revenue. In the years before the youth vaping epidemic received media attention and alerted FDA authorities about Juul...