“What if everyone did it?” HOW TO USE THE EXCEPTIONS TEST
1. INTRODUCE THE TEST Ask: “What if everyone did it?” An “exception” is claiming it is ethical for us to do an action but not ethical for others to do it in the same situation. This is not the same as claiming that it must be ethical for us because “everyone else is doing it.” It is asking what things would be like if everyone else really were doing the action in question. 2. WHY IS THIS A VALID WAY TO DECIDE RIGHT AND WRONG? 3. APPLY THE TEST
STEP 2: Ask, “What if everyone did it?” If the action were adopted by others in similar situations, would it: b. Create a business climate unacceptable to us because everyone was doing it? If I do not want to operate in a business climate in which I cannot trust people to tell truth or keep their promises, then I should tell the truth and keep my promises. Not to do so would be to make an exception for myself that I don’t deserve since everyone is equal. How do we decide what is “unacceptable”? Consider what is important to me that would be sacrificed if we had to work in that kind of business climate. Is that the kind of world we want to live in? If we would not want to work in a world in which the action was common or if our firm and/or society would not want us to create a world in which the action were common, then it is not ethical for us to act in a way we find unacceptable for others to act. STEP 3: Draw a conclusion for Step 2: What if everyone did it? Either condition a. or b. would make the action unethical: “We should (or should not) do this action since we would (or would not) be claiming an exception for ourselves: we can (or can’t) all do it and/or the common adoption of the action would create a world we and our company would find acceptable (or unacceptable).” STEP 4: Ask, “What if they did it to us?” If the action were directed at us, would we think it was ethical? We are not asking if we would like it but whether we would think it was ethical. This step of reversing the action is a way of applying the Golden Rule: “Do unto others.” STEP 5: Draw a conclusion for Step 3: “What if they did it to us?” If it would not be ethical for others to do the action to us, then it is unethical for us to do the action because we would be claiming an exception for ourselves. D. SUMMARIZE THE CONCLUSIONS for “What if everyone did it?” and for “What if they did it to us?”
5. WEAKNESSES OF THE EXCEPTIONS TEST
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