Author: | Tully, P. A. |
Title: | The doctrine of double effect and the question of constraints on business decision |
Journal: | Journal of Business Ethics
2005 : APR II+MAY, VOL 58:1,2,3, p. 51-63 |
Index terms: | decision making consumer protection ethics product failures product quality |
Freeterms: | double effect |
Language: | eng |
Abstract: | This article examines how the doctrine of double effect applies to business decisions to sell potentially harmful products to consumers. Lawrence Masek has seeked to correct the mistake of misapplying the doctrine and placing unwarranted constraints on businesses. However, this paper shows that his attempts to loosen the unnecessary constraints by appealing to consumer autonomy and an intuition about the morality of producing harmful products leaves the doctrine of double effect irrelevant to this type of decision. His statement that the doctrine is less restrictive in this context that others suppose leads to the conclusion that the doctrine does not constrain this kind of business decision at all. |
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