Question

• Why would it be important for policies to be put in place in order to mitigate harm?
• How could one apply categorical and consequentialist moral reasoning to the ethical questions the application raises?

Answer 1

Policies are very important to be place in order to mitigate harm, because they are required to be followed duly to ensure that the organization runs smoothly in hard times too. Some companies follow a reactive mindset , i.e. no effort and time is placed upon the risks or hazards until they run smoothly. It is better to be pro-active to mitigate the costs, because forecasting a risk and managing the risk is very helpful for an organization in mitigating the costs. Policies are requirements that a specified department of the organization must follow, to continue the functioning. They set a direction and thus help in reducing the costs at the time of harm. Policies are a epitome of organization's maturity. They help in deciding the fate of the organization at tough times by devising a plan to move from the current state to the previous state. By identifying the risk environment before the occurrence of the risk can pave up to come up with preventive measures and they can help in preventing the harm even before it occurred and it saves a lot of money and time to get back to normal operation of the organization.

Categorical and Consequentialist moral reasoning are both two different types of morales. Consequentialist moral reasoning deals with the actions or consequences whereas categorical moral reasoning deals with the actions (justifying good or bad). Consequentialist moral reasoning decides to deal a particular situation or a hindrance with the selection of the most optimized option covering the least damage/harm. On the other side, categorical moral reasoning places the situation in a particular category and then decides whether it is justifiable or not. For example , it is wrong to lie even for the greater good. Whereas consequentialist moral reasoning justifies the opposite. Based on the situations and the deciding factors, one should apply the consequentialist and categorical reasoning relevantly for the cause to get the solution when any of the ethical questions arise.