Case Analysis: The Parable Of The Sadhu

The Parable of the Sadhu: Case Analysis

Business Ethics 215

Carol Bazzi

10/20/2015

Introduction The parable of the Sadhu is a real life incident that happened to the author Bowen H. McCoy. He describes the journey he faced, with his anthropologist friend Stephen, while climbing the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal. During their trip, they encountered an almost naked, close to death, barefoot Indian Sadhu in severe condition. The holy man was suffering from exhaustion and hypothermia. He was found at 15,500 feet high on one of their hardest summit climbs during that trip. The climbers at that time were McCoy, his companion and their escorts, the porters and Sherpas, along with other international parties from New Zealand, Japan and

It promotes happiness for the maximum amount of people.
The mountaineers were probably thinking that way when they made the decision to leave the Sadhu since the greatest amount of people would reach their goal and be happy. According to Mill, their decision would be ethical.
- Kant’s theory: He discussed Deontology which mainly focuses on the concept duty and the motives of an act. This means that to be ethical one must act out of goodwill and in a way that it would be the same with anyone else in the same situation. Also, to treat people as human beings with respect and dignity rather than as a means to an end.
Relative to the Sadhu case this moral theory would be the fairest since, they wouldn’t treat the Sadhu any differently than treating another person in that situation (Another western person or if it were a woman like what Stephen said). By treating the Sadhu as a human being they wouldn’t have left him behind because the climbers would understand that the value of a human life is worth more than accomplishing a goal. This is the ideal theory for the scenario. In kant’s perspective, the mountaineer’s decision was

The issues are subdivided into 2, on an individual and collective group level. On the former level, it was obvious that none wanted to take the ultimate responsibility for the Sadhu but they did help a bit on condition that it would be too inconvenient. Moreover, they all justified themselves by claiming it was once in a life time opportunity and they had an ordinate goal to pursue. It was also evident that when Stephen objected McCoy’s action, McCoy dug into the defense position by blaming it on the external conditions and stress. As for the entire group, they lacked on several aspects. There was no process to reach consensus nor was there a proper plan or leader to take charge of the group. All their decisions were based on instinct as individuals that would typically try to escape from stressful situations. Nevertheless, even if there was someone who wanted to lead, the rest wouldn’t support him and just refuse his request. Finally, to add on the complexity, the team had different ethnicities and cultural background. As I began relate to this case, I realized I encounter such issues quite frequently without even realizing it. The simplest example could be just by passing by in Hamra Street and seeing the beggars on my way; I would just neglect them. On the other hand, if it were my friend asking for money I would definitely give