Ethics and CSR

Group Report
Movie
American Sniper

Arvind Kumar-13
Ketan Diwate -22
K.V.D.Surendra23
Nitesh Saraswat32
Rohit Yadav-40
S Venkat Sridhar 43

Consequentialism
Merriam Webster dictionary defines consequentialism as the theory that the value and
especially the moral value of an act should be judged by the value of its consequences.
In other words it is the act in which the action of a person is judged by the consequences of
his/her action rather than his/her character (virtue ethics) or rules of the action(Deontology).
Ends justify means is a classical way to define this theory which says that whatever you do
irrespective of how bad the act may seem, it is justified as long as the result of the action is
morally justifiable.
Just like there are two sides of a coin, every action has two sides right and wrong. But
sometimes there could be situations where both the actions seem right and choosing one of
them leads to a phenomena called ethical dilemma.
In the movie the lead protagonist chooses to kill a young boy and save the world from
terrorism. His action is justified by him because it involves a betterment concept of saving the
society at large.
Utilitarianism
Merriam Webster dictionary defines consequentialism as the belief that a morally good
action is one that helps the greatest number of people
In other words it says that the action of a person can be justified as long as it helps the
greatest number of people.
For example, killing of person is not justifiable but killing a terrorist is justifiable since it
cause damage to a majority of people.
About Chris Kyle
Chris Kyle born in 1974 was one of the most lethal American sniper who had been part of
various dangerous missions and had around 160 kills under his belt. He had also been
officially sent 4 times to Iraq during its war and was awarded various medals of bravery for
his heroic acts.
He had also written an autobiography under the name American sniper which depicts his
various missions in details and vividly describes the ethical trauma that he faced during some
of his kills.
Though part of several deadly missions, Kyle was ironically killed by his own friend Routh
who was mentally unwell as he suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
It was popularly believed that Chris Kyle was one of the patriotic persons that the country
had produced.

About Navy SEAL

Chris Kyle was part of US Navy SEAL which is one of the principal special operations force
of USA involved in various coveted and secret operations. A person in Navy SEAL needs to
be emotionally stable and not think twice before killing a person if it involves saving the
society or country at large.
About the movie
The movie American Sniper revolves around the story of an American soldier Chris Kyle
and the movie is based on the autobiographical book written by Kyle himself. The movie
starts with Scene of Kyles childhood and the initial stages of adulthood .Later he decides to
enlist himself with the US Navy seal in 1998.
Post 9/11, which had resulted in the American attack on Iraq, an opportunity for Kyle to work
as a sharpshooter emerged. This movie revolves around the scene which portrays the firefighting in a shattered Iraqi street .As the movie progresses, Kyle becomes more and more
mentally unstable and deadly as his tour in Iraq progresses. The main target for Kyle was an
enemy sniper named Mustafa, whom he manages to take out near the end of the movie. Kyle
feels that his inaction has resulted in death of many innocent people and because of this he
suffers from mental trauma continuously. In order to overcome this, he works with wounded
veteran soldiers. At the end of the movie, he is killed by a veteran soldier who is suffering
from mental illness.
About the scene
Context
Chris Kyle is having a watch on the American convoy which operating in Iraq territory. He
identifies a woman and kid walking towards the convoy. He confirms that the women is
carrying a Grenade.

Conversation between Chris Kyle and convoy

Chris Kyle: She got a Russian RKG Grenade and handed it over to it.
Convoy: You Say a woman and a kid??
Chris Kyle: You got eyes on it, can you confirm??
Convoy: Negative. Your Call
Team mate: Man, They fry if you are wrong. You will be punished if you are wrong.
Ethical Dilemma
>>>Whether to kill to kid or not??
Consequence of not killing the kid
The Kid with RKG grenade is running towards troop to attack the American Convoy moving
since the convoy cannot locate the boy he can kill all the soldiers in the convoy.
He can lose the entire convoy if he chooses not to kill the boy.
Consequence of killing the kid
If he got it wrong he is subjected to punishment. But he spotted a grenade if he kills the boy
he can save the entire convoy
Chris Kyles Decision
He finally decides to kill the boy and saves the convoy

Frame work for explaining his decision:

His judgment can be justified using
1. Utililiterianism
2. Consequentialism
Justification based on the Utililiterianism Frame work
He judged the situation and he analysed the consequences of the not killing the boy is more
important since he can lose convoy of soldiers. His moral values are against his decision and
are under emotional pressure which is clearly portrayed in the scene and he is sympathetic
about the boy. But he takes the final call of killing the boy since the consequences results in
adverse results
Justification based on the Consequentialism Frame work
His decision of killing the boy or losing the entire convoy of soldiers. He took the call of
killing the saving the convey by killing the boy since he felt that greater good since the
convey of soldiers are majority in number if he saves the convoy of soldiers.
Conclusion:
The actions of Chris Kyle in the movie are explained and justified by applying the ethical
frameworks