ABSTRACT
In the second and the fourth column o f the chart are what are known as paradigm situations. The paradigm situations represent the limits o f the permissi bil i ty scale. The negative paradigm is a situation that is incontestably morally i m permissible. The positive paradigm is a situation that is incontestably morally permissible (Harris et al. [1] , p. 127). The paradigm situations are created by finding the positive and negative limits o f each feature. For example, in the chart above, the feature, "size o f the gift" would have a negative paradigm value o f "very large." Everyone would agree that i f a vendor representative offered a deci sion-maker a one million-dollar "gif t" that this would obviously affect the decision process and thus would be morally impermissible. The positive paradigm value o f the feature would be "no value" since everyone would agree that a gift o f no value would be morally permissible. The likelihood o f a gift wi th no value affecting someone's decision making process would be very low. Each feature is examined individually and their limits are determined. The paradigm situations are thus de veloped. Each situation is actually a collection o f the l imit ing cases o f each o f the features. Thus, the negative paradigm situation would be the case where the size o f the gift was very large and the gift was given before the decision had been made. The positive paradigm situation would be one in which the gift had no value and it was given after the decision had been made.
