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Samenvatting Ethics And The Future Of Business (6314M0507Y)
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Summary of all the slides and chapters for the course Ethics and the Future of Business
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Slides Lecture 1 Morals & EthicsCourse objectives:
1. Understand, evaluate, and criticize core ethical theories and models of ethical decision‐
making;
2. Reflect and improve their own decision‐making towards value‐based and stakeholder
approaches;
3. Explain and criticize leading concepts and theories within corporate responsibility and
sustainability;
4. Learn and analyse key ethics and sustainability themes within their chosen specialization;
5. Reflect and apply learned concepts and theories to social and environmental issues that
organizations face
Morality, ethics, and ethical theory
- Morality is humans’ ability to distinguish between right and wrong
- Ethics: is the systematics study of morality
- Ehical theories: principles and rules that determine right and wrong in different situations
- Normative ethics: the study of how we ought to behave
Ethics
Ethics typically examines right and wrong from the perspective of a human being (anthropocentric),
instead of, for instance, nature.
Ethics is not just theorization of morals, but the aim is also to affect practice.
Ethical theories can give contradictory solutions to the same problem.
Challenges:
- Comprehensive: Addresses challenging questions at individual, organizational and societal
levels.
- Cross‐disciplinary: Philosophy, management, economics, political science, earth system
sciences.
- Abstract nature: It can be difficult to recognize the practical implications of ethical theories.
- Critical thinking: You should not take the theories and related practices as given.
- Experience: Experience in business can be helpful.
In society, morality is the foundation of the law
Law and ethics are partly overlapping. Nonetheless:
1. The law does not cover all ethical issues (e.g. cheating on your partner).
2. Not all legal issues are ethical (e.g. driving on the right side of the road).
3. Law and ethics can involve contradictions (e.g. Apartheid).
,Normative ethical theories
1. Ethical egoism
a. Usually not considered as an ethical theory, but very influential in economics
b. An action is morally right if the decision‐maker freely decides in order to pursue
either their (short‐term) desires or their (long‐term) interests
c. Authors: Thomas Hobbes (1588‐1679), Adam Smith (1723‐1790), popularized by Ayn
Rand (1905‐1982).
problems
d. A moral view based on short term satisfaction of needs is contradictory with our
moral principles.
e. Enlightened egoism focuses on the meeting of long‐term human interests.
f. Enlightened egoism does not take a stance on the nature of the interests and desires
of individuals, which can still lead to problems due to conflicting interests.
g. Although taking care of your needs and interests is morally important, the theory
needs to be complemented by more developed ethical theories.
2. Utilitarianism
a. An act is morally right if it results in the greatest amount of good to the greatest
amount of people affected by the action.
b. Important authors Jeremy Bentham (1748‐1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806‐1873).
c. Utilitarianism is very influential in normative economics, which is related to the
egoistic view of humans in economics.
d. Egoism in economics tends to function within a utilitarian societal moral theory.
e. Act utilitarianism: Whether a single act is right or wrong depends on the amount of
common good it produces.
f. Rule utilitarianism: Focuses on creating rules that produce the most common good.
g. In practice, utilitarianism becomes an analysis of advantages and disadvantages, a
cost/benefit analysis.
Problems
h. A utilitarian good is subjective, context‐dependent, and difficult to compare between
people.
i. Utilitarianism runs into difficulties in questions related to the just distribution of
wealth.
j. Utilitarianism can be contradictory with the idea of respecting basic rights.
k. Maximizing is generally speaking not the best approach to addressing all values.
l. Utilitarianism does not include the idea of reciprocity.
, 3. Ethics of duties
a. Most famous author: Immanuel Kant (1724‐1804).
b. Central concepts to Kant’s moral philosophy are duty, consistency, dignity, and
universality.
c. Duties do not mean mechanistically following rules, but they involve human’s ability
to develop moral law and moral rules.
d. Kant’s deontological theory develops principles or categorical imperatives to guide
our actions.
Problems
e. Ethics of duties is a rather difficult and abstract theory.
f. Morality can be seen as a heavy burden to bear.
g. Morality is founded perhaps too strictly on the use of reason.
h. Ethics of duties undervalues outcomes of actions.
4. Rights & justice
a. Natural (human) rights are certain basic, important, inalienable entitlements that
should be respected and protected in every single situation. These are based in
human dignity and lead to a duty for others to protect, respect, and support them.
b. • Main natural rights: Right to life, freedom, property, speech, privacy, conscience,
and fair trial among others.
c. Central authors: John Locke (1632‐1714) and John Rawls (1921‐ 2002).
d. Rights‐based thinking are a central part of Western political and ethical thought and
the foundation of universal human rights.
e. Justice: The simultaneous fair treatment of individuals in a given situation with the
result that everybody gets what they deserve.
f. Key ideas: Procedural vs. distributive fairness; veil of ignorance; social contract;
system of basic liberties, judgement of society by the state of the least advantaged,
and equal opportunity
problems
g. Most lists of basic rights can be seen to be relatively arbitrary. Rights are criticized as
being too Western and/or neocolonial.
h. Basic rights presuppose institutions that allow for recourse in case of breach. Theory
does not offer practical guidance in extreme situations.
Alternative perspectives on ethics
- Virtue ethics: The central aim is not to fulfill duties or aim for the greatest good, but to lead a
good life. Virtue ethics focuses on the character of the individual decision‐maker
- Feminist ethics: Instead of abstract moral principles, feminist ethics emphasizes caring,
empathy, and harmonious and healthy social relationships.
- Discourse ethics: Discourse ethics focuses on solving ethical conflicts through democratic
dialogue and providing a process of norm generation.
- Postmodern ethics: Moving away from rationality, postmodern ethics focuses on emotional
moral impulses towards others, and focuses on individual questioning of universal rules.
, Bazerman (2020) guidelines for creating more value:
1. Compare alternatives: Allows us to implement utilitarianism.
2. Look for tradeoffs: Allows us to consider on what each of values in negotiations.
3. See time as a scarce resource: Allows us to prioritize and focus our efforts.
4. Integrate your ethical self: Allows us to identify opportunities for improvement.
5. Design the choice architecture: Allows us to make positive value creation easier.
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