Summary Business & Consumer ethics (K. Verstrynge)
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Course
Business And Consumer Ethics
Institution
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
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For Business Ethics
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Summary Business & Consumer Ethics- 3BA Business Economics
Samenvatting Business and Consumer Ethics (Karl Verstrynge VUB)
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Business And Consumer Ethics
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Samenvatting business &
consumer ethics
1 Introduction
People used to think they knew what ethics was about;
- but you can’t know
- you always have to criticize it
- it’s no clear theory
- you can never be sure about what you’re saying
- it’s about raising questions (dialogue, discussion) instead of giving theories about sth
1.1 What is ethics
1.1.1 the nature of ethics
Ethics:
- about right/wrong
- about what we should/shouldn’t do
- about obligations
- about life
but that’s just the tip of the iceberg (keep asking further & further)
1. ethics is about normativity
= what we ought do as human beings
- not per se what we are doing
- expectations, the norm
- limits the freedom (we can’t do whatever we want)
2. ethics is about humanity
= we as a humans pose these questions
- we are the only beings who reflect on or acts
- we speak about human life
3. ethics is about individuality
= whenever we speak about humans, we speak about individuals
- we are not just part of a bigger species (we are part of it in a special way)
- we are all individuals (with our own actions, opinions, character…)
- you cannot speak about humans if you’re not speaking about individuals
Heidegger reflects on that
1. geworfenheit (= geworpenheid)
= we are thrown in the world (we didn’t ask to be born)
- we have received life (by who? Your parents didn’t choose your character etc.)
2. jemeinigkeit (= mine-ness)
= what is mine? (every time we speak about humans, we speak about ourselves)
1
, - nobody can replace yourself as an individual person, nobody is exactly like you
- you cannot ask someone else to live your life or take over your suffer, sadness…
1.1.2 the ethical demand
= obligations in life (to do/not do sth)
- what we do in life is no different than coming into life (not voluntarily)
threefold characteristic
1. singular
= the demand is individual
- what is expected from me
- we reflect on our own individual
Vb.: climate change (the bigger the footprint, the bigger responsibility/obligation)
2. absolute
= the demand is put on our shoulders by our existence
- it’s bigger/older than we are
- there’s an ethical obligation & when we’re born we must follow it (it’s older)
3. infinite
= the demand is never fulfilled
- it’s always in the making, you can’t put in on hold (have to do it every day)
Kierkegaard; “life is lived forward, but understood backwards”
- life is constantly moving forward
- you can only look back at every part of your life when you die
Ethics is disruptive:
- we can’t know all about it, we can’t master it (it’s bigger than us)
- existential guilt (= we’ll never know what we did right/wrong; uncertainty in life)
2
, 1.2 What is (applied) ethics?
1.2.1 The word ethics
- Greek roots (strokes with Western thinking)
doesn’t stroke with other kinds of thinking (so we have to keep criticizing it)
- derived from “ethos”
1. éthos
= where animals come together (shelter)
- there are customs/habits
- there’s a way of behaving
Vb.: when you feed chickens, the males always get to eat first (habit)
2. èthos
= individual elements (persuasion/reflectivity) that act upon our actions
- synonyms (have the same roots, but slightly different meaning)
1. morals
= standards/rules within a certain society/group of people
- shared by everyone in the community
Vb.: the way you kiss someone on the check (France vs. Belgium)
- the moral of the story (vb.: always strike first; says sth about a society)
2. morality
= reflecting on morals + acting upon that
- consciously
Vb.: eating meat is standard in Belgium, but you don’t do it because of various
reasons (you reflect & act upon the fact that it’s a standard)
Ethics
= reflecting upon reflections (reflecting upon morality)
- critical, never-ending reflection (disruptive; there’s no absolute paradigm)
- everything is under discussion (no place for dogmas)
main difference with religion & dogmas
- goes back to a founding father (Abraham) who had to sacrifice for a divine demand
- they refer to divine commands (you can’t deny them) = dogma
- “this is the truth & it’s eternal” (not under reflection)
- there can be moral value in religion, but it’s not under discussion/reflection
3
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