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Summary Ethics and the Future of Business |Everything you need to know |
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Summary Ethics and the Future of Business | Everything youneed to know in short |
Lecture 1.
Morality
- Human’s ability to distinguish between right and wrong.
Ethics
- The systematic study of morality examines right and wrong from the perspective of a human being instead of
nature. Not just theorization of morals, but also to affect practice.
Ethical Theory
- Principles and rules that determine right and wrong in different situations
Role of ethical theory
- Ethical absolutism eternal, universally applicable moral principles, where right and wrong are objective qualities
that can be rationally determined despite circumstances.
- Ethical relativism context-dependent and subjective. Depends on traditions, convictions, and practices of those
making decision.
- Ethical pluralism incompatible values equally legitimate and tolerate them as such.
Differences law and ethics (morality foundation of law, so partially overlapping but)
- Law does not cover all ethical issues
- Not all legal issues are ethical
- Law and ethics can involve contradictions.
Moral Machine Experiment
- Sparing humans over animals, sparing more lives, and sparing young lives.
- Individual variations (age, education etc) no sizable impact (most driven gender and religiosity of respondents)
- 3 moral cluster (Wester, Eastern and Broadly Southern)
o Sparing pedestrians over passengers and sparing lawful over unlawful shared for clusters.
o South preference for sparing women and sparing fit.
- Country-level predictors
o Differences between individualistic and collectivistic cultures (indiv sparing greater number of
characters, collect weaker preference sparing younger)
o Prosperity and quality of rules and institutions correlates with greater preference against illegal crossing.
o Demographic reasons: high country level economic inequality corresponds to unequally different social
status and different treatment male and female gender gap in countries, less devaluation of women’s
lives, male more expendable.
Normative ethical theories (Western) rules, guidelines, principles and approaches that determine right and wrong (in fact
right, despite of people doing it)
Consequentialist theories (moral judgement based on outcomes, aims or goals)
1. Ethical Egoism morally right if decision maker freely pursues desires or interests.
Thomas Hobbes
o In nature state (without rules), would be chaos. So for everyone’s self interest best to adhere to
impartial rules.
Ayn Rand
o Individualism heart of every human being, virtue of selfishness. Each responsible for own
happiness and self-development.
Adam Smith
o Freedom and cooperation to ensure flourishing.
Milton Friedman
o Business leader should fulfill fiduciary duties (belang van andere)
2. Utilitarianism greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people (Bentham and Mill).
Act utilitarianism
o It is right if highest amount of common good is generated.
Rule utilitarianism
o It is right if it produces the most common good.
Characteristics
Hedonistic view (purpose in life is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain, highest net pleasure)
, Consequentialism (measurement of consequences of action = ethically correct)
Maximalism (not only good consequences, but maximize good)
Universalism (consequences for everyone in consideration)
Principle-based theories (moral judgement on derivation of principles and procedure)
1. Ethics of duties
Kantianism
o Deontological theory that develops categorical imperatives (must follow regardless of desires,
internal moral obligation derives from pure reason) to guide actions.
o Humans are rational actors (autonomous) with free will to make choices and could decide on
principles themselves as we know what right and wrong is, (by intellect) so behave accordingly.
universal (recognized by all human by virtue of pure reason) and impartial
Act according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should
become a universal law.
Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always
as an end and never as a mere means only.
2. Rights & Justice
Natural rights are basic, important, inalienable and unconditional entitlements that are inherent (respected
and protected) to all human being without exception.
Right to life, freedom, property, speech, privacy
Justice: simultaneous fair treatment of individuals in each situation with the result that everybody gets
what they deserve. Fair procedures (free to get rewards for their efforts), fair outcome (consequences
distributed in a just manner)
Social contract; agreement between members of society and those who govern it that establishes inter-
relationships, right, and responsibilities on a fair basis.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
o People are peaceful and kind. Only when society becomes more interdependent and need to
compete for resources and the ownership of private property becomes possible that strong
democratic principles are needed for individual and collective benefit. Change natural freedom to
civil freedom. General will = source of law.
John Rawls (justice = fairness)
o Social contract under veil of ignorance
State of nature where people are equal, free and rational. Do not know their own positions
within society
o Two principles
Difference principle To the greatest benefit of least advantaged, everyone is better off
Equal opportunity principle attached to offices and positions open to all under
conditions of fair equality of opportunity. Everyone fair chang to join.
o Inequalities unavoidable in a free and competitive society but these 2 principles need to match
Alternative perspectives on Ethical Theory
1. Virtue ethics
Central aim: lead a good life. Good actions come from good persons
Focus on being good people and right actions will follow.
Virtues differentiated into: intellectual (practical wisdom) and moral (possible characteristics), balance!
2. Feminist ethics
Emphasize caring, empathy and harmonious and healthy social relationships
Role of emotions and rationality (not autonomous, bound by circumstances, restricted information and choices,
emotional commitments and willingness to act on behalf of those with relationships)
3. Discourse ethics
Solving ethical conflicts through democratic dialogue and providing a process of norm generation.
Rational reflection and open communication rational conflict resolution
4. Postmodern Ethics
Emotional moral impulses towards others and individual questioning of universal rules (away from rationality).
Encourages to question everyday practice and rules and listen to own emotions and feeling of right and wrong.
Constant learning process as ethical decision are subject to non-rational processes thus less controllable and
predictable.
Guidelines for creating more value in utilitarian sense
1. Compare alternatives: allows us to implement utilitarianism
2. Look for tradeoffs: allows us to consider every value in negotiations
3. See time as a scarce resource: Prioritize and focus our efforts.
4. Integrate your ethical self: Identify opportunities for improvement
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