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Summary notes for business ethics (PHI2043)
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- University Of Cape Town (UCT)
these notes helped me achieve a 93 in business ethics. Well detailed and contains all relevant information for both essays and the exam.
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BUSINESS ETHICS SUMMARY• CHAPTER 1 & 2 – INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS ETHICS
• CHAPTER 3 & 4 – CRITICAL THINKING
• CHAPTER 5 – ECONOMIC SYSTEMS
• CHAPTER 6 – WHOSE INTEREST SHOULD THE BUSINESS ACT IN?
• CHAPTER 7 – PRODUCT LIABILITY AND SAFETY
• CHAPTER 8 – ADVERTISING
• CHAPTER 9 – MEANINGFUL WORK
• CHAPTER 10 – AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
• CHAPTER 11 – EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
• CHAPTER 13 – BUSINESS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
• CHAPTER 14 – GLOBAL BUSINESS ETHICS
• CHAPTER 15 – BEHAVIOURAL ETHICS
,CHAPTER 1 & 2: INTRODUCTION INTO BUSINESS ETHICS
What is philosophy?
Philosophy is a systematized body of thought all about matters of right and wrong and is the
route to wisdom. (Experts in thinking).
Wisdom is defined as ‘experience and knowledge judiciously applied’. Ideas are wise if they
are sensibly and insightfully derived from our observations of how the world is, and from our
understanding of why it is that way.
- Ideas usually contain some piece of advice.
Academic philosophy, being one of the types, is a systematic, wide-ranging endeavor
involving a great many people applying their minds to problems.
Philosophy consists of several branches, including metaphysics (Is there God? What is a
person?) and epistemology (questions relating to knowledge – Can we every really know
anything?). Moral philosophy is another branch, which include questions about ethics.
- experts in their fields should think like philosophers to solve their problems.
Because moral philosophy is a sub-discipline within philosophy it enhances our critical
thinking skills.
The practice of philosophy involves being sceptical of the ideas we come across.
What is critical thinking?
1. An attitude of being disposed to consider in a thoughtful way the problems and
subjects that come within range of ones experience.
2. Knowledge of the methods of logical enquiry and reasoning.
3. Skills in applying those methods.
Its obvious why
- It involves using logic to support ones thinking, so it relies on reasoning critical thinking is
such a necessity,
and evidence, and considers the consequences of each line of thinking as thinking is
for our beliefs. always going to
- Critical thinkers are sceptical about ‘any beliefs or supposed form of be one of the
main effective
knowledge’. They subject all ideas to persistent scrutiny, even if those means of making
ideas are quite generally accepted by other people, and even if they are discoveries in
ethics.
intuitively appealing to the critical thinker herself.
How does philosophy help with critical thinking?
The discipline of philosophy has always involved paying direct attention to thinking itself.
Studying philosophy usually involves taking at least one course in reasoning – logic is
described as a branch of philosophy.
It is so vital to philosophy that it is known as ‘the grammar of philosophy’.
Distinguishes between beliefs that are true (results from sound deductive reasoning), beliefs
that are probably true (sound inductive reasoning) and beliefs that have no good reason to
hold.
,Philosophy’s ambition is to give insightful and reliable answers to fundamental questions by
way of the most careful and precise thinking available to us. And logic is the most precise
thinking system we have.
What is the difference between ethics and morality?
1. The study of principles of right and wrong behaviour or character.
2. Codes of right or wrong behaviour or character applying to a certain group.
Common meanings: Principles of right and wrong behaviour or good and bad character.
What do ‘moral’, ‘immoral’ and ‘amoral’ mean?
Immoral: (unethical) – an act or a characteristic that falls short of the standard established by
some moral principle.
Example: The standard suggests: “All employees underperforming should not be dismissed unless they have
been informed of their underperformance and given reasonable time and training to help them improve”.
Employer fires an employee without previously informing her about her underperformance.
Amoral: (non-ethical) – no moral standard is applicable.
Example: Employer usually sends Christmas cards to employees. This year the business made a loss so he
now sends emails instead.
Moral: (ethical) – 1. Describes an act which meets a moral standard.
2. Describes the exceeding of a moral standard (supererogatory).
Immoral Amoral Moral Supererogatory
(meaning 1)
Synonym(s) Unethical, wrong Non-ethical, non- Ethical, right Moral, ethical, right
moral
Relation to the Fails to meet moral No relevant moral Meets the moral Exceeds moral
relevant moral standards standard standards standards
standards
Example Stealing from ones Smiling when Being honest with Saving colleagues
employer greeting colleagues ones employer from a fire
Moral permissibilityNot morally permissible Indifferent if acts are Not performing these Performing and not
status performed or not both acts is not morally are both morally
morally permissible permissible permissible
Moral obligation Are morally obligated Not morally obliged Are morally Not morally obligated
status or morally obliged obligated or obliged.
- ‘Should’ and ‘should not’ are morally used terms.
- ‘ought’ and ‘ought not’.
Distinguishing moral standards from amoral standards
For a standard of behaviour to be a moral standard, it should be derived from moral principles, for
example principles avoiding harm, improving freedom, promoting equality or achieving justice.
, If someone does not meet your own standards of behaviour they are not acting immorally unless two
things are true:
- your standard is a moral standard
- it is correct
*We should not presume that a standard of behaviour is a moral standard simply because it is
commonly accepted within a group.
Descriptive VS Normative ethics
Descriptive: Describe a person’s or a group’s moral judgements (believe it is wrong to eat meat).
*These claims can be tested empirically – thus determine if they are true by studying the relevant
people.
Normative: Prescribe moral judgements (it is wrong to eat meat). *Cannot be tested and establish truth
on their own (more insight is needed) – but aims to help each of us know ‘what we should do’ and ‘how
we should be’.
Objective moral facts
A claim is a fact if it is true, and it is an objective fact if its truth is independent of what we or anyone
else thinks about it.
What is emotivism and why do most philosophers think that it is incorrect?
Emotivists believe that they can in fact explain moral claims without using the languages of ethics –
which contradicts what was said earlier. Emotivists say that moral claims are nothing more than
expressions of feelings.
- The ‘boo-hurrah’ theory of ethics states that when you say eg lying is wrong, you’re simply
expressing your disapproval of lying.
- Emotivists believe morality is about feelings and attitudes.
- More of an attractive way of explaining why people cannot agree about the ‘grey areas’ of
ethics, however in doing so it removes all reasons for believing that anything is true or false eg
racism, rape or genocide.
*Should be rejected and one should conclude that moral facts do exist.
What is moral relativism and why do most philosophers think it is incorrect?
Moral relativists accept that moral facts exist, but they believe that what makes these facts true are
people believing in them, to be true. Therefore, moral statements have a relative truth eg truth relative to
a community.
Violating a clearly discernible moral standard. Eg tribal mass murder. Relativists agree with
any belief because it is what the community/ tribe does.
*This does not mean believe what the majority does. It simply means that if the majority has a certain
moral belief, then this is what makes the moral belief true for them.
- They do not believe that objective moral facts exist.
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