Lecture 1
Organizations as…
Agents: main actors who make decisions on the market
Environment: structured groups of agents who fulfill tasks which are relevant to
organizations, so inside the organization people act and that affects other people
Markets as…
Environments: in which organizations operate
Coordination systems: alternative to organizations, different types of organizations mean
different forms of evaluations
- Not isolated entities, but core part in society (interact with it). Impact markets have
on society and vice versa. To which extent current social values are affected by what
is good for markets? To which extent should regulations on markets affect societal
values?
Recognize alternatives, stakeholders & consequences. Decision-making is typically multi-
dimensional, decisions involve clashes of legitimate rights, values and different principles
and notions of what is good. Core to ethical decision making is the ability to balance clashing
values. Clash of values -> ethical problem.
Ethical behavior is not…
- Not the same as acting accordingly to one’s feelings/ emotions
- Not the same as according to religious beliefs
- Not the same as abiding by the law
- Not the same as following social/culturally conventions accepted norms
- Not the same as acting on the basis on scientific knowledge
Thus, although feelings, beliefs, legal and social norms, and true facts and evidence
might provide input to consider, they often are not enough, and ethic cannot be
reduced to any of these aspects.
Is there an unquestionable basis on which we can ground our ethical principles?
No automatic way of ethical decision making
- Aristotle: Do what brings you closer to virtue
- Kant: Do what respects human fundamental dignity and self-determination
- Utilitarianism: Do what provides the most good and the least harm
- Rawls: Do what is necessary to share one another’s fate
Chapter 1
Aristotle leert dat gerechtigheid betekent dat mensen krijgen wat ze verdienen. En om te
bepalen wie wat verdient, moeten we bepalen welke deugden eer en beloning verdienen.
Aristoteles beweert dat we er niet achter kunnen komen wat een rechtvaardige constitutie is
zonder eerst na te denken over de meest wenselijke manier van leven. Voor hem kan de wet
niet neutraal zijn over kwesties van het goede leven. In tegenstelling daarvan, stellen
moderne filosofen dat de rechtvaardigheidsbeginselen die onze rechten definiëren niet
mogen berusten op een bepaalde opvatting van deugd, of van de beste manier van leven. In
1
,plaats daarvan respecteert een rechtvaardige samenleving de vrijheid van elke persoon om
zijn of haar eigen opvatting van het goede leven te kiezen. Dus je zou kunnen zeggen dat
oude theorieën over rechtvaardigheid beginnen met deugd, terwijl moderne theorieën
beginnen met vrijheid.
Voorbeeld:
Sinds 1932 kent het Amerikaanse leger een medaille toe aan soldaten die gewond zijn
geraakt of zijn omgekomen in de strijd door vijandelijk optreden. Naast de eer geeft de
medaille de ontvangers recht op speciale privileges in veteranenziekenhuizen. Enkele
mensen hebben voorgesteld dat de veteranen die lijden aan traumatische stress of ernstige
depressies ook in aanmerking zouden moeten komen voor deze medaille. Dit voorstel werd
niet uitgevoerd, omdat alleen fysieke verwondingen zouden leiden tot het krijgen van een
medaille. Het geschil over het Purple Heart illustreert de morele logica van Aristoteles
'theorie van rechtvaardigheid’. We kunnen niet bepalen wie een militaire medaille verdient
zonder te vragen aan welke deugden de medaille deugdelijk toekomt. En om die vraag te
beantwoorden, moeten we concurrerende opvattingen over karakter en opoffering
beoordelen. Argumenten over de rechten en fouten van economische regelingen leiden ons
vaak terug naar de vraag van Aristoteles wat mensen moreel verdienen, en waarom.
Thinking about justice
We think prosperity makes us better off than we would otherwise be—as individuals and as
a society. Prosperity matters, in other words, because it contributes to our welfare. To
explore this idea, we turn to utilitarianism, the most influential account of how and why we
should maximize welfare, or (as the utilitarian’s put it) seek the greatest happiness for the
greatest number.
Lecture 2
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
- How should men best live?
- Look at personal character
- What is the highest good?
- Most important a person is trying to get in life: goals
- Connected with politics
The highest good
Eudaimonia= happiness, well-being, pleasure, wealth
Some plain and obvious thing like pleasure, wealth & honor
Wealth is a tool to get other things, so the highest good can’t be wealth. Honour can be
taken away and the highest good can’t be taken away. The closer you are to the top of the
pyramid, the more worthy you are.
The highest good
- is self-sufficient, so enough for good life
- is desirable for itself
- is not desirable for the sake of some other good
2
, - all other goods are desirable for its sake
- is the ultimate purpose or end
Telos: goal, end, purpose, function
Teleological: relative to the purpose
Goodness resides in the fulfilment of one’s telos.
Logos as human telos
Logos: speech, structured thought, reason, ratio
One can only exist without the other
Based on good and bad & right and wrong
Arete and the eudaimon life
Arete: excellence, virtue
The good of a human being is specific to being human
Reason is what distinguishes humanity from all other species
If we use reason well, we live as human beings; more specifically, using reason well
throughout life is what happiness consists in
The virtue of excellence (arete) of reason is specific to reason
The eudaemon life is one of virtuous activity in accordance with reason
Aristotle: happiness is not identified with virtue, but with virtuous activity. Living well (the
eudaemon life) consist in doing something, not just being in a certain state or condition. The
eudaimon life consists in those lifelong activities that realize the virtues (arete) of the
reason.
Aristotle: judge whether it is fulfilling its purpose well and whether its purpose is such that
helps bring about the good life for humans.
Aristotle describes ethical virtue as a tendency or disposition induced by our habits to have
appropriate feelings. Hexis is stable, you have a tendency of doing.
To develop ethical virtue, we need to be exposed to situations that call for appropriate
actions and emotions; but as we rely less on other and become capable of doing more of our
own thinking (we gain autonomy), our deliberative skills improve, and our emotional
responses are perfected. We are told and advised how to behave, we try ourselves what we
need to do and we become more able to do the thinking for ourself.
Like anyone who has developed a skill in performing a complex and difficult activity, the
virtuous person takes pleasure in exercising their intellectual skills. Pleasure makes us do
bad things and pain makes us avoid novel things.
Furthermore, once one has decided what to do, one does not have to contend with internal
pressures to act otherwise. You do things without being commanded, he learns, and it
becomes a habit. Acts because its own sake. Learning by activity.
Polis: city
In a polis there are citizens who can participate. Establishing a
community, the highest community is the one that aims the highest
goods.
3