The morality of commercial life
(week 1)
Modern business & ethics
1. Reputation: social media are making people more aware of ethical scandals.
2. Talent: younger generations prefer to work in ethically conscious companies.
3. Competition: more companies are becoming ethically conscious
There are aims of business practices other than sheer maximization of profits.
Ethics by business
Companies incorporate ethics through codes of conduct.
Ethics is a tool to make decisions in moral dilemmas.
- Should a company owner accept a bribe to save dozens of jobs?
Being ethical consists in applying one’s personal philosophies to a specific situation.
Ethics by ethicists
Not so much an application of personal philosophies.
No opinions
Opinions are a matter of taste. Here we are trying to offer a reasoned argument which is not
based on your taste, but on the application of theory.
If ethics is a matter of opinion if it depends on culture, that in itself is an ethical position called
moral relativism.
By saying moral relativism is true:
- You already hold one fact as true.
- You will eventually find some things that do not seem relative.
(week 2)
Consequentialism
The morally right action is the action with the best consequences.
Task 1: define best consequences
Task 2: define consequences for whom
Task 3: define consequences of what
As for best consequences - Classical Utilitarianism, the principle of utility.
Utilitarianists are hedonists - they claim that goodness consists of pleasure and the absence of
pain.
“The right act to perform is the one that will bring about the best balance of pleasure over pain.”
,As for consequences for whom -
Consequentialism is agent-neutral
- Moral rightness is established independently of the person doing the deliberation.
- It places equal demands on everyone
Consequentialism is impartial
Everyone deserves equal consideration in moral thinking.
- Across distance (friends vs distant strangers)
- Across time (present vs future generations)
As for consequences of what -
Direct vs. indirect consequentialism,
Act-consequentialism (direct)
- Classical utilitarianism: choose the action that maximizes the good case-by-case calculus
Rule-consequentialism (indirect)
- Choose the action which follows a rule which maximizes the good Internalization of
types of action
Deontology
We should act according to certain rules or duties (do not kill, protect the vulnerable). The
consequences do not matter, in fact, sometimes doing the right thing will not have the best
consequences.
In Utilitarianism, doing the right thing is the same thing as promoting the good.
The good = pleasure.
The right thing = act so the consequences maximize pleasure and minimize pain.
In Deontology, the good and the right are independent of each other.
- Doing the right thing is acting according to deontological constraints (rules, duties, divine
command) which are not defined by what is good.
So where do these rules come from?
Kantian ethics
1. Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should
become a universal law. (follow rules that apply to everybody)
Not a matter of consensus or ‘do what you would like to happen to yourself”.
What he means is to follow rules that rational beings can universally will.
2. Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of
any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end.
(never treat rational beings as a mere means to an end.)
,The first one does not look at the consequences, it looks at the fact that willing certain rules will
incur in a contradiction.
- Rule: killing is wrong
- Universalization: anyone can kill
- Contradiction: if anyone can kill, you can get killed too and how are you going to will
that killing is not wrong?
The second one does not look at the consequences, it looks at the fact that humans are valuable
and have dignity.
- Action: kill someone to use their organs to save five people
- The person killed is used as a mere means towards saving five people
- You can use people as means, you can call an Internet operator and talk to them as a
means to get your internet fixed, but not as a mere means
Making a promise.
- A utilitarian would keep the promise only if it maximizes the good.
- A deontologist would keep the promise because the promise itself bounds her by duty.
Harming an innocent person to prevent harm to others.
- A utilitarian would harm an innocent person if that prevents overall more pain.
- A deontologist would not harm an innocent person ever, given that there is a duty to not
treat people as a means.
Deontological theories allow for the existence of moral rights, which cannot be overridden by
consequences.
- Every person has a right to life,
- Every person has a duty to respect moral rights and rights to life.
Rights are not absolute and can override each other.
- I may have a right to self-defence if my life is threatened, meaning that I will be inflicting
on someone’s right to life.
- But remember, it will never be because of the consequences.
Virtue ethics
Consequentialism & deontology ask “what should I do?” (act-focused)
Virtue ethics asks “how should I be?” (agent-focused)
- Does not base morality on the right action but on good character.
- Their properties are commonly referred to as virtues or character traits (a disposition to
think, feel, and act in certain ways in certain circumstances.)
, Aristotle’s virtue ethics
To be good is to have a flourishing life.
Virtue is excellence in performing one’s function.
An excellent knife has the function of cutting
- Properties: sharpness, firmness of handle, lightness
An excellent person has the function of practical wisdom
- Properties: honesty, generosity, kindness
Doctrine of the mean: virtues lie between a vice of excess and a vice of deficiency.
Why consider normative theory?
It may seem like a non-discussion: consequentialism is the most appropriate normative theory for
business. (driven by results).
However, sometimes businesses make decisions which do not have the best results, but because
it’s the right thing to do.
Remember that utilitarianism is agent-neutral.
- “The greatest good for the greatest number”
- “Yourself” applies to the firm
Utilitarianism does not necessarily support the idea of businesses looking only for their own
profit.
Utilitarianism then does not support the ‘anything for profit’ perspective.
How do we apply Kantian business?
No business rule or practice can be adopted which is inconsistent with the categorical imperative.
- Act in a way that could be universalized.
- Do not treat people as mere means.
This is why we consider businesses such as sweatshops unethical.
- Slavery or quasi-slavery cannot be universalized
- People who do not receive just compensation for their work are treated as mere means.
Virtuous businesses
The function of the market is mutual benefit.
- A businessperson or a firm is virtuous if it excels at finding mutual benefit.
- This would be a mean between benefiting oneself (the individual businessperson or the
firm) and benefiting other (for example, society)
