ETHICAL
THEORY AND
BUSINESS
CHAPTER TWO
LECTURE ON 10-10-19
PRESENTED BY SAMREEN
Author: Jerry Estenson
The language of ethics
■ Fairness ■ Principle
■ Justice ■ Consequence
■ Desert ■ Integrity
■ Rights ■ Personal Autonomy
■ Obligation
■ Equality
■ Greed
■ Ego
Relativism, Cultural and Moral
Norman Bowie
■ Cultural Relativism
– Different cultures
have ideas about
ethical behavior
■ Moral (ethical)
Relativism
– What is “really right
or wrong” is
completely
determined by the
culture in which a
person lives
CRITICISM OF MORAL
RELATIVISM
■ A culture thinking something is moral does not
make it moral (slavery)
■ It is not consistent with moral language which
tends to be absolute
■ All cultures tend to believe in universal principles
■ There are no separate cultures (Bosnia, Somalia,
Cambodia)
■ Cultural traditions are bounded by physical laws
(outlawing sex)
Dealing with ethical and
cultural relativism
■ The counter-point to relativism is: something is wrong
since there is a wide variety of other beliefs and values
contrary to the action. As an example undue influence
is wrong because it is contrary to: people should be
treated with equal respect, people should be free from
coercion and threats, self-respect is good, loss of
dignity is harmful.
CASE STUDY
■ QUIZ - I
Remember:
– “Accepting a deplorable situation as least harmful of the
alternatives is not the same as accepting it as ethically
valid.”
– “Tolerating diverse opinions and values is not the same as
ethical relativism.
Utilitarianism – Consequentialist
Hobbes, Hume, Adam Smith, Bentham, John Stuart Mills
■ Can determine if act is good or bad based on the outcome
(consequences of the act)
■ Maximizing the overall good – “greatest good for the greatest
number”
■ Constructed as a counter-point to authoritarian policies that
aimed to benefit the political elite. Thus the foundation of
representative democracy.
Other Utilitarian perspectives
■ Happiness is the ultimate good
■ Utilitarians judge action not as happiness of the individual but
the general or overall good
■ Happiness is beyond the physical (hedonism) but also
experiences of social and intellectual pleasure (Betham)
The Utilitarian Calculus
■ Educated citizenry with freedom to pursue their own ends who
make decisions through majority-rule democracy = a society that
maximizes the happiness for the greatest number of people
Preference Utilitarianism – The
foundation for market economies
■ Because of limited resources people must rank order their wants.
■ They then enter the market and are free to bargain in an open,
free and competitive market environment.
■ Thus competition among rational and self-interested individuals
will continuously work to promote the greatest overall good
The Hedonist Calculus
■ How do we quantify pleasure?
■ Gross national product
The Utilitarian doctrines in
business
■ Deregulation of private industry
■ Protection of personal property rights
■ Allow for free exchange of goods and services
■ Encourage competition
■ “Allow the invisible hand of the market to work (Adam Smith)
■ This even allows people to take risks and thus make more
Deontological (Duty)
■ We will not use people as a means to an end
■ Individuals have rights that should not be sacrificed simply to
produce a net increase in the collective good – ethical rights
which are basic to all individuals
■ We have duties ( also defined as obligations, commitments or
responsibilities)
KANT’S CATEGORICAL
IMPERATIVE
■ UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE
– A person should act that
the principle of one’s act
could become a universal
law of human action in a
world in which one would
hope to live.
– A person should treat
other people as having
intrinsic value, and not
merely as a means to
achieve one’s end.
– People should not be
treated as objects but as
subjects
Rights Talk
■ Want is a psychological state of the individual
■ Wants get translated into interest work for that person’s benefit
and are connected to what is good for the person
■ Right are so important to well being of the individual that they
should not be sacrificed to increase the overall good.
■ Right override the collective will
Basic Human Rights
■ Freedom to make our own choices
■ Equal treatment (or consideration)
Virtue Ethics
■ Ethics requires us, at least at times, to act for the well-being of
others. It asks to define the virtues that lead to a life that is full,
satisfying , meaningful, enriched and worthy.
■ This is called “character” and is the emotional (affective) side of
humans.
■ Character is shaped while young by parents, schools, church,
friends, and society. As adults it is modifies by workplace
