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Introduction to Ethics and Ethical theory

Introduction to Ethics and Ethical theory. Preliminary Observations: Ethics Rules or standards governing the conduct of a business Moral code – what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’? Highly subjective nature Tension between different stakeholders

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Introduction to Ethics and Ethical theory

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  1. Introduction to Ethics and Ethical theory

  2. Preliminary Observations: Ethics Rules or standards governing the conduct of a business Moral code – what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’? Highly subjective nature Tension between different stakeholders One of the most common is ‘professionalism’ or Professional ethics.

  3. Professional Ethics Professional ethics – diligence, privacy, confidentiality etc – how should lecturers look, behave etc. Terence Kealey, the vice-chancellor of the University of Buckinghamshire, said “most male lecturers know that, most years, there will be a girl in class who flashes her admiration and who asks for advice on her essays. What to do? Enjoy her! She's a perk.”

  4. Contextualising Ethics • Influence of peers, community, social groups • Acceptance of values and norms • The process of labelling [Becker, H. The Outsiders, 1963] • The impact of religious and moral codes – doctrinal / dogmatic impacts – eye for an eye • Natural Law – the principles which govern life • The Impact of Cultural Relativism

  5. Social Responsibility – to stakeholders, community, pollution, quality of life, environmental issues, consumers right, animal welfare, controversial products

  6. What are the bases of our Ethical decision-making? • Internal – nature, genetic, instinctive, intuitive, egoistic, calculation and rational self interest. • External – Doctrinal, sacred text, State & Institutions, capital, social organisations, values and norms…see Aristotle, Socrates, Hobbes, Rousseau, Marx, Gramsci, Elias and Dunning

  7. "Bankers who hire money hungry geniuses, should not always express surprise and amazement when some of them turn around with brilliant, creative, and illegal means of making money."Linda Davies Psychology of Risk, Speculation and Fraud conference on EMU in Amsterdam. Theorising Ethics Some arguments in ethics stress the egotistic nature of individuals. Perhaps we might refer to the genetic hardwiring developed in The Selfish Gene (Dawkins 1976)? But what of altruistic behaviour? (veneer theory). Might this be at the root of ‘greenwashing’ too? Social Darwinism (could we also have Business Darwinism?) The case of bribery in business and parenthood?

  8. Ethical theory has a vast number of branches • Theocratic approach – based on sacred texts / doctrine • Intuitivism – instinct • Rights theory – (see John Rawls) • Teleological theories – consequentialism utilitarianism • Libertarians – • Egoists • Deontological approaches • Hume – empiricist so could only be emotivism

  9. Alistair MacIntyre[After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory 1981] • Argues what is ethical as a historical narrative- Traces ethics historically, Greek, Athenian, Medieval, Enlightenment, Victorian and Modern -Ethics is specific to social and cultural setting in each case • Greeks – ethics with virtue clarified through tales and narratives • Aristotle [Ethics] good is equated with virtue and virtue is essential for good community functioning • Medieval – values associated with codes of honour and courage • 18th century Enlightenment – concerned with rational legalistic understanding of laws of ethics. • 19th Nietzchean ethics associated with individuals will to power – supreme individualism.

  10. Ethical Perspectives • Emotivism – not necessarily the right or the wrong of the action but our attitudes towards it. Can moral truth actually exist? • Intuitivism [G.E.Moore] Impossible to reduce things to good or bad. • Rights – [See Rawls] that things have rights? Claim to have rights and rights that can be taken away?

  11. Immanuel Kant 1724 - 1804 • Prussian Enlightenment Thinker • Groundwork on the Metaphysics of Morals and Critique of Pure Reason. • Looked for universally applicable laws or principles • Things that individuals OUGHT to do – absolute moral obligations CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE • Can an action be universally accepted • Do unto others as they would do unto you…

  12. Utilitarianism – ‘the greatest happiness of the greatest number’ • Commonly associated with Jeremy Bentham [1748 – 1832] and John Stuart Mill [1806 – 1873] • Bentham associated with utility of actions. • Utility based on pleasure principle – the hedonistic calculus • Millassociated with actions based on happiness • Consequentialist philosophy concerned with outcomes and rather than intentions • Problems ?

  13. Carroll’s Four Part Definition Understanding the Four Components

  14. Pyramid of CSR Philanthropic ResponsibilitiesBe a good corporate citizen. Ethical ResponsibilitiesBe ethical. Legal ResponsibilitiesObey the law. Economic ResponsibilitiesBe profitable. CSR in Equation Form Is the Sum of: Economic Responsibilities (Make a profit) Legal Responsibilities (Obey the law) Ethical Responsibilities (Be ethical) Philanthropic Responsibilities (Good corporate citizen)

  15. Corporate Social Responsibility

  16. We all instinctively ascribe ethical vales to actions. As adults we are expected to have moral and ethical frameworks in place. Children grow up to be moral and make the right ethical decisions (see socialisation) Animals though are not expected to be moral / ethical (See Wittgenstein on language) Stones and rocks cannot be ethical, neither can trees but trees have rights….so confusion about rights and duties and responsibilities? Do unborn children have rights? On the continuum adults and individuals…what about organisations? (see Campbell and Kitson 2008) Difference between public and private sector organisations (see Friedman 1970) Theorising Ethics

  17. Using the Concept • Prescriptive ethics – the outline of how we should behave • Meta-ethics – how we describe how we should behave and how we arrive at the claims. What logical deductive reasoning are ethical claims based on? E.g. Is there a logical basis for saying murder is wrong? • Applied ethics – how we relate ethics to particular situations? • Philosophical ethics relates to the discussion / critical elaboration of claims. The methods though differ from natural to social sciences from sociologist to mathematician etc – Hume and Kant exasperated at times at the lack of seriousness which philosophy was considered. As scientific as possible?

  18. Complex interrelationships… • ….nature vs. nurture • Self interest reciprocity...liberal morality is essentially protective? • Things have rights? The intrinsic reinforced by the external? • ….murder is wrong…we don’t need the law? But Humes rational scepticism makes this difficult to prove. • Sagoff, M. [1988] ‘The Economy of the Earth’..the Citizen / Consumer dichotomy (see also WTP)

  19. Group exercise Group 1/2: Explain UTILITARIANISM CONSEQUENTIALISM FELICIFIC CALCULUS Group 3/4: Explain DEONTOLOGIST CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE THEORETICAL & PRACTICAL REASON

  20. When is something moral and what is the point of morality? An educated man and an illiterate beggar find themselves on a raft built for one. Who lives? • What would a consequentialist make of this dilemma? • What would a deontologist make of it?

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