CBA 400 Final: Business Ethics - Summaries
31 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
A. Normative ethics:
- Attempt to provide a general theory that tell us how to live
- 3 morally interesting things: the agent (person performing actions), the act, the consequences
- Deontology
o Consistency
o Human dignity
o Universality
- Teleology
o Egoism
o Utilitarianism
- Virtue Ethics
1. Deontology
- Deon: being good consist in following the right rules/meeting all your obligations
- Concentrate on the act being performed. According to deontological theories, certain types of act are intrinsically
good or bad, i.e. good or bad in themselves. These acts ought or ought not to be performed, irrespective of the
consequences.
1.1. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative:
- You do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do
- Everyone must follow ethical duty all the time, in every circumstances with no exceptions
- Ethical duty values humans for themselves never as a means to an end
Rest on 2 major claims
- The sole source of moral goodness is the Will
- A good Will is one which acts from universalizable reasons
The sole source off moral goodness is the Will
- Rule out abilities/talents because these can be used for evils
- Rule out consequences: because those aren’t up to us and goodness should not be based on luck
We only have control over our Will -> choose what policies to enact with our mind
A Good Will is one which acts from universalizable reasons (lý luận chung nhất)
- Will is the source of Goodness -> reason distinct human
- End purpose is not happiness
- Reason is used for us to consider and follow good principles/maxims
- “Act only on maxims that you can simultaneously will to become a universal law” => Act only on principles that
you and other can follow without question/ that you can follow and make others follow it and make it a universal
law
Rules of Deontological ethics
- Universal: if you can universalize an act and still it’s right -> it’s ethical
- Self: Are you ready to accept the same act on yourself
- Means: any person should not be used as the means to an end
- Long-term societal impact: Will the society become better in the long term if the act is universalized
1.2. Critique to Deontology
- Categorical imperative does not always say what to do – one forbidden action but many permissible actions ~~ to
do or not to do
- How broad Principles/Maxims are supposed to be/How much the Principles cover.
- Whether a rule can be universalized depend on how specific the principle is
2. Teleology (Consequentialism)
- Concern with the end or the consequences -> the end justify the means
- Humans have 2 masters(motivation) Seek happiness and avoid pain
- Consequentialist theories hold that we ought always to act in the way that brings about the best consequences.
It doesn’t matter what those acts are; the end justifies the means. All that matters for ethics is making the world a
better place.
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2.1. Utilitarianism: right or wrong solely on the outcomes of choosing one action/policy over others.
- Action is right -> benefit someone
- Action is bad -> harm someone
a) Jeremy Bentham: Farther of Utilitarianism, ( Principle of Utility)
Founded the Principle of Utility
- Recognizes the fundamental role of pain and pleasure in human life
- Approve or disapprove action based on the amount of pain and pleasure brought about
- Good = pleasure; Evil = pain
- Pleasure and pain can be measured, quantified
Calculus of Felicity used to quantify
- Give advice on how to pursue pleasure
- Consider an action: Compare the value in terms of Calculus of Felicity with alternatives
7 Categories of Calculus of Felicity
- Intensity: How intense is the pleasure?
- Duration: How long does it last?
- Certainty: How sure is the pleasure?
- Propinquity: How soon will it occur?
- Fecundity: How many more?
- Purity: How free from pain is the pleasure?
- Extent: How many people are affected?
b) John Stuart Mill (Greatest happiness principle)
- Holds that actions are right in proportions as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the
reverse of happiness
- Quality of happiness over quantity
- Calculus is unreasonable - qualities cannot be quantified (Higher pleasure: intellectual pleasure vs lower pleasure:
physical pleasure)
- Utilitarianism refer to “The Greatest Happiness Principle” -> achieve happiness (higher pleasure) for the most
amount of people (the extent)
c) Act and Rule Utilitarianism
Act-Utilitarianism
- Applied principle of utility to each alternative -> the best result (or the least bad result)
- Critique: Difficult to attain full outcome and certainty and could be used to justify immoral act
Rule-Utilitarianism
- Principle of utility used to determine the validity of rules of conduct (moral principles)
- Right actions are those that would have the best consequences if everyone follow them
d) Critique of Utilitarianism
- Account for justice and fairness: The good one one < the good of many
- Personal Integrity: Utilitarianism does not distinguish what we ourselves do from that which we only allow to
happen (kill someone vs let someone die)
- Utilitarianism demand too much: hi sinh happiness của bản thân cho happiness của người khác
- Utilitarianism does not take promise seriously: break promise for more pleasure
Của Bernard Wiliams
- Ease of decision: give no clear and obvious answer
- Remote Effect (Psychological): cắn rứt lương tâm
- Negative Responsibility: Phạm tội = Người làm ngơ
- Integrity: Utilitarianism >< Integrity (hold their personal judments)
2.2. Egoism:
- Psychological Egoism: People will only pursue their own interest, all action is motivated by self-interest
- Ethical Egoism: People should pursue their own interest, act selfish.
o Act-egoism: To determine the right actions, you must apply the egoistic principle to individuals act (chọn
cái nào mang lại nhiều benefit hơn)
o Rule-egoism: to determine the right action, you must see if an act falls under a rule that if consistently
followed would maximize your self interest
- Altruism: People should be selfless toward other
3. Virtue Ethics: (Cultivate virtue -> achieve good life.
- Virtue theory is concerned with identifying and cultivating character traits that enable individuals to flourish as
members of a community
- Concentrates on the moral character of the agent. According to virtue theory, we ought to possess certain
character traits–courage, generosity, compassion, etc.–and these ought to be manifest in our actions. We
therefore ought to act in ways that exhibit the virtues, even if that means doing what might generally be seen as
bad or bringing about undesirable consequences.
- Founded by Plato and Aristotle
a) Plato
- Plato maintains a virtue-based eudaemonistic conception of ethics
- Happiness or well-being (eudaimonia) is the highest aim of moral thought and conduct and virtue is needed to
attain it.
b) Aristotle
- The virtues is the central to a well-lived life.
Document Summary
Attempt to provide a general theory that tell us how to live. 3 morally interesting things: the agent (person performing actions), the act, the consequences. Deon: being good consist in following the right rules/meeting all your obligations. According to deontological theories, certain types of act are intrinsically good or bad, i. e. good or bad in themselves. These acts ought or ought not to be performed, irrespective of the consequences. You do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do. Everyone must follow ethical duty all the time, in every circumstances with no exceptions. Ethical duty values humans for themselves never as a means to an end. The sole source of moral goodness is the will. A good will is one which acts from universalizable reasons. The sole source off moral goodness is the will. Rule out abilities/talents because these can be used for evils.
