Business Ethics & Philosophy

• Business Ethics must be studied from a philosophical perspective as an applied branch of General Ethics
• Ethics is intertwined with philosophy, making philosophical discussions essential for exploring ethical concepts and moral principles

Philosophy Defined

• The term philosophy originates from the Greek words "philos," meaning love, and "sophis," meaning wisdom
• As a science, philosophy explores the meaning of reality, incorporating human experiences
• Philosophy seeks to explain the ultimate cause of everything through human reason
• To philosophize involves questioning life, reality, and finding purpose in human actions
• Plato defines philosophy as "the highest form of inquiry"
• William James describes philosophy as a collection of unanswered questions that need to be satisfied
• Science studies the ultimate causes of explanations using human reason

Business Ethics as an Applied Branch of Philosophy

• It involves investigating human values, which are metaphysical in nature
• These values operate in fiduciary relationships, business transactions, and interactions within business organizations and the corporate world

Ethics Defined

• Practical science dealing with the morality of human actions
• Morality study
• Serves as practical science that guides actions for right living
• Science that establishes principles of right living

Ethics and Morality

• Ethics and morality are often used interchangeably, but there is a distinction in philosophy
• Morality is the quality of goodness or badness in human actions, following rules of right conduct
• Morality implies judgment and moral standards, while ethics is the formal study of these standards and conduct
• Ethics involves the study of standards and judgments people create
• It assumes standards exist to describe, evaluate, and assess the premises upon which they exist
• Ethics indicates the nature of moral principles, ethical systems, and moral norms used to justify moral judgments

Ethics as Normative Science

• Ethics as a normative science entails that any info presented is based on an assumed preference for a particular policy choice
• Three Categories of General Ethics:
  • Descriptive Ethics: Involves moral judgment based on ethical norms or theories
  • Normative Ethics: Describes how people act without prescribing actions
  • Metaethics: Analyzes the usage of words and discusses ethical theories and language

Approaches to Ethical Evaluation of Human Conduct

• Deontological ethics: A non-consequentialist approach that evaluates the nature of a moral act based on the validity of the motive, stating that a morally good act can lead to something good
• Teleological ethics: A consequentialist approach that measures the morality of an action based on consequences, not the motive or intention of the actor

Moral Sense in Humans, According to St. Thomas Aquinas

• Humans can distinguish between good and bad
• Humans are obligated to do good and avoid evil
• Humans are accountable for their actions

Freud's Theory of the Id, Ego, and Superego.

• According to Freud psychoanalytic theory, the id is the primitive and instinctual part of the mind that contains sexual and aggressive drives and hidden memories
• The superego operates as a moral conscience
• The ego is the realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the superego.

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

• Focuses on how children develop morality and moral reasoning
• moral development occurs in a series of six stages
• Moral logic is primarily focused on seeking and maintaining justice