Ethics

Question 1

Responsibility

Answer 1

the human ability to undertake acts under ones free will and not as a consequence of the mechanical response to an external stimulus.

Question 2

what do we have responsibility for

Answer 2

Truth, fairness, harmony and charity.

Question 3

Aristotle’s Virtues

Answer 3

Ethical philosophy. It outlines virtue ethics and the development of good habits as a basis for moral behaviour. Virtues are qualities that help a person live a good life. His virtues are seen as the ‘Golden mean’.

Question 4

Aristotle –> Courage

Answer 4

The deficiency is cowardice.
Excess is facing fear and risk in the right way. It is not the absence of fear but the ability to confront fear.

Question 5

Aristotle–> Temperance

Answer 5

self control.
The deficiency being insensibility.
This involves finding a balance between overindulgence and lack of enjoyment.

Question 6

Aristotle–> Generosity

Answer 6

The virtuous person gives to the right people in right amounts.

Question 7

Aristotle–> Magnificence

Answer 7

generosity on a larger scale, not being stingy.
Using resources in noble way.

Question 8

Aristotle–> Magnanimity

Answer 8

Greatness of the soul.
Having a proper sense of the ones worth. Recognise ones excellence without being arrogant.

Question 9

Aristotle –>Patience

Answer 9

control anger without letting emotions dictate actions.

Question 10

Aristotle–> truthfulness

Answer 10

avoiding dishonesty and unnecessary boasting.

Question 11

Aristotle–> Wit

Answer 11

Striking the right combination between humour and seriousness

Question 12

Aristotle–> Friendliness

Question 14

Being Objective

Answer 14

Looking at things without bias influencing your judgment.
Focusing on facts, evidence and observable phenomena rather than subjective interpretations or emotional responses.

Question 15

Can we be objective about Morality and values?

Answer 15

No definite answer.
we can reject bias, which tends to be the approach to investigations in science.
Or we can admit our subjectivity.

Question 16

You have rights to have rights

Answer 16

Natural rights 1789 –> freedom, ownership, security and resistance to oppression.
Human Rights 1952–> Freedom Equality

Question 17

Incorporation

Answer 17

A group of people who work together might form an organisation or firm of associates. But if they want the organisation to be the buyer and owner of group assets and an employer they need to create an artificial lag person by incorporation.

Question 18

Becoming incorporated

Answer 18

Things like articles of association and regular statements of finances must be recorded.
Articles of association state the key persons like directors.

Question 19

despotic anthropocentrism

Answer 19

Most ethical perspectives count the environment as external to human affairs.
In other words a resource to be efficiently exploited.

Question 20

Responsible Anthropocentrism

Answer 20

human centric perspectives are flawed, so can be redressed to the need for a sustainable environment for flourishing life, and the obligation to act responsibly for future generations

Question 21

sustainability

Answer 21

the capacity for continuance more or less indefinitely into the future. The past 20 years have seen a substantial accumulation of evidence that current human ways of life do not possess the capacity, either because they are destroying the environmental conditions needed for continuance, or because their environmental effects will cause unacceptable social disruption.

Question 22

Carrols 4 part model (CSR)

Answer 22

desired by society –>philanthropic responsibilities

expected by society–> ethical responsibilities

required by society –> legal society

required by society –> economic responsibilities

Question 23

Environmental goods (extrinsic)

Answer 23

concern for the environment is classed as instrumental. as it is a source of resources which provide a key function in life.

Question 24

Environmental rights (intrinsic)

Answer 24

some argue it is intrinsically valuable, in its own right, independent to its utility to human beings. This argues that ecosystems should be given rights.

Question 25

Growth is not Eudaimonia (the good life)

Answer 25

Haworth argues that economics has been too influential in the way we think about social performance –> diagrams have made a fetish of GDP and economic growth. Instead the doughnut model was proposed to provide a safe and flourishing life.

Question 26

The doughnut model

Answer 26

Inner ring is the social foundation –> basic humans needs like food and water. Falling below this ring means people are deprived of essential resources.
Outer ring is the ecological ceiling, earths planetary boundaries. Overshooting this results in in environmental degradation.
space between the rings is the safe space.

Question 27

Interdependence and the common good

Question 28

Ethical theory

Answer 28

not what we do but what we know and how we chose to use this. Forms a set of rules and lists.

Question 29

relativist

Answer 29

ethical claims cannot be objectively true or false, they are relative to cultures and societies.
There will never be one right or ethical course of action.

Question 30

Trouble with relativism

Answer 30

sometimes ethical claims cannot be proved but the claims can be true –> somethings are just bad.

Question 31

Kohlberg Model -
pre conventional

Answer 31

obedience and punishment –> right and wrong is defined by rewards and punishments from authority figures.
instrumental purpose and exchange–> peoples own immediate interests define right according to exchanges and deals made to achieve those interests.

Question 32

conventional –> conformity and mutual expectations

Answer 32

live up to what is expected of them by peers and those close to them

Question 33

conventional –> social accord and system maintainance

Answer 33

shared norms , values and beliefs upheld by people around you.

Question 34

post conventional

Answer 34

social contract and individual rights –> people assess right and wrong according to upholding basic rights, values and contracts of society.
Universal ethical principles –> decisions made autonomously based on self chosen universal ethical principles.

Question 35

Efficacy

Answer 35

• belief in personal agency versus fatalism. fatalism, all events are predetermined.

Question 36

values

Answer 36

• persistent views on well being that influence behaviour,
• possible to influence, however are easily biased.

Question 37

Integrity

Answer 37

consistency in adherence to values.
uncertain impact through whistleblowing cases highlight potential importance.

Question 38

Haidt

Answer 38

Individualising
- care/ suffering
- fairness/ cheating
Binding
-loyalty/ betrayal
- Authority/ subversion
- purity/ degradation –> this is strongly contested.

Question 39

Ethical Theory

Answer 39

helps provide guidance on why to judge something right or wrong, and the processes followed to make that decision.

Question 40

Kantian Ethics

Answer 40

duties to school yourself in consistency, to respect human dignity and to act without compromise.
Sees actions as wrong and right within themselves regardless of consequences.

Question 41

categorical imperative

Answer 41

consistency –> act only according to that maxim, rational decisions.
human dignity –> treat humanity always as an end and never as a means only.
Kingdom of ends –> persons acting in accordance with moral law.

Question 42

Perfect and imperfect duties

Answer 42

Perfect here things we are always responsible for, where as imperfect duties is where we are sometimes responsible for.

Question 43

Kantian Ethics in business

Answer 43

Build capacity –> firms shouldn’t just avoid abuse of power but enhance peoples capabilities for moral action.
balance stakeholders –> all needs should be considered.
will to be good –> firms should set out too achieve good objectives.

Question 44

Aristotle virtuous mean

Answer 44

right amount of a property
- courage
- temperance
- liberality, spending your money
- magnificence, displaying taste
- justice
- pride
- patience
- Truthfulness
- Righteous Indignation

Question 45

Virtuous business

Answer 45

business can only be its most ethical when it gives opportunities to thoughtfully participate in the management of their company’s affairs and contemplate the ultimate meaning of things.

Question 46

solomon’s (1992)

Answer 46

Argues being ethical is not just about doing no harm, but instead also doing the best thing to develop an excellent community.
6 dimensions to virtue ethics
-Community
-Excellence
-role identity
-Holism
-Integrity
-Judgement

Question 47

Care ethics

Answer 47

care ethics relies on the assumption that interdependence and cooperation lies at the base of human behaviour, not competitivness and self- interest.

Question 48

Empathy

Answer 48

in care ethics, capacity to care for each other is finite. Prioritise others- identified as closeness.

Question 49

5 principles of the caring process

Answer 49

care –> species activity to maintain, continue and repair our world so that we can live in it.
1. caring about –> attentiveness to need
2.taking care of –> assuming responsibility.
3. care-giving –> meeting needs
4. care receiving –> responding to care
5. caring with –> engaging in solidarity and dialogue.

Question 50

care ethics summarised

Answer 50

Care ethic emphasizes the importance of relationships, empathy, and emotional engagement in ethical decision-making. It contrasts with more traditional ethical theories, such as utilitarianism or deontology, which focus on rules, principles, or consequences.
highlights the role of interdependence and responsibility for others in close particular relationships.

Question 51

Confucian ethics

Answer 51

duties to maintain tradition and harmony.
Mediating relationships to promote peace and prevent war.

Question 52

Confucian principle of propriety

Question 53

Egoist ethics

Answer 53

focussing on the consequences for you or the company.
Maximise outcomes for self interest.

Question 54

enlightened egoism

Answer 54

cooperation and negotiation through democratic processes offers the best of both and the collective.

Question 55

Ayn Rands Objectivism

Answer 55

the thing we should value is life.
the trader principle –> mutually beneficial exchange between independent equals is the only basis for a mutually respectful and rational relationship.

Question 56

The invisible hand

Answer 56

Written by Adam Smith 1759 on wealth and sentiment.
Prudence and sentiment–> the prudent man is not only concerned with need, fortune, health and self interest but also reputation, rank and fortune(luck)

Question 57

Hobbes 1651

Answer 57

The role of government is to prevent the greatest evil. We have to accept a certain amount of laws

Social contract theory
individuals interest to submit their desires to these restraints, only because others must also do so. –> follow the law

Question 58

summary of egoist ethics

Answer 58

Self interest is natural and honest behaviour.
Some are willing to do evil in their pursuit of self interest, their some regulation is necessary. But it must be minimal to promote the benefits of prudence and sympathy through enlightened egoism.
Corporations are not as capable of enlightened egoism as they are immortal robots

Question 59

J s mill 1861 Utilitarianism

Answer 59

Utility –> happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain.
some pleasures should be valued equally, some pleasures are greater quality than others.

Question 60

types of utilitarianism

Answer 60

act utilitarianism –> any individual action may lead to different outcomes. so the utilitarian approach is the to calculate the least-worst choice.
Rule Utilitarianism –> identify which set of actions routinely produce the most utility, and promote these choices as norms.

Question 61

post-modern ethics

Answer 61

the modern view of the world imagines the world as a reality, objective, predictable, comprehensible.
post modernism claims there is a controlling story. it questions what is real by demanding greater understanding the subjective nature of the experience.
less about the perfect and imperfect duties, and more about feelings and identity.

Question 62

Bauman

Answer 62

Distinction between ethics and morality. Argues that morality doesn’t have a purpose, where as ethical rules promote calculation over feeling.

Question 63

Critiques of rational morality

Answer 63

batman argues society is possible because of our innate moral impulse .
The modernism of Hobbes and others encourages the individual to give up their morale responsibilities to an authority figure .

Question 64

descriptive ethics

Answer 64

does not provide any theoretical approach to help what should be judged as right and wrong. however does show us attempts to implement ethical theory.