Final Flashcards
What is: a law?
A set of principles that govern the relationships between people and
which serve to define laws.
What is: the laws?
a set of mandatory rules established by sovereign authority and
sanctioned by law enforcement.
What is: Deontology: ?
Deontology: a set of rules issued by a profession or an organization that
govern behavior and prescribe responsibilities.
What is: Culture (Mores)?
Culture (Mores): Manner of feeling, thinking and acting, structured by
collective models but not expressly dictated by law and institutions. Social
mores are associated with social norms, values, and attitudes.
What is: Social norms?
Social norms: informal and collective rules that guide action
What is: Values?
Values: stable and abstract beliefs that represent what is attractive
What is: Attitudes:?
Attitudes: subjective, positive or negative evaluations, towards particular
people, objects or events
What is: Morality:?
Morality: Reflection and set of imperatives and prohibitions that result from
the opposition of good and evil, considered as absolute, influenced but not
dictated by law and customs. Morality establishes duties and responsibilities.
Morality can be seen as the outcome or culmination of ethical reflection.
Morality can possibly be incorporated into laws (notion of “legislative
moralism”).
What is: Ethics?
Ethics: Critical reflection and a diffuse desire to live a good life, influenced
but not dictated by law, mores and morals. Although ethics shares critical
thinking with morality, ethics can be considered above all as a process, a
methodology, a quest in order to establish what is considered moral or not.
What are the 3 Parts of a thought system?
Parts of a thought system:
1. Basic assumptions: This hard core contains unprovable, supposedly
“true”, central, and founding postulates of the thought system.
2. Secondary propositions: , a subsystem of postulates which support the
hard core, and which are supported by it.
3. Defense mechanisms: Indeed, thought systems also have defense
mechanisms to protect themselves, from responses to attacks to their
basic assumptions, which are used to debate and knock out opponents’
ideas.
What are the 4 core divers?
Aquire
Bond
Comprehend
Defend
What are the fundamentals motivations?
Pleasure:Humans are naturally attracted to pleasurable, pleasant situations and naturally avoid situations that cause them pain or suffering.
Ease: Humans are naturally drawn to ease, and, naturally avoid complex or difficult situations.
What is: Heuristics?
Heuristics: is any approach to problem solving or self-discovery that employs a
practical method that is not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, or rational, but is
nevertheless sufficient for reaching an immediate, short-term goal
or approximation.
What is: Justice?
Justice: defined by Aristotle, it means giving people what they deserve. And in
order to determine who deserves what, we have to determine what virtues are
worthy of honor and reward. Aristotle maintains that we can’t figure out what a just
constitution is without first reflecting on the most desirable way of life. For him,
law can’t be neutral on questions of the good life. By contrast, modern political
philosophers—from Immanuel Kant in the eighteenth century to John Rawls in the
twentieth century—argue that the principles of justice that define our rights should
not rest on any particular conception of virtue, or of the best way to live. Instead, a
just society respects each person’s freedom to choose his or her own conception of
the good life.
What is: Some Ways to think about justice?
Ways to think about justice:
1. Maximizing welfare
2. Respecting freedom
3. Promoting virtue
What is: Three classical ideals in ethics?
- The quest for well-being
2.The quest for freedom
3.The quest for virtue
What is: Legitimate?
Legitimate: what is and must be recognized as fair by everyone in a given society,
whether national or international.
What is: Rules of law?
Rules of law: sources
1. Customs
2. Laws and regulations
3. Case law (jurisprudence)
4. Doctrine
What is: Deontology?
Deontology: theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether that
action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules, rather than based on the
consequences of the action. The main purpose of which is to regulate the
behaviour of professionals in the performance of their work. The code serves
to protect the public (the professionals’ clients), and also to protect the
profession, so that it maintains its reputation to ensure public confidence.
What is: Utilitarian assumption?
Utilitarian assumption: morality consists in weighing costs and benefits, and simply
wants a fuller reckoning of the social consequences.
What is: 2 rival approaches to justice?
2 rival approaches to justice:
1. The first approach says the morality of an action depends solely on the
consequences it brings about; the right thing to do is whatever will produce
the best state of affairs, all things considered.
2. The second approach says that consequences are not all we should care
about, morally speaking; certain duties and rights should command our
respect, for reasons independent of the social consequences.
What is: Utilitarianism?
Utilitarianism: The highest principle of morality is to maximize
happiness, the overall balance of pleasure over pain. The most influential account
of how and why we should maximize welfare, or (as the utilitarians put it) seek the
greatest happiness for the greatest number. The greatness happiness for the greatest
number. According to Bentham, the right thing to do is whatever will maximize
utility. By “utility,” he means whatever produces pleasure or happiness, and
whatever prevents pain or suffering. Bentham arrives at his principle by the
following line of reasoning: We are all governed by the feelings of pain and
pleasure. They are our “sovereign masters.” They govern us in everything we do
and also determine what we ought to do. The standard of right and wrong is
“fastened to their throne.” What, after all, is a community? According to Bentham,
it is “a fictitious body,” composed of the sum of the individuals who comprise it.
Citizens and legislators should therefore ask themselves this question: If we add up
all of the benefits of this policy, and subtract all the costs, will it produce more
happiness than the alternative?
What is: Bentham’s political reforms?
Bentham’s political reforms:
* Panopticon: prisons
* Pauper management: self-financing workhouse for the poor
What is: Objections to utilitarianism?
Objections to utilitarianism:
1. Fails to respect individual rights
2. Common currency of value: Utilitarianism claims to offer a science of
morality, based on measuring, aggregating, and calculating happiness. It
weighs preferences without judging them. Everyone’s preferences count
equally. This nonjudgmental spirit is the source of much of its appeal.
What is: are John Stuart Mill beliefs?
John Stuart Mill’s central principle is that individuals should have the freedom to do as they please as long as they do not harm others. The government should not restrict individual liberty to protect individuals from themselves or enforce majority beliefs. People are only accountable for actions that affect others. Mill believes in maximizing utility in the long run, and respecting individual liberty will lead to the greatest human happiness. Upholding individual liberty promotes the welfare of society in the long run as dissenting views can offer a corrective to prevailing opinion and prevent it from becoming dogma. Additionally, a society that forces conformity may stifle social improvement. Mill believes that individuality reflects character and that it is possible to distinguish between higher and lower pleasures. He proposes a simple test to assess the quality of desires without relying on moral ideas other than utility itself.
What is: Stakeholder theory?
Stakeholder theory proposes that companies should consider the interests and relationships of all groups involved with their activities, and arrive at a settlement or integration of these interests. It is based on a pluralism of interests and relationships, and managers are responsible for the impacts of their policies and practices on each group. Communication and dialogue with stakeholders are crucial to ensure the company’s survival. However, the theory poses two major problems: choosing which stakeholders to consider and resolving the sometimes incompatible interests of the stakeholders.
What is: are 2 definitions of stakeholder?
2 definitions of stakeholder:
1. Narrow: a stakeholder comprises “any identifiable group or individual
on which the organization is dependent for its continued survival”, e.g.
employees, customer segments, certain suppliers, key government
agencies, shareowners, certain financial institutions, as well as others.
Stakeholders in the narrow sense are also often called “internal
groups”.
2. Broader: a stakeholder is “any identifiable group or individual who can
affect the achievement of an organization’s objectives or who is
affected by the achievement of an organization’s objectives” 3 . That
includes the stakeholders as defined in the narrow sense of the term,
but might also apply to the overall industry, public interest and protest
groups, local communities, government agencies, competitors, unions,
non-governmental organizations, media, and so on. Stakeholders in the
broader sense are also often called 4 “external groups”.
What is: Primary stakeholders?
Primary stakeholders: are those whose continued participation in the company’s
activities is vital, that is, without whom the survival of the company would
be threatened. As developed in the model above, these groups include
shareholders, employees, suppliers and customers, as well as the governmental
authorities that supply the infrastructure within which the company evolves.
What is: Secondary stakeholders?
Secondary stakeholders: are groups with some influence, and who affect or
are affected by the activities of the company, but are not involved in daily
transactions with it, and are therefore less vital to the company’s survival.
These may include NGOs, local communities, activist groups, media,
associations, and so on.
What is: are the ways to prioritize and balance the interests, sometimes divergent, of different
stakeholders
How to prioritize and balance the interests, sometimes divergent, of different
stakeholders?
- Static considerations
a. Power of the groups concerned: measured by a stakeholder’s ability
to influence a company’s decisions, sometimes even to impose its
will on it.
b. Legitimacy of the groups concerned: measured by the level of
consensus in a given society as to the nature of the interests a
stakeholder is defending. - Dynamic consideration:
a. Urgency: extent to which a stakeholder’s claim is perceived as
absolutely having to be addressed in the short term.
What is: are the different types of stakeholders?
Latent stakeholder groups (1,2,3): These
groups are considered to have little
influence and may, using this model,
be excluded as stakeholders.
Expectant stakeholder groups (4,5,6):
more likely to be acknowledged as
stakeholders with significant
expectations of the company.
Definitive stakeholder groups (7)
How the different, sometimes incompatible, interests of the stakeholders
considered are to be resolved: ultimately it belongs to management, but there
needs to be a communication between the company and its stakeholders:
What is: are the limits of stakeholder theory?
Limits of stakeholder theory:
* Tends to be operationalized
* Struggles for power and control and leading a politization of relations
between the company and stakeholders
* Urgency can have the effect of accentuating a short-term vision
* Nothing guarantees that it will lead to an increase in ethical behavior
* Does not guarantee that the divergent interests of stakeholders will be
resolved
* Business is the center of decisions and not society
* Neglects individual considerations
What is: Libertarianism?
Libertarians (John Locke): favor unfettered markets and oppose government
regulation, not in the name of economic efficiency but in the name of human
freedom. Their central claim is that each of us has a fundamental right to liberty—
the right to do whatever we want with the things we own, provided we respect
other people’s rights to do the same.
What is: Minimal state?
Minimal state: one that enforces contracts, protects private property from
theft, and keeps the peace—is compatible with the libertarian theory of rights. Any
state that does more than this is morally unjustified.
What is: are the 3 types of policies rejected by libertarianism?
The libertarian philosophy rejects laws that protect people from harming themselves, laws that enforce morality, and laws that redistribute wealth. Libertarians argue that individuals have the right to make their own decisions regarding their actions and lives, and the state should not intervene unless there is harm to others. This includes opposition to laws prohibiting activities such as prostitution and homosexuality, and laws that require the redistribution of wealth through taxation.
What is: Robert Nozick POV?
Robert Nozick POV:Robert Nozick believes that only a minimal state, limited to enforcing contracts and protecting people against force, theft, and fraud, is justified. He argues that there is nothing inherently wrong with economic inequality and rejects the idea that a just distribution consists of a certain pattern. Nozick believes that distributive justice depends on justice in initial holdings and justice in transfer, and if both requirements are met, a person is entitled to what they have, and the state may not take it without their consent.
What is: Initial holdings?
Initial holdings: asks if the resources you used to make your money were
legitimately yours in the first place.
What is: Justice in transfer?
Justice in transfer: asks if you made your money either through free exchanges in
the marketplace or from gifts voluntarily bestowed upon you by others.
What is: 2 problems of distributive justices from Robert Nozick perspective?
2 problems of distributive justices from Robert Nozick perspective:
1.Liberty upsets patterns - meaning that any attempt to enforce economic equality would require constant intervention in the free market, which would violate individual liberties.
2.Redistributive policies violate individual rights - taking someone’s earnings through taxation violates their freedom and makes them a partial property of the state. It forces individuals to work for purposes and activities decided by others, rather than their own choices.
What is: Self-ownership (libertarian view)?
Self-ownership (libertarian view): If I own myself, I must own my labor. (If
someone else could order me to work, that person would be my master, and I would
be a slave.) But if I own my labor, I must be entitled to the fruits of my labor. (If
someone else were entitled to my earnings, that person would own my labor and
would therefore own me.)
What is: Objections to libertarians about taxation (5)?
Objections to libertarians about taxation:
1. Taxation is not as bad as forced labor, but the objection is why the state forces people to make that choice.
- The poor needing more money is not a reason to steal from the rich and give to the poor. It’s still stealing, whether done by Robin Hood or the state.
- Michael Jordan doesn’t owe his teammates and coaches or anyone else a portion of his earnings, and it’s hard to see how this debt justifies taxing his earnings to provide public services.
4.Democratic consent is not enough as it does not guarantee an individual’s rights, and by living in a society, citizens do not write the majority a blank check and consent in advance to all laws, however unjust.
5.Jordan’s talents are his own, and if he is not entitled to the benefits that result from the exercise of his talents, he doesn’t own himself. This raises the question of who owns citizens if they don’t own themselves.
What is: a Contract?
Contract: a law that the parties intend to establish between themselves by defining
services or obligations that they must perform (other than what goes against the law
or against public order). It is formed when the offeror receives acceptance of the
other party. The place of the contract is where the acceptance is received: laws of
the place of the offeror will apply to the contract. Verbal contracts are as valuable
as written contracts.
What is: a Nominate contracts?
Nominate contracts: specific contracts such as the sale of an asset, rental, leasing,
etc. which are detailed by the Civil Code.
What is: Public order?
Public order: what laws prevent us from doing or not.
What is: Consensualism?
Consensualism: each party must have the capacity to contract, they must not be
incapacitated and must be endowed with reason. The consent must be free (free of
vice for example) and informed. Good faith must govern the conduct of the parties
(bona fide).
What is: Freedom of contract?
Freedom of contract: their form, nature and objects are not circumscribed except
when there is an exception set out by the law. It is limited by law.
What is: Shareholders’ agreement?
Shareholders’ agreement: settle future problems in the event of disagreements.
What is: are the Clauses of a shareholders’ agreement?
Clauses of a shareholders’ agreement: customized.
* Transfer and allocation of shares
* Administration and management of the corporation
* Shares emission
* Right of first refusal
* Piggy-back clause
* Health of the shareholders
* Mediation
* Arbitrage
* Shot-gun (forced purchase): if at some point there is a disagreement the
shareholders and one of them proposes to the other party to buy or sell his
shares. And if the other refuses this offer, the one who made the offer must,
on the same terms, buy or sell the shares of the other shareholder.
* Base-ball (auction)
What is: Unanimous shareholders’ agreement?
Unanimous shareholders’ agreement: allows the shareholders to take over the
powers and the responsibilities of the directors.
What is: Claims of free markets?
Claims of free markets:
1.Welfare: The utilitarian perspective on free markets argues that as long as an individual’s actions make them better off without hurting anyone else, it will increase overall utility. In the case of a volunteer army, allowing individuals to freely choose to enlist based on the compensation being offered maximizes their own utility, while those who don’t want to serve don’t suffer the utility loss of being forced into the military against their will.
2.Freedom: The libertarian perspective on free markets argues that letting people engage in voluntary exchanges respects their freedom. Any laws that interfere with the free market are seen as violating individual liberty.
What is: Objections to surrogacy contracts?
Objections to surrogacy contracts:
1. Tainted consent: It argues that we can exercise free choice only if we’re not
unduly pressured (by the need for money, say), and if we’re reasonably well
informed about the alternatives.
What is: are the arguments against the volunteer army ?
Ethics and reasoning behind different methods of military service allocation. From both libertarian and utilitarian perspectives, the volunteer army is considered the best option, followed by the Civil War hybrid system, and conscription as the least desirable. However, two objections are raised against this line of argument, centered on fairness and freedom and civic virtue and the common good:
1.Fairness and freedom: The first objection highlights that the free market may not be entirely free for those with limited alternatives, and economic necessity can pressure individuals into military service, similar to conscription.
2.Civic virtue and the common good: The second objection emphasizes that military service is not just another job, but a civic obligation that should not be commodified. Hiring soldiers instead of drafting them undermines civic ideals and the duty citizens have to serve their country.
What is: Degradation and higher good?
Degradation and higher good: She argues that surrogacy contracts degrade children
and women’s labor by treating them as if they were commodities. Central to
Anderson’s argument is the idea that goods differ in kind; it’s therefore a mistake
to value all goods in the same way, as instruments of profit or objects of use. If this
idea is right, it explains why there are some things money shouldn’t buy.
What is: Fiduciary duty?
Fiduciary duty: is a Common law concept which concerns the relationship between
a person, the owner of a property, who entrusts it to another person, the trustee,
who undertakes to administer the property and to give it back to the owner at the
end of his or her term of office.
What is: a Trust?
Trust: legal provision allowing a person to transfer to a 3rd party (the fiduciary or
trustee) property, rights or securities, which the trustee must manager under defined
conditions.
What is: are Trustee’s duties(4)?
Trustee’s duties: competency and loyalty.
1. Advise or decide how best to administer or invest money.
2. The trustee must act competently, diligently and in good faith.
3. Respect confidentiality
4. Must avoid any conflict of interest
