Test 3 Flashcards
How do we promote ethical behavior?
Fort’s Overriding Question
Why be ethical?
An ethical life is not self sacrifice but rather self-fulfillment.
Singer’s Overriding Question
Argues within a business ethics paradigm, but the lessons can be easily applied to other arenas as well.
Believes that spiritual or religious motivation gives an imperative to act ethically within a mediating institution framework.
We’re ultimately accountable to something (transcendent understanding of good and evil)
There is a standard.
He is willing to concede a motivation to ‘the force’ or ‘the good’ for those who are atheistic or agnostic.
Fort
Rural company changing over its pension plan to 401K.
From “defined benefits” to “defined contribution”
Real concern for the employees thoughts, employee education, and the appearance of propriety.
Example of Ethical Behavior
“A small institution where individuals within the organization were confronted with the consequences of their actions.”
Real human feedback; real relationships.
Mediating Institution
Capitalism is good. It is the most efficient means to economic health, but economic health is not the whole story for the family or business.
Capitalism is a tool for man, not man a tool for capitalism.
Fort Similarities to Aristotle
“Integrates an individual’s good into the common good of others and their associations. It neither quarantines its members, nor does it organize itself on the basis of alienation, fear, or superiority. It socializes its members to see the connection between individual self-interest and the good of others through the means of ethical behavior.”
Mediating Institutions
Built on alienation, fear, superiority, etc.
Quarantining Institutions
We don’t have to agree on everything, but we are all in this together.
Solidarity
Your good is bound up in the good of others.
Singer & Solidarity
Man is by nature a political animal.
Aristotle & Solidarity
Virtues found around the globe in countless religions.
Solidarity
Empathy
Compassion
The belief that we can all recognize by nature real moral goods in the world.
Ex: Everybody knows murder is wrong.
Hence disparate religions make similar if not exactly the same conclusions on basic moral principles.
Natural Law
“no higher level or organization should perform any function that can be handled efficiently and effectively at a lower level of organization by human persons who, individually or in groups, are closer to the problem, and close to the ground.”
An argument against bureaucracy.
Relationships matter. They lead to real concern, real knowledge, real commitment.
Subsidiarity
Our identity is separate form the material production.
Its not my job to ask questions, it is just to make money.
Classical Capitalism
Work by nature is a inherently moral, educational, and social activity.
We produce something that matters, with the help of people who matter.
Spiritual Capitalism
If there is one good, why can’t we agree on what it is?
If there is one good, why can’t we even agree that this is the case?
Because of this and the danger of heavy handed tactics, one should proceed with humility about how one can grasp or how specific one can get.
willing to cede decision making power to the individual.
Limits of Natural Law
Perhaps there is a limit to the number of people we can relate to in a group?
If so, this will make a huge difference in how ethical we are.
Large groups lose sense of accountability. (Does it matter if I steal this money?)
Small groups sympathy, empathy, compassion.
This idea is supported by anthropology. (Churches, tribes, etc. seem to split when they get above 150 to 200 people. If they are bigger than that, they have subgroups.)
Laws of Nature
Three measures of theories of sport
Distinguish sport from other activities.
Explain the features of sport which make it so appealing.
Provide for the moral evaluation of sport.
Two competing theories of sport.
Externalism
Internalism
Sport simply mirrors and reinforces values of the larger society.
Capitalist society will promote sport with intense competition.
Externalism
Sport is a “significant source” of ethical values.
Suits rule bound approach (The Grasshopper)
Internalist
“voluntary attempt to meet unnecessary obstacles”
These challenges are created by rules.
Bernard Suits definition of Games
Games can be defined in reference to rules.
Incapable of addressing moral problems that arise outside the rules (Clubless Josie).
Formalism
“Cheaters violate the rules by failing to make moves within the sport and, therefore, fail to play it.”
Since only players can win, and cheaters are not playing, they cannot win.
Logical Incompatibility Thesis of Formalism
Contradicts our intuition
EX: A strategic foul is against the rules and therefore must be cheating, but most if not all players/coaches seem to think that the strategic foul is part of the game.
Strict Interpretation of Formalism
Rules allow for change.
Can’t judge good rules from bad.
Formalism Response to Criticism
Rules must be understood within the convention of the sporting community. (The ‘ethos’ of the game allows for strategic fouling.)
Has problems with normative claims.
Conventalism
Explains the way things are but not necessarily the way things should be.
EX: Clubless Josie - rare occurrence that has no convention.
Ethos
Makes no evaluative claim in regard to rule changes.
Formalism and Conventionalism
There are norm or principles internal to sport, that are more fundamental than the rules.
Internal goods help us see “the point and purposes that underlie the game.” (Goods are internal because they can’t be achieved or seen outside the context of the game i.e. stolen base, the HR, the diving header, the interception, etc.)
We are merely servants to the rules.
Broad Internalism
The defeat of your opponent becomes the main/sole goal of the activity.
Having a winner requires having a loser. (Hence competition is immoral and reinforces other inequalities in society.)
Sport is Zero-Sum
One man’s gain is another man’s loss.
There’s only so much to go around, every “piece of the pie” I take is, one less for everyone else.
“the goal of competition is to enhance the position of one competitor at the expense of the others.”
Zero-Sum
“A mutual quest for excellence”
A mutual quest for excellence can be shared (even if one party wins and the other loses)
It is not zero-sum
Simon’s definition of Ethical Competition
Breaking the rules thought of in two different ways.
Sanction
Price
Punishment for impermissible actions.
(Felonies, murders, etc.)
Impermissible
Sanction
A penalty for a chosen strategy option.
A penalty provided by the rules.
(Fees, citations, etc.)
Strategically chosen
Price
Core elements of the game.
Basketball: dribbling, passing, shooting, rebounding…
Constitutive Skills
Used to get game restarted.
Basketball: free throws
Restorative Skills
The recreational setting and is about a pleasurable diversion.
“Sport”
Serious and competitive.
“Athletics”
Our opponents are just that, “opponents” not “enemies”.
We need each other. We test each other. We’re part of the same community; the same “practice”.
Implication of Solidarity in Sport
Rules, though necessary, are of limited effectiveness.
Can’t be at all places at all times.
Often create bureaucratic barriers to the good.
We need to cultivate virtue not just write more rules.
The cultivation of virtue requires that there are more goods in sport than just winning.
Implication of Subsidiarity for Sport
The local matters. The personal matters. Sport, when done well, can be one.
Well: meaning, community, human achievement; not bloodless drudgery, but joy. Winning matters but is part of a larger context.
Poorly: “You play to win the game”. The outcome is all that matters; joy takes a back seat to results, sober duty, and mercenary resolve.
Implication of Mediating Institution for Sport
A company guarantees that an employee will receive a targeted amount at retirement.
Defined Benefit
The company simply designates a particular amount to be contributed to each employee’s retirement plan account annually.
Defined Contribution
