Introduction to Philosophy

We do philosophical thinking when we ask ourselves whether something that we believe is reasonable to believe.

 Reasonable belief is simply a belief for which a good reason can be given. Reasonable beliefs are logically justifiable. A belief that is reasonable stands a better chance of being true.

 There is at least one philosophical problem in which all thinking persons are concerned: The problem of understanding the world in which we live; and thus ourselves (who are part of that world) and our knowledge of it.

 Philosophical thinking leads to the realization that our attempts to see and find the truth are not final, but open to improvement. Criticism and critical discussions are our only means of getting nearer to the truth.

Introduction to Philosophy
Philosophy may be defined as a search for truth that involves following arguments and evidence, without recourse to authority, wherever they may lead, frequently arriving at unforeseen conclusions. Walter Kaufman

Introduction to Philosophy
One of the functions of philosophy is to inoculate men against bigotry, inhumanity and propaganda by teaching them to think carefully, conscientiously and critically. (One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.)

A Case Study Ivermectin, The Story of a drug in treating, River Blindness

 According to the dictionary, the term ethics has a variety of different meanings. One of its meanings is, "the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group.

 The term personal ethics, for example, when referring to the rules by which an individual lives his or her personal life. We use the term accounting ethics when referring to the code that guides the professional conduct of accountants.

 A secondand more important meaning of ethics, according to the dictionary, is: Ethics is "the study of morality." Ethicists use the term ethics to refer primarily to the study of morality, just as chemists use the term chemistry to refer to a study of the properties of chemical substances.

Moral Standards

B.F. Goodrich Case

A Moral Standard
Always tell the truth." As Vandivier shows, we do not always live up to our standards. There are other types of standards as well, such as standards of etiquette, law, and language. Moral standards can be distinguished from non-moral standards using five characteristics.

Moral Standards
Moral standards deal with matters that can seriously injure or benefit humans. For example, most people in American society hold moral standards against theft, rape, enslavement, murder, child abuse, assault, slander, fraud, lawbreaking, and so on.

Moral Standards
Moral standards are not established or changed by authoritative bodies. The validity of moral standards rests on the adequacy of the reasons that are taken to support and justify them; so long as these reasons are adequate, the standards remain valid.

Moral Standards
Moral standards, we feel, should be preferred to other values, including self-interest. This does not mean, of course, that it is always wrong to act on self-interest; it only means that it is wrong to choose self-interest over morality.

Moral Standards
Moral standards are based on impartial considerations. The fact that you will benefit from a lie and that I will be harmed is irrelevant to whether lying is morally wrong.

Moral Standards
Moral standards are associated with special emotions and a special vocabulary (guilt, shame, remorse, etc.). The fact that you will benefit from a lie and that I will be harmed is irrelevant to whether lying is morally wrong.

Moral Standards
The ultimate aim of ethics is to develop a body of moral standards that we feel are reasonable to holdstandards that we have thought about carefully and have decided are justified standards for us to accept and apply to the choices that fill our lives.

 The social sciencessuch as anthropology, sociology, and psychologyalso study morality, but do so in a way that is quite different from the approach to morality that is characteristic of ethics. Although ethics is a normative study of ethics, the social sciences engage in a descriptive study of ethics.

Ethics

 A normative study is an investigation that attempts to reach normative conclusionsthat is, conclusions about what things are good or bad or about what actions are right or wrong. In short, a normative study aims to discover what should be.

 A descriptive study is one that does not try to reach any conclusions about what things are truly good or bad or right or wrong. Instead, a descriptive study attempts to describe or explain the world without reaching any conclusions about whether the world is as it should be.

 Business ethics is a specialized study of right and wrong applied to business policies, institutions, and behaviors. This is an important study since businesses are some of the most influential.

 The global economy is now controlled by corporations. Some of the big corporations earn billions of dollars and employ thousands of people. Business organizations are the primary economic institutions through which people in modern societies carry on the tasks of producing and distributing goods and services.

Principal-Agency problems
The new Corporate world consists of share-holders, elected directors and hired managers labour. They have their own hierarchy and today the largest problem in business is Principal-Agency problem, where ethics play a vital part.

Ethics & Issues

Though business ethics cover a variety of topics, there are three basic types of issues: Systemic issues: Questions raised about the economic, political, legal, or other social systems within which businesses operate. These include questions about the morality of capitalism or of the laws, regulations, industrial structures, and social practices within which businesses operate.

 Corporate issues: Questions raised about a particular company. These include questions about the morality of the activities, policies, practices, or organizational structure of an individual company taken as a whole.

 Individual issues: Questions about particular individuals within an organization and their behaviors and decisions. These include questions about the morality of the decisions, actions, or character of an individual.

Business Ethics
The application of general ethical concepts to the unique situations confronted in business. It asks what is right or wrong behavior in business and what principles or rules can be used as guidance in business situations.

Business Ethics
Business ethics is about relationships, values, justice and identity (personal, professional, corporate, national and global. We need an ethical framework: to make decisions that matter To collect and analyze our thoughts To decide what is right ethically, morally, economically, socially, legally and spiritually

Business Ethics and the Changing Environment

Businesses & governments operate in changing technological, legal, economic, social & political environments with competing stakeholders & power claims. Stakeholders are individuals, companies, groups & nations that cause and respond to external issues, opportunities, and threats. The rate of change and uncertainty in which stake- holders & society must make & manage business & moral decisions have accelerated due to the impact of:
Internet and information technologies Globalization Deregulation Mergers Wars

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Environmental Forces and Stakeholders

Local, national, and international environments are increasingly moving toward and into a global system of dynamically interrelated interactions among local, national, and regional politics, economies, regulations, technologies, demographics, and international law.
Economic environment Technological Political Governmental and regulatory Legal Demographic

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Stakeholder Management Approach

The stakeholder management approach is a way of understanding the effects of environmental forces and groups on specific issues that affect real-time stakeholders and their welfare. This approach attempts to enable individuals and groups to articulate collaborative win-win strategies: based on:
Identifying and prioritizing issues, threats, or opportunities Mapping who the stakeholders are Identifying their stakes, interests, and power sources Showing who the members of coalitions are or may become Showing what each stakeholders ethics are and should be Developing collaborative strategies and dialogue from a higher ground perspective to move plans and interactions to the desired closure for all parties

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What is Business Ethics? Why Does It Matter?

Ethical solutions to business and organizational problems may have more than one right alternative and sometimes, no right solution may seem available. We can learn from case studies, role playing, and discussions about how our actions affect others in different situations. Laura Nash has defined business ethics as the study of how personal moral norms apply to the activities and goals of commercial enterprise, as dealing with three basic areas of managerial decision making:
Choices about what the laws should be and whether to follow them Choices about economic and social issues outside the domain of law Choices about the priority of self-interest over the companys interests

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What Are Unethical Business Practices?

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Surveys have identified the following recurring themes to prominent everyday ethical issues facing businesses and their stakeholders:
Managers lying to employees Office nepotism and favoritism Taking credit for others work Receiving/offering kickbacks Stealing from the company Firing an employee for whistle-blowing Padding expense accounts Divulging confidential information or trade secrets Terminating employment without sufficient notice Using company property/materials for personal use
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What Are Unethical Business Practices?

The most unethical behavior, per one survey, happens in the following areas:

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Government Sales Law Media Finance Medicine Banking Manufacturing

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Why Does Ethics Matter In Business?

Doing the right thing matters to employers, employees, stakeholders, and the public.
For companies, it means saving billions of dollars each year in lawsuits, settlements, and theft

Costs to businesses include:

Deterioration of relationships Damage to reputation Declining employee productivity, creativity, and loyalty Ineffective information flow throughout the organization Absenteeism

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Levels of Business Ethics

Because ethical problems are not only an individual or personal matter, it is helpful to see the different levels at which issues originate and how they move to other levels. Five levels are:
Individual Organizational Association Societal International

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Asking Key Questions

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The following questions can be asked when a problematic decision or action is experienced or perceived before it becomes an ethical dilemma:
What are my core values and beliefs? What are the core values and beliefs of my organization? Whose values, beliefs, and interests may be at risk in this decision? Why? Who will be harmed or helped by my decision or by the decision of my organization? How will my own and my organizations core values and beliefs be affected or changed by this decision? How will I and my organization be affected by the decision?

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Five Myths About Business Ethics

A myth is a belief given uncritical acceptance by the members of a group, especially in support of existing or traditional practices and institutions.

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Myth 1: Ethics is a personal, individual affair, not a public or debatable matter Myth 2: Business and ethics do not mix Myth 3: Ethics in business is relative Myth 4: Good business means good ethics Myth 5: Information and computing are amoral

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Why Use Ethical Reasoning In Business?

Ethical reasoning is required in business for at least three reasons:

Many times laws are insufficient and do not cover all aspects or gray areas of a problem Free-market and regulated-market mechanisms do not effectively inform owners and managers about how to respond to complex issues and crises that have far-reaching ethical consequences Complex moral problems require an intuitive or learned understanding and concern for fairness, justice, and due process to people, groups, and communities

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Can Business Ethics Be Taught And Trained?

Ethic courses should not:
Advocate a set of rules from a single perspective Not offer only one best solution to specific ethical problems Not promise superior or absolute ways of thinking and behaving in situations

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Can Business Ethics Be Taught And Trained?

Ethic courses and training can do the following:

Provide people with rationales, ideas, and vocabulary Help people make sense of their environments Provide intellectual weapons Enable employees to act as alarm systems for company practices Enhance conscientiousness and sensitivity Enhance moral reflectiveness and strengthen moral courage Increase people's ability to become morally autonomous ethical dissenters Improve the firms moral climate

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Can Business Ethics Be Taught And Trained?

Other scholars argue that ethical training can add value to the moral environment of a firm and to relationships in the workplace by:

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Finding a match between employers and employees values Managing the push-back point Handling an unethical directive Coping with a performance system that encourages unethical means
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Stages Of Moral Development

Kohlbergs 3 levels of moral development: Level 1:

Preconventional level (self-orientation)

Stage 1: Punishment Stage 2: Reward seeking Stage 3: Good person Stage 4: Law and order

Level 2: Conventional level (others orientation)

Level 3: Postconventional level (universal, humankind orientation)

Stage 5: Social contact Stage 6: Universal ethical principles

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