*"philos" - intense friendship love (love between spouses)

*"sophios" - wisdom

*Literally means the love of wisdom.

*The basic way in which one views life, a world-view, a mind set, the vision one has.

*comes from the greek word "ethos"

*Ethics is the culture and mores of a society, that which determines moral standards of a society.

*The terms ethics and morals can be used interchangablly

*"ethics is concerned with any situation in which there is actual or potential harm to an individual group" - Cooke, 1990

*"an ethical decisison is one where somebody's welfare is at stake. . . an ethical decisison can be further defined as a decision where questions of justice and rights are serious and relevant." - Buchholz, 1989

1)Ontological - mankind is anxious because of his finiteness and his limited life on earth.

2)Guilt - mankind is anxious because he has transgressed the moral law.

3)Meaninglessness - mankind is anxious because he is afloat, rudderless in a sea of meaninglessness.

This is an interaction between businesses and individuals and groups outside those businesses.

Example - consumer groups accusing businesses of dangerous health practices (battle between logging groups and environmentalists.)

Bi-internal conflicts between management and employees

Example - an employee not getting a promised raise or discriminatory hiring practices. (racial or sexual discrimination).

These judge a situation. these are claims that state that something is good or bad or right or wrong. These express values, guide actions, and influence behavior.

Ex - critical of marketplace behavior. these are axiomatic - being derived from the greek word "axios" or axiology which is the study of values.

These are the value neutral, and do not judge. They describe and define.

Ex - describes duties.

1) moral standards deal with matters that are of serious consequence to our well-being (moral norm against murder)

2)moral standards cannot be legislated (neither secular nor religious)

3)moral standards over-ride self interests (suppose to follow even if not in best interest)

4) moral norms are associated with special emotions and a special vocabulary (if one acts contrary to a moral standard, one will feel guilty or ashamed .)

will identify situations in which each person must restrain his self interest to secure a mutually advantageous system of conduct.

Moral standards secure the resolution of social conflicts by providing publicly acceptable justifications for actions.

ushered in the Greek Golden Age.

"The Father of Moral Philosophy".

Was concerned with how people ought to live.

He was brought to trial for challenging the authorities of the Greek government for their lack of moral purposes. He was the first to bring ethics into every day life, and was the first philosophical martyr.

Plato

9 items 

1) Student of Socrates

2) He wrote The Republic

3) He started the first university on the planet, The Academy.

4) He believed philosophers should head government

5) he championed equal rights for women, admitting women tuition free to the University

6) He was a believer in physical fitness, being instrumental in th eOlypic games.

7) He is called the Father of Idealism

8) He shocked the status quo of the day by requiring coed physical education classes in the nude

9) He believed in "eduimonia" which led "euthanasia"

Aristotle

5 items 

Father of realism, wrote Nicomachean Ethics

1) 'Moral character is the middle ground between two extreme positions."

2) Said that moral virtues can be acquired through practice.

3) Being moral involves choice.

4) equated moral law with natural law.

5) the ethical life leads to "teliotes" or "maturity". He believed that the unethical life would lead one to a state of aborted purposes.

Thomas Aquinas

4 items 

13th Century, University of Paris, Doctor of Roman Catholic church - identified with Scholasticism. This is the belief that faith and intellect must walk concomitantly. Reason and religion must walk together.

-Wrote Summa Theologica, a theological masterpiece.

-He unified natural law with greek philosophy and biblical tradition.

-He believed than natural law is derived from a sovereign God. The Conscience of mankind is the agency whereby each person knows right from wrong.

-Moral good is the fulfillment of our natural end and evil is a deficiency that prevents us from achieving "teliotes" or fulfillment.

The Kohlberg Psychological Model of Ethical Decision Making

Three levels 

1)Level one - convention means standard or societal norm - Primary motivation is self interest. One sees issues only from a selfish point of view.

2)Level Two - Conventional Level - It is here that right and wrong are determined by standards developed by family, peer group, or friends. It is here that one sees issues from the group viewpoint. The primary motivation is group loyalty and pleasing others.

3) Level three - Post conventional level - Autonomous level - autonomous moral standards universally applied. The primary motivation is to be autonomous and judge by universal standards. Big Picture!

Punishment and obedience orientation - The motive here is to avoid punishment

Age range 1-4 years old.

Pleasing others to get what I want orientation - Motivation is pleasure and self gratification. Realization that doing for others will get one benefits.

Age range 4-9 years

Peer pressure orientation - Role expectation is big!! Also company loyalty - pressure from above.

Age range is from 10 to 20 years.

Law and Order Orientation - obey the law! At this stage, one sees laws and others as part of a larger social system.

Age range is from 14 years to end of life.

* Do the right thing regardless of pressure.

Social contract orientation - think of others - broader social welfare -- expands thinking from me and mine to them and theirs - Begin to consider diverse views and work by consensus.

Age range is from 21 years to end of life.

Giligan vs Kohlberg

6 topics 

A) Men are uncaring, judging with legalities in mind.

B)Women form relationships, they show compassion and believe situations aren't so black and white.

C) Here they begin to take on a burden for society at large -- the universal mind-set

D)The difference in the way the genders vote

E) Both agree stages are sequential. Some may never reach upper stages

F) The study of ethics should enable the individual to acquire the more critical, understanding of right and wrong that so characterizes the Post Conventional Stages of moral development.

Moral reasoning requirements

3 reasons 

1) moral reasoning must be logical

2) moral reasoning must be factual, relevant, and complete

3)It must be consistent. When inconsistent, it must be adjusted.

Moral inconsistency is when you are in between a rock and a hard place.

Example - your boss instructs you to do something you believe is harmful to your employees. Do you disobey your boss, or put your employees in harms way?

VMR - Very Morally Responsible

SMR - Somewhat morally responsible

NMR - Not morally responsible

Excusing circumstances ELIMINATES responsibility (VMR-NMR).

Mitigating factors lessen responsibility, but DOES NOT eliminate it. (VMR-SMR)

A) Ignorance of facts - employees can not be expected to perform in a situation that is beyond their control.

B) Inability to act - employee lacks the skill or resources to do anything that would have changed the situation.

A) When a worker intentionally keeps himself ignorant in order to escape responsibility.

B) When a person negligently fails to take adequate steps to become educated on matters concerning safety and performance.

Mitigating conditions which lesson responsibility

6 items 

A) Uncertainty about different factors, such as job description.

B) Improper reporting channels (employee doesn't know steps to take)

C) A person may find it difficult to avoid a certain course because of threats, duress, or pressure to produce.

D) Responsibility can be mitigated by circumstances that diminish the person's active involvement.

E) Much depends upon how serious the wrong is -- If what is done results in serious injury or death, then pressure or minimal involvement will NOT reduce the person's responsibility.

F) Humanitarian actions

Corporate acts are normally brought about by several actions or omissions by different people.

The traditional view - those who knowingly did what was necessary to produce the corporate act are morally responsible (Individuals are responsible).

Critics of the traditional view contend that liability should be attached to the corporation and not the individual. The same mitigating circumstances apply in the corporate realm as in the individual one. Mitigating factors of fear, uncertainty, stress, and minimal involvement diminish employees responsibility for a corporate act. Subordinate responsibility - both the subordinate and the employer are responsible.

Coffee at McDonalds

Drug Thalidomide (babies)

Dr. B's experience in the Pharmacy(tin foil suppository)

The view that truth has no objective standard and will vary from group to group and from culture to culture, changing with the times. This view rejects the possibility of universal ethical standards, and accepts ethical diversity as the most essential feature of ethics. This is not to be confused with situational ethics which claims that the morality of an act depends on the features of the situation in which it occurs, rather that on some absolute moral rule.

Example) Act of killing - bad under situational ethics. Relativism distinguishes differences between murder, self-defense, just wars, and euthanasia.

claims that moral standards are absolute, with no varying exceptions, universally applicable by all individuals, groups, and cultures, Absolutists believe that standards can be known and hold that ethical diversity arises from ignorance of the standards or mis-application to cover prejudices and desires.

Example - Religions - some claim bible as absolute truth, others believe that it is to be interpreted.

Individual relativists

Positive and Negative features 

Believe morality is determined by a person's choices or feelings. What is right for me may not be the acceptable way for you.

Positive features - Emphasis on individual's responsibility for what is moral. It promotes tolerance toward other's beliefs.

Negative features -- It is possible-probable that there can be no agreement on moral issues at hand-- Therefore morality becomes a matter of personal taste. Extreme individual relativism cannot exist in the marketplace.

Group or Corporate relativists

Positive and Negative features 

Morality is dictated by the group to which one belongs. When one begins a new job, one is told, "This is the way that we think and do things here." The marketplace you enter is vulnerable to extreme group bonding due to acute loneliness. This is loneliness due to break down of the family and people relocating.

Positive features - It promotes group solidarity and a social bonding - This gives the individual a sense of belonging, a sense of family.

Negative features - It denies individual responsibility - This is one of the terrible traumas produced by cults. The individual loses his-her sense of individuality.

Cultural Relativists

Positive and Negative features

Morality is determined by the culture, the existing mores of the day -- no universal gauge.

Positive features - It proves that some of our moral standards are based on cultural preferences rather than on Absolutism or Pluralism. It also reminds us to be more understanding when confronted with cultural differences.

Negative features - There is no way to judge the customs or actions of another country. The moral community could not deem a nation's actions to be morally inferior. This view would render impossible moral progress within a society. With this view, there would be no independent standards by which to judge the standards of justice for nations.

1) emphasis on individual moral responsibility

2) Emphasis on Group or collective solidarity and cohesiveness

3) Emphasis on tolerance for differences in approach

Religious Absolutist

Positive feature 

Right and wrong are determined by divine commandments, the Word of God, or by God's revealed natural law.

Positive features - removes the uncertainty of having to decide what is morally right or wrong. Emphasizes strong moral character. Religion provides people with revolutionary insights concerning how we ought to live, and gives us a look into the real values of life.

Believes that one ethical theory is the only valid one to determine right and wrong.

Example - The justice theory is the only correct way to determine morality and all others are wrong. There are very few ethical absolutists left in the marketplace, they disappeared with the "mom and pop" shops prior to the 90's

These are specific guides to decision making developed by society. These do not justify themselves, but are justified when used in combination with the pluralistic ethical standards.

These are derived from 2 sources.

1) the collective moral experience of a society or of a group within that society.

2)The work of contemporary moral or social critics.

1) It emphasizes the need for individual moral responsibility (holds everyone individually accountable)

2) It retains the strength of group Relativism by requiring a dialectical relationship with the moral vision of the group. (Dialectics are questions answered by questions)

3) It requires respect for cultural diversity by requiring reasons for moral decisions.