...The purpose of this essay is to explore Virtue Ethics as an Ethical Philosophy that is more interested in virtues rather than the rules and principles of ethics. While exploring the moral character is important to this approach to normative ethics, it is worth mentioning that it is possible to boil down the two other major approaches – Deontology and Consequentialism – to Virtue Ethics. Upon further investigation, it becomes apparent that many defenses of ‘duties’ or Deontology, implicitly appeals to the consequences of our actions, even if those consequences are hidden behind a veil of mystery or authority. If this was not the case, the concept of duties would not make any sense since no matter what we do, no outcome will have a preferable...
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...Ethical Egoism Ethical egoism is a normative theory based on the promotion of one’s own good in accordance with morality (Moseley). Shaver avers that based on the ethical egoism theory it is necessary and sufficient for an action to be morally right and that it maximizes one's self-interest. The promotion and pursuance of one’s self-interest underscores the normative theory. It prescribes the motivation of one’s thought, behaviour, and action. To fully understand the ethical egoism theory we must first know certain principles behind it. Ethical egoism is a normative theory, which means it prescribes how we should think, behave, and act. Three different formulations of ethical egoism have been identified: individual, personal and universal. Individual ethical egoism is the prescriptive doctrine that all persons should serve self-interest. Personal ethical egoism is the belief that one should act from the motive of self-interest. Universal ethical egoism is the universal doctrine that all persons should pursue their own interests exclusively (Shaver). A theory of ethics is said to be coherent if it is founded in truth, consistent and complete. ‘In truth’ means that a statement of action is either true or false and not both. Consistency means that there should be no contradictions or incompatible statements. Completeness means that there should be no moral truth, which is not provable from the basic moral principles of the theory (Moseley). Shaver’s...
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...Session 2- Questions 1. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of ethical egoism as an ethical philosophy for business managers? (Based on Business Ethics text Chapter 4; tied to course competencies 3 and 4) Ethical egoism is a normative ethical theory that assumes that people have a choice; that is, one is not always psychologically bound to act in one’s self-interest (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2013, p. 47). The idea behind ethical egoism is that the right and moral thing to do is look out for your own self-interest. It does not describe how people behave, rather, it describes how people "ought" to behave (Kang). While this might offer the egoist short-term satisfaction, it could make his/her life worse in the long run because if everyone acted only in their own self-interests, then a society might develop in which people lived under constant threat of attack (Kang). However, according to our textbook, an ethical egoist is not always egoistic or a selfish person. A person can act consistently with ethical egoism by treating people well, helping others, respecting their rights, and evidencing concern for their welfare in order to promote his or her own self-interest in the long run (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2013, p. 53). An example our textbook uses to show an advantage of ethical egoism is that improvements in working conditions for employees or contributions to the community can very well earn the ethical egoist’s approval. Since it can improve performance by decreasing turnover...
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...Ethics Task 1 Ethical Theories For the task at hand we are to identify and describe the theories of Ethical and Psychological Egoism. First let us look at Ethical egoism, this theory is based on the idea that each individual should do what is entirely in his or her self-interest. A description of this type of egoism is, if you are doing things that are only in your best interest to do, you have achieved morality. Secondly we have the theory of Psychological Egoism a theory that is based on the idea that each person has but one ultimate aim, their own welfare (Christman, 2002, pg 29). This view is defined as human nature, holding to the belief that all human behavior is motivated by self-interest. This theory results from evaluating the human condition and all of it associated quirks, and can only be accepted as truth if there are no exceptions. Psychological egoism makes no claim as to how one should act because it is not an ethical choice. It also states that people will always seek their own self-interest and that if taken in that context will always be true. The fallacy of the Psychological Egoism theory is that it is irrefutable (Rachels, 2007, p. 73) meaning once an example is given and accepted; that data can be provided and interpreted to support it. The whole idea appears to be overly simple and all inclusive which in itself draws some scrutiny to it. The basic premise of the theory states that people are always motivated by their own interests...
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...PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOSIM & ETHICAL EGOISM There are many different ways to interpret psychological egoism and ethical egoism. Both of this theories have been studied, both have people supporting them as well as rejecting them. Psychological egoism states that whatever you do is for the soul purpose of self-gain no matter what the cost. Ethical egoism in definition is you doing things with the purpose of self-gain but not going farther than the social moral standard to accomplish those goals. I will show how psychological egoism and ethical egoism are false by showing how people sometimes do things because they just feel like doing them, and not all actions have a hidden meaning behind them. Psychological egoism is the theory that claims that anything you do, no matter what it is, is motivated by self-interest. That your motivation is influenced by your desires. That all of our actions even if they may appear to be altruistic, they must have a selfish motive behind it. Even with evidence of altruistic acts from today or in the past, believers of this theory will tell you that those actions can be traced back to acts of selfishness and not for the well-being of others. Last Sunday, while listening to the priest give his explanation of the Gospel, he narrated how once Mother Theresa found this malnourished young child in the streets. She noticed that there was a bakery nearby and walked to the bakery along with the child. Once in...
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...Ethical egoism is the normative ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest 1. Ethical egoism holds that actions whose consequences will benefit the doer can be considered ethical 2. Ethical egoism does not, however, require moral agents to harm the interests and well-being of others when making moral deliberation; e.g. what is in an agent's self-interest may be incidentally detrimental, beneficial, or neutral in its effect on others 3. In the words of James Rachels, "Ethical egoism [...] endorses selfishness, but it doesn't endorse foolishness."[2] 4. ------------------------------------------------- Forms of ethical egoism[edit] 5. Ethical egoism can be broadly divided into three categories: individual, personal, and universal. An individual ethical egoistwould hold that all people should do whatever benefits "my" (the individual) self-interest; a personal ethical egoist would hold that he or she should act in his or her self-interest, but would make no claims about what anyone else ought to do; auniversal ethical egoist would argue that everyone should act in ways that are in their self-interest ------------------------------------------------- Justifications[edit] Philosopher James Rachels, in an essay that takes as its title the theory's name, outlines the three arguments most commonly touted in its favor:[10] * "The first argument," writes Rachels, "has several variations, each suggesting the same general...
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...egoism is the view that everyone always acts selfishly. It describes human nature as being wholly self-centered and self-motivated. Psychological egoism is different from ethical egoism in their “direction of fit” to the world. Psychological ego-ism is a factual theory. It aims to fit the world. In the world is not how psychological ego-ism says it is because someone acts unselfishly, then something is wrong with psycho-logical egoism. In my opinion this argument is completely wrong and unsound. According to James Rachel, an author of “Elements of Moral Philosophy,” there two main arguments exist against psychological egoism. The first argument can be formulated as such: 1) Everyone always does what they most want to do. 2) If everyone always does what they most want to do, they act selfishly 3) Everyone always acts selfishly. Opponents claim that psychological egoism renders ethics useless. There two cri-ticisms of this argument. First criticism is on premise one: “It is not the case that everyone always does what they most want to do because sometimes people do what they are obligated to do. They are either forced to do it because someone makes them or they do it because they seek the end result of it, such as a visit to the dentist entails.” (J. Rachels p. 70) In his book “Elements of Moral Philosophy” Rachel gives great examples to support this criti-cism: “the soldier who falls on the grenade to save his buddies, the person who runs into the busy street to save a...
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...explains, to its readers, why it is imperative to understand where this organizational killer starts, be aware of how it escalates and how moderators can prevent the deception from escalating into an organizational level phenomenon. The happy news is that escalation of deceit to the organizational level (the end) can be prevented altogether. If escalation has already started and caught in an early stage, this phenomenon can be halted and reversed using these two moderators; Commitment and implementation of a corporate code of ethics explained by Sommers, (2001), Adam and Rachman-Moore (2004), O’Dwyer and Madden (2006) and Effective Control Systems, Rosanas and Velila (2005). A morally matured person acts and behaves around the universal ethical principles, whereas, morally immature people will act and behave around egocentric motivations, Kohlberg (1969). Understanding the maturity level of the corporation’s management team is will determine the success a monitoring system would provide. For example, when a control system’s put into place, a morally immature people will most likely not monitor...
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...Abstract In today`s marketplace business ethics is very important that companies set code of ethics to follow in their transactions. This becomes a high profile concern, so companies, in their decision making process, urged these moral value to be taken seriously into consideration not only because these ethical rules express to managers and employees the position to take when acting or deciding on behalf of the firm, but also the company`s image depends on the level of honesty, fairness, and integrity within the firm`s corporate culture. Therefore, it is in the company`s best interest to embrace moral and ethical norms not only to build trust and good relationship between the firm and its stakeholders, but also for social responsibilities concerns. Therefore, the firms` marketing professionals must take all the measure to act as ethically as possible because, the company`s marketing strategy express the voice most stakeholders are concerned about. Keywords: marketplace, business, ethics code of ethics, transactions, concern, decision making process, moral values, image, honesty, fairness, integrity, firm, corporate culture, trust, stakeholders, social responsibilities, marketing, professional, strategy. Introduction Being part of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was established in 1930 and had mission to be guardian to consumers for their safety and well-being, when it comes to use products in the marketplace...
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...Internal and External Factors MGT/230 May 12, 2014 Michael Goldberg Internal and external factors affect the four factors of management. Internal factors affect a business from within itself without any outside factors. External factors come from an outside environment. There are many functions to an effective management, but the most important factors are planning, organizing, directing, and controlling. These factors can affect how a business is maintained. The organization we will be covering is Google. Globalization, technology, innovation, diversity and ethics play key roles in the corporation. Globalization Globalization means worldwide integration and development (dictionary.com). Internal factors of globalization are production, development, customer service and marketing. Over the past decade, Google has positioned itself so that their name, software, etc. appears on every laptop, tablet, phone, etc. across the world. Google has to make sure that internally it evaluates the capabilities of its employees. Sometimes it is necessary to move people around so that the right people are responsible for the right areas. Because they have done such a good job at this. They provide superior customer service in every part of the globe and their marketing strategies requirements of the people using their products and the laws that come along with doing business in another country. An example of a huge external factor that affected Google was an incident that...
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...moral code even when they are not present at workplaces such as priests, CEOs, and other public or civil servants while other occupations are more lax or do not even require anything more of their employees rather than to show up on time and perform at expected performance levels. The varying levels of standards, in regards to moral code, with the multitude of industries pose the question of what the underlining basis of these rules are. Because as an employer or manager contemplates the reasoning behind the termination of an employee, there must be a general rule of thumb to abide by in order to make the decision. The rules that the employer or manager relies on are called ethics. When an employee is considered for termination, an ethical approach from the employer’s side as well as the employee’s side must be apparent and clear. In order to better understand the role ethics play in employee relations, we must have a thorough understanding of what ethics is and it’s importance in the business environment. Furthermore, in the context of employee termination, we must also understand the role of ethics from the employer side as well as the employee side to appreciate and solidify firm reasons for termination. Ethics is defined by Mark S. Swartz as a set of universal moral standards: which includes: respect, trustworthiness, responsibility, caring, fairness, and citizenship. These moral standards are commonly the foundation of the code of...
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...Mohammad Khattak Ethics for Mangers (ETM-750) Prof: Robert Bigelow Final Project The Syrian Conflict Evaluate the ethics of any legal or ethical issue in the news. Analyze the dilemma or issue. Thoroughly evaluate the appropriateness of applying at least two ethical frameworks reviewed in the course, and suggest an approach that might help to avoiding such dilemmas/issues in the future. What started off as an uprising and eventually led to a civil war, has destroyed much of Syria and resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands. And no matter what angle you look at it from, the existing regime under the command of Bashar Al Assad and his so-called "war against terrorists" has broken all barriers of ethics, morals and rules of war. Many sources have claimed foreign interference to have ignited the situation, but at the same time, the regime has spared no efforts to suppress the voice of those who stood up against the oppressive rule. But the dilemma does not end with how the situation was dealt with by the existing rulers. Nations all around the world are waiting on how the United States of America responds to the happening and whether the US can justify its reason for intervention, which it believes to be its moral duty under the principle of its 'Just War Theory'. Utilitarianism One of the ethical frameworks that would apply to the Syrian situation would be the act and rule of Utilitarianism that dictates that the actions of a party be justified so...
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...Critical and Creative Thinking II 1- Have you ever changed a strongly held attitude and what caused the change. In our everyday lives, attitudes play a major role in affecting our behavior. The influence how we feel and behave toward others is in our environment. Attitudes have important influences on our decisions. The most commonly used approach in changing attitude is to attempt to change what people believe and what they know. Attitudes are often learned from other people and are often a defining characteristic of groups. It can also be genetic. A strong attitude is very resistant to change. To change attitude, spot and match the balance of affective/cognitive/behavioral components, especially in the person’s self-image. Where there is affective attention, offer emotional arguments. For cognitive listeners, use a rational argument. For the behaviorally focused, do something. 2- Do you believe that you are free of prejudice? After reading this chapter, which of the many factors that cause prejudice do you think is most important to change? Prejudice is an adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts. Prejudice can come from ignorance and also fear, because individuals can be prejudice to a certain culture where they could know a little about them, and is afraid of how that certain culture is different from them in language, behavior or customs. 3- How do Milgram's results—particularly the finding that the remoteness...
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...Egoism By Jenny Taylor Philosophy P120 October 30, 2011 Egoism is “The moral view that everyone ought always to do those acts that will best serve his or her own best self-interest.” (Pojman & Fieser page87) It is contrasted with altruism, “an unselfish regard of concern for others”. This essay will explain the relation between psychological egoism and ethical egoism. It will examine how someone who believes in psychological egoism explains the apparent instances of altruism. It will also discuss some arguments in favor of universal ethical egoism, and exam Pojman's critique of arguments for and against universal ethical egoism. Psychological egoism, a descriptive claim about human nature, states that humans by nature are motivated only by self-interest. To act in one's self-interest is to act mainly for one's own good and loving what is one's own (i.e. ego, body, family, house, belongings in general). It means to give one's own interests higher priority than others'. "It (psychological egoism) claims that we cannot do other than act from self-interest motivation, so that altruism-the theory that we can and should sometimes act in favor of others' interests-is simply invalid because it's impossible" (Pojman 85). According to psychological egoists, any act no matter how altruistic it might seem, is actually motivated by some selfish desire of the agent (i.e., desire for reward, avoidance of guilt, personal happiness). For someone who believes...
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...Utilitarianism, Ethical Egoism, and Moral Relativism Tom Gardner Ethics is a branch of philosophy that attempts to answer the questions; what’s right? What’s wrong? And why? Moral relativism is an ethics position that essentially states that people have disagreeing moral beliefs and therefore you must but tolerant of other's morals. This position leads to the problematic realization that if this is the case there can be no objective moral truths nor can there be any universal principles. Act utilitarianism and ethical egoism are two different ethics theories that attempt to respond to this challenge of moral relativism in different ways. Ethical egoism attempts to respond to the challenge of moral relativism by justifying that there is a universal principle for what actions are right and what are wrong. It is a form of consequentialism, which means it looks solely at the consequences of action to see if it is right or wrong. The defining sentence of egoism is as follows, “What's good for you is right and what's bad for you is wrong.” This phrase can be interpreted in a number of ways, the most popular one being: every person should act in their own self-interest. This means that when deciding on whether an action is good, any effect on others (mental or physical) by said action has no merit. An egoist that is measuring or justifying an action's goodness is only examining the possible positive or negative effects this action will have on him. The majority of the justification...
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