BUS ETHICS M3

• Socrates


  One of the few individuals who shaped the cultural and intellectual development of the world, best known for the Socratic Method of question and answer, his claim that he was ignorant, and his claim that unexamined life is not worth living
• Socratic Method


  • A way of thinking that allows individuals to define their own purpose for learning and explore this purpose through open-minded questioning of what they hold to be true
• Entrepreneurs


  Can find value in the Socratic Method because they are bombarded by assumptions based on what others and they themselves believe to be the best plan of action for pursuing a business idea
• Socrates insisted on our right to think for ourselves, warning that humans often sleepwalk through life, simply going along with the crowd
• Socrates was prepared to die rather than go against his conscience
• Plato


  One of the world's best-known and most widely read and studied philosophers, student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle
• Theory of Forms


  Plato's attempt to cultivate our capacity for abstract thought, differentiating the abstract world of thought from the world of the senses
• Plato's view on education


  • Identified education as one of the most important aspects of a healthy state, laying out detailed education programs starting from exercises for pregnant women to what children should study, values they should be exposed to, and types of art and physical exercise they should engage in
• Aristotle


  A towering figure in ancient Greek philosophy, making contributions to various fields, more empirically-minded than Plato or Socrates, famous for rejecting Plato's theory of forms
• Eudaimonia


  The Greek term for happiness, which Aristotle sees as our highest goal, not something we ought to aim at but rather something we do aim at
• Aristotle's view on moral education

  • Virtue cannot be taught in a classroom or by means of argument, his ethics is designed to explain what is good, why it is good, and how we might set about building societies and institutions that might inculcate this goodness
• Aristotle's view on the life of contemplation

  • Concludes that contemplation is the highest human activity, as it deals with unchanging, universal truths and rests on a synthesis of scientific investigation and intuitive understanding of the first principles of nature
• The rational person uses money so that they can spend their time on good moral works and developing their mind
• Aristotle concludes that the role of the leader is to create the environment in which all members of an organization can realize their own potential, and the ethical role of the leader is not to enhance their own power but to create the conditions under which followers can thrive
• Aristotle: 'Contemplation is the highest human activity'
• Telos


  Goal of human life is the exercise of our rational powers
• Wisdom


  Deals only with unchanging, universal truths and rests on a synthesis of scientific investigation and the intuitive understanding of the first principles of nature
• Contemplation


  The activity of wisdom, so contemplation must be the highest activity of human life
• Aristotle: 'The rational person doesn't seek money for its own sake. The rational person uses money so that they can spend their time on good moral works and developing their mind.'
• Ethical role of the leader

  Not to enhance his or her own power but to create the conditions under which followers can achieve their potential
• Ethical questions for corporate leaders


  • Am I behaving in a virtuous way?
  • How would I want to be treated if I were a member of this organization?
  • What form of social contract would allow all our members to develop their full potential in order that they may each make their greatest contribution to the good of the whole?
  • To what extent are there real opportunities for all employees to develop their talents and their potential?
  • To what extent do all employees participate in decisions that affect their work?
  • To what extent do all employees participate in the financial gain resulting from their own ideas and efforts?
• Deontology


  Ethical behavior is simply doing God's will
• Categorical Imperative


  An absolute and universally binding moral law
• Maxims of Categorical Imperative


  • An action can only be considered as ethically correct if it can be accepted or made into a universal law
  • A person should be treated as an end and not the means to achieve an end
  • Everyone should act as a member of an ideal kingdom where he or she is both the ruler and subject at the same time
• Utilitarianism


  Evaluates action based upon their consequences, particularly the overall happiness created for everyone affected
• Utilitarianism believes that outcomes as a result of an action have a greater value compared to the action itself
• Utilitarianism states that the most ethical thing to do is to take advantage of happiness for the good of the society
• Rule utilitarianism


  Put in place to benefit the most people by using the fairest methods possible
• Act utilitarianism


  Makes the most ethical actions possible for the benefit of the people
• The act utilitarian considers only the results or consequences of the single act while the rule utilitarian considers the consequences that result of following a rule of conduct