Ethics of Business Leadership

Theories of Jeremy Bentham

"Calculus of Felicity" - we look for "proof" Seven categories/questions to evaluate pleasure 1. Intensity - How intense is the pleasure? 2. Duration - How long does the pleasure last? 3. Certainty - How sure is the pleasure? 4. Proximity - How soon will the pleasure be experienced? 5. Fecundity - How many more pleasures will follow? 6. Purity - How free from pain is this pleasure? 7. Extent - How many people will experience this pleasure? (It is this category that makes Bentham's hedonism a social one)

John Stuart Mill's utilitarianism

Agreed in part with Bentham in terms of pleasure, but made a crucial distinction: Some kinds of pleasure are more desirable and more valuable than others and made distinction between quantitative and qualitative pleasures.

Egoism as a psychological theory

Asserts that all actions are selfishly motivated and that truly unselfish actions are therefore impossible. "we should assist others when doing so best promotes our own interests."

Adam Smith

Business practice is egoistic, but Adam Smith and others believe that it is also utilitarian because the pursuit of self-interest promotes the good of society.

Ethical Egoism

Each person ought to pursue only his/her own self-interest, an obligation to pursue solely what's best for oneself.

John Rawls - connection to Social Contract Theory; the difference principle; the "original position"

John Rawls's theory of justice lies within the social-contract tradition. He asks us to imagine people meeting in the original position to choose the basic principles that are to govern their society. Although in this original position people choose on the basis of self-interest, we are to imagine that they are behind a veil of ignorance, with no personal information about themselves. Rawls contends that any principles agreed to under these circumstances have a strong claim to be considered the principles of justice.

Aristotle's Theory of morality

Just as there is an ideal of excellence for any particular craft or occupation, similarly there must be an excellence that we can achieve simply as human beings. He believed that we can live our lives as a whole in such a way that they can be judged not just as excellent in this respect or in that occupation but as excellent, period. Aristotle thought that only when we develop our truly human capacities sufficiently to achieve this human excellence will we have lives blessed with happiness.

Justice and Injustice related to fairness, rights, equality, desert

Justice is one important aspect of morality. Talk of justice and injustice generally involves appeals to the related notions of fairness, equality, desert, and rights. Economic or distributive justice concerns the principles appropriate for assessing society's distribution of social benefits and burdens, particularly wealth, income, status, and power.

Theories of John Stuart Mill

Made distinction between quantitative and qualitative pleasures

Consequentialism

Moral rightness determined by results Do all the right you can Acts are morally right because they maximize the goodness in the world Humans derive their moral worth from the consequences of their actions

How did Aristotle view morality?

Moral virtues are those qualities that people admire in others - think of them as moderation and avoidance of extremes

Bentham and John Stuart Mill

Pleasure as an intrinsic good Bentham and Mill had different conceptions of pleasure, but they both equated it with happiness and believed that pleasure was the ultimate value.

John Locke - property as a moral right

Property is a moral right, said Locke, because individuals are morally entitled to the products of their labor. When they mix their labor with the natural world, they are entitled to the resulting product. us, if a man works the land, then he is entitled to the land and its products because through his labor he has put something of himself into them. is investment of self through labor is the moral basis of ownership,

Hypothetical Imperative

Tells us what we must do on the assumption that we have some particular goal.

Utilitarian theory

The moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone affected by our actions. After assessing as best we can the likely results of each action, not just in the short term but in the long run as well, we are to choose the course of conduct that brings about the greatest net happiness.

Ethical Relativism

The philosophical position that there is no absolute or universal good or right and so there are no absolute or universal moral principles

Robert Nozick - basic rights as negative and natural

They are negative because they require only that people forbear from acting in certain ways—in particular, that we refrain from interfering with others. Beyond this, we are not obliged to do anything positive for anyone else, nor is anyone required to do anything positive for us.

Immanuel Kant - which actions have moral worth?

Treating people as ends, not means. Treat someone with the respect he or she deserves. Willing our actions to become a universal law; acting out of empathy.

Jeremy Bentham

greatest happiness for the greatest number. evaluating pleasure and pain exclusively by their quantitative differences—in particular, by their intensity and duration.

Divine Command Theory

if something is wrong then the only reason it is wrong is that God commands us not to do it

Libertarianism

places a moral priority on liberty and free exchange. justice with an ideal of liberty. For them, liberty is the prime value, and justice consists in permitting each person to live as he or she pleases, free from the interference of others.injustice of coercion; commitment to private property; inheritance as a means of acquiring wealth; liberty as a prime value; justice as freedom from interference; belief in leaving market relations unrestricted

Distributive Justice

the proper distribution of social benefits and burdens (in particular, economic benefits and burdens)

Aristotle's formal principle of justice

we are required, as a formal principle of justice, to treat similar cases alike except where there is some relevant difference.

maximin rule

you should select the alternative under which the worst that could happen to you is better than the worst that could happen to you under any other alternative—that is, you should try to maximize the minimum that you will receive.