Philosophy Final Review: Ethical Issues in Business

Primary social goods include

status

Advertising is best known for

the persuasion to purchase the product.

Corporations differ from partnerships and other forms of business association in two ways. One of these is that

they must be publicly registered or in some way officially acknowledged by the law.

A key idea of Immanuel Kant's ethical theory is that:

we should treat people as ends in themselves, never merely as means.

Melvin Anshen suggests that there is an relationship between business and society which he termed as

"social contract".

Which of the following do proponents of the broader view of corporate social responsibility believe?

Businesses have other obligations besides making a profit.

Which of the following statements is true regarding human rights?

Human rights are equal rights; if X is a human right, then everyone has this right.

Feminist ethics generally downplays the role of

Moral principles or rules

According to libertarianism

People should not attempt to coerce others

What are the four features of capitalism?

The four features of capitalism are Companies, Competition, Profit Motive and Private Property.

T or F "Limited liability" means that members of a corporation are financially liable for corporate debts only up to the extent of their investments.

True

T or F According to Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, pleasure is the one thing that is intrinsically good or worthwhile.

True

T or F According to Tom Regan, our considered moral beliefs are those we hold only after we have made a conscientious effort (a) to attain maximum conceptual clarity, (b) to acquire all relevant information, (c) to think about the belief and its implications rationally, (d) impartially, and with the benefit of reflection, (e) coolly.

True

T or F According to W. D. Ross, we have immediate intuitive knowledge of the basic prima facie moral obligations/principles.

True

Virtue ethics addresses the question

Who should I be?

Kenneth Arrow argues that

ethical codes can contribute to economic efficiency.

Choose the statement that gives the most accurate description of etiquette:

etiquette refers to any special code of social behavior or courtesy

Accepting a moral principle

generally involves a desire to follow that principle for its own sake.

If an argument is valid, then

its conclusion must be true, if its premises are

Philosophical discussion of moral issues typically involves

the revision and modification of arguments.

Externalities are

unintended side-effects.

The first corporations

were towns, universities, and ecclesiastic orders.

Ethical relativism supports the theory that:

what is right is determined by what a culture or society says is right.

If you adopt egoism as your moral code, then

you believe that it is morally right to do whatever promotes your best interest.

Explain the relevance of the concept of a promissory relationship to the debate over corporate social responsibility.

A promissory relationship is a contractual agreement that legally binds a company with its consumers. This applies to today's debate as to whether or not a company owes it to their consumers to increase safety regulations or not. A promissory relationship would dictate that the company does owe this to their consumers.

Many feminist writers maintain that the values and virtues inherent in most traditional moral theories reflect

A typically masculine perspective

Give an example of manipulative pricing.

ATM withdrawal fees are an example of manipulative pricing. Banks advertise and state you can withdraw money anytime and anywhere, as long as you pay a certain fee.

Which of the following considerations about utilitarianism is correct?

Bentham was concerned with the quantity of pleasure that an action produces, not with distinctions based on the type of the pleasure.

Which Harvard psychologist was the founder of Care Ethics

Carol Gilligan

What utilitarian identifies as rights are really

Certain moral values

Momentum for the corporate organization of business really gained momentum after which war?

Civil War

_________ are something that can be decided by going and looking. Agreement is expected

Facts

T or F "Etiquette" designates a special realm of morality.

False

T or F According to Adam Smith, if business is left to pursue its self-interest, the good of society will be compromised and harmed.

False

T or F According to Immanuel Kant, moral reasoning is based on factual knowledge.

False

T or F According to John Stuart Mill, what makes capitalism a desirable economic system is the type of worker-capitalist relationship inherent in capitalism.

False

T or F An argument is valid only if all its premises are true.

False

T or F The paradox of hedonism (or the paradox of selfishness) is that people who are exclusively concerned with their own interests tend to have happier and more satisfying lives than those who are concerned about other people.

False

Which philosopher referred to a bureaucracy as "rule by nobody"?

Hannah Arendt

The view of ignorance demands people in the original position to be

Impartial

In Anarchy, State and Utopia, Robert Nozick advocates

Libertarianism

Rather than strong work ethic, a more commonly seen role is:

Me - first

Briefly explain Milton Friedman's view of social responsibility.

Milton Friedman believes that a company's only responsibility to its owners and shareholders is to make money and maximize profit.

What notion should be at the heart of ethical theory, according to virtue ethics?

Moral Character

Moral attitudes are best depicted by which of the following?

Moral standards typically concern behavior that can be of serious consequence to human welfare.

The part of an argument that contains the evidence or reasons is the

Premises

Which statement is true from an ethical perspective?

The argument for strict liability is basically utilitarian.

T or F According to Milton Friedman, business has no social responsibilities other than to maximize profits.

True

T or F One of the major characteristics of an organization is the shared acceptance of organizational rules by its members.

True

Utilitarianism is appealing as a standard for moral decision making in business. Which of the following provides a reason for this?

Utilitarianism provides an objective way of resolving conflicts of self-interest

Which of the following is an example of price gouging?

a New York hotel tripling its room prices after 9/11

Milton Friedman argues that

a business has no social responsibilities other than to maximize profits.

"If you want to go to law school, then you must take the LSAT exam." This statement is an example of

a hypothetical imperative.

According to the legal doctrine of strict product liability,

a manufacturer need not be negligent to be held liable for a defective product.

Adam Smith proposed that in our pursuit of economic interests we are led by

an invisible hand to promote general good.

The case of FTC v. Standard Education was important in the legal transition

away from the reasonable-person standard.

The authors use the murder of Kitty Genovese to illustrate

bystander apathy.

Morality and self-interest

can sometimes conflict.

Marxism states

capitalism leads to a concentration of property and thus a concentration of resources and power in relatively few hands.

Which of the following consumer goods is responsible for the greatest number of individual social ills?

cigarettes

For years Bayer aspirin advertised that it contained "the ingredient doctors recommend most." This is an example of:

concealment of facts.

The best statement to describe corporations is

corporate culture can be both explicit and implicit.

One of the three important "limits to what the law can do" discussed by Christopher Stone is

designing effective regulations is difficult.

Harvard business professor Theodore Levitt has

drawn an analogy between advertising and art.

Most Americans believe a corporation's top obligation is to its

employees

The famous experiments by social psychologist Solomon Asch show

even temporary groups can pressure people to conform.

"Puffery" is an example of which of the following deceptive or misleading advertising techniques?

exaggeration

The case of MacPherson v. Buick Motor Car in 1916 changed product liability law. As a result of it, the courts

expanded the liability of manufacturers for injuries caused by defective products.

People generally speak of two kinds of warranties. What are these two kinds of warranties?

express and implied

According to Kant

good will is the only thing that is good in itself.

Capitalism operates on the debatable assumption that human beings find increased well-being through

greater material consumption.

A tangible truth about having moral principles is

if you do the right thing only because you think it will pay off, you're not really motivated by moral concerns.

According to Freud, because women focus on relationships they are

incapable of being objective

According to act utilitarianism, an action is morally right if and only if

it maximizes total, net happiness.

Rawls rejects utilitarianism because

it might permit an unfair distribution of burdens and benefits

Which of the following is one of the three arguments in favor of narrow corporate social responsibility discussed in this chapter?

let-government-do-it

Nozick's libertarian theory proposes

libertarians generally agree that liberty allows only a "night-watchman" state

Milton Friedman's perspective is that the only responsibility of a business is to

make money for its owners.

Legal paternalism is the doctrine that the law

may justifiably be used to restrict the freedom of individuals for their own good.

For employees who are paid handsomely for their efforts, Marx said their work would ultimately prove to be

meaningless to them.

Which of the following characteristics distinguishes moral standards from other sorts of standards?

moral standards take priority over other standards, including self-interest

The profit motive

must be checked by competition if society is to benefit.

In contrast to traditional manufacturers, many companies have become hollow corporations who

outsource and likely produce only the package and the label .

Apply what you know to the concept of "diffusion of responsibility" in a bureaucratic setting? How can this explain the inefficiencies found in large government agencies or organizations? (example: Post Office, Amtrak etc. )

pg. 46-53

A common point of contention about corporations is

philosophers and business theorists disagree whether corporations are moral agents.

One of the four key features of capitalism is

private property.

The "rules of the game" for corporate work are intended to

promote open and free competition.

According to Mill's utilitarianism

rights are certain moral rules, the observance of which is of the utmost importance for the long-run, overall maximization of happiness

Consequentialism

states that the moral rightness of an action is determined solely by its results.

Advertising

subsidizes the media.

The media with the greatest advertising influence over children is

television.

In deciding whether an ad is deceptive, today the FTC basically follows

the "modified" gullible-consumer standard.

Before the case of MacPherson v. Buick Motor Car in 1916, the law based a manufacturer's liability for injuries due to a defective product on

the contractual relationship between the producer and the consumer.

Though many jobs are outsourced, most economists believe

the economy will create new jobs.

Evidence for the idea that American manufacturing is declining is

the fact that government now employs more people than manufacturing.

Due care is

the idea that consumers and sellers do not meet as equals and that consumer's interests are particularly vulnerable to being harmed by the manufacturer.

The consumer's main source of product information is

the label and package.

T or F According to Adam Smith, individuals have natural endowments that should determine the kind of work they do.

False

T or F According to Adam Smith, the division of labor decreases economic activity

False

T or F According to Alfie Kohn, competition promotes individual and group achievement better than cooperation.

False

T or F According to Ethics of Care, the female moral perspective takes a more universal and impartial standpoint in reasoning about what is morally good and bad

False

T or F According to Marx, the best economic system would be one where the means of production and distribution are in the hands of the bourgeoisie.

False

T or F An individual does not have to follow the code of one's profession.

False

T or F As a classical moral justification of capitalism, the natural right to property is a utilitarian justification.

False

T or F Capitalism is possible without private property.

False

T or F Enron executives acted wrongly simply because they broke the law.

False

T or F If your conduct is legal, it will also be moral.

False

T or F Immanuel Kant believed that it is only when we act out of feeling or sentiment that our actions have moral worth.

False

T or F None of the specific measures proposed by Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto have been implemented in capitalist countries.

False

T or F Organizational norms always and inevitably lead to groupthink.

False

T or F Rules of etiquette are always moral rules.

False

T or F Traditional Moral philosophy has been favorable to women, as evidenced by the views of Freud, Kohlberg, Rousseau, Aquinas, and Aristotle

False

The narrow view of corporate social responsibility argues companies must make money within the "rules of the game" which rules out all of the following except for:

Harm

Which of the following is true regarding Immanuel Kant's beliefs?

He believed that reason by itself can reveal the basic principles of morality.

The first principle of Nozick's entitlement theory concerns the original acquisition of

Holdings

Every year cold weather results in problems with customers water pipes freezing and sometimes bursting. These problems are inconvenient and can be very expensive to repair. But even when it gets very cold, water pipes seldom freeze and almost never burst.

Inconsistent

Many utilitarians would argue that

Increased worker participation in industrial life is beneficial

The difference principle of Rawls includes

Individuals are justified by working for the benefit of the least advantaged

Which of the following accurately describes Ross' prima facie duties?

Intuitively compelling moral demands that are binding unless they conflict with equal or stronger moral claims.

What is a prima facie obligation?

It is an obligation we have as humans to do our duty unless a greater duty comes upon us

One problem often raised against virtue ethics over the centuries has been the inability to find a virtuous man. Who was our "moral exemplar," our example of a virtuous person was

Marcus Aurelius

Aristotle divides the virtues into:

Moral virtues and intellectual virtues

Which statement is true concerning moral principles and self interests?

Morality serves to restrain our purely self-interested desires so that we can all live together.

State two alternative formulations of Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative. What are these two formulations?

One of Kant's formulations is the formula of Universiality "Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law." Essentially he states that do something only if you believe others will follow in your footsteps. Kant's second formulation is the formula of humanity. Kant is stating that it is morally wrong to use a human as a way to justify the means.

The benefits within moral standards are best seen in which statement?

Professional codes are the rules that are supposed to govern the conduct of members of a given profession.

Eminent domain is the ancient right of government to take what from an individual?

Property

According to Locke

Property is a moral right

Which of the following is NOT one of the three types of explanations given for the male-female difference in morality?

Psychological similarities

The terms "best, finest, and most" are examples of

Puffery

Mike: It is morally wrong to cheat on your spouse, why on earth would you have done that? Ken: But what is morality exactly? Mike: It's a code of conduct shared by cultures. Ken: But who creates this code

Red herring

The "Golden Mean" principle suggests that a good general guide to living virtuously is to

Seek moderation and avoid excess

According to John Rawls, people in "the original position" choose the principle of justice solely on the basis of

Self-Interest

T or F According to Robert Nozick, the basic moral rights possessed by all human beings are both negative and natural.

True

T or F According to divine command theory, if something is wrong, then the only reason it is wrong is that God commands us not to do it.

True

T or F Adherents of the broad view of corporate responsibility claim that modern business is intimately integrated with the rest of society and that, as a result, although society expects business to pursue its economic interests, business has other responsibilities as well.

True

T or F An argument is a group of statements, one of which is claimed to follow from the others.

True

T or F An organization is a group of people working together to achieve a common purpose.

True

T or F Aristotle's Golden Mean is the midpoint between the vice of excess and the vice of deficiency

True

T or F Business ethics is the study of what constitutes right and wrong, or good and bad, human conduct in a business context.

True

T or F Bystander apathy appears to result in part from diffusion of responsibility.

True

T or F Ethical relativism is the theory that what is right is determined by what a culture or society says is right.

True

T or F For philosophers, the important question is not how we come to have the particular moral principles we have, but whether we can justify them.

True

T or F Implicit capitalism is the view that human beings aim to maximize their economic self-interest.

True

T or F Jeremy Bentham thought that a community is no more than the individuals who compose it and that the interests of the community are simply the sum of the interests of its members.

True

T or F John Rawl's second principle of justice states that insofar as inequalities are permitted-- that is, insofar as it is compatible with justice for some jobs or positions to bring greater rewards than others-- these positions must be open to all

True

T or F Lawrence Kohlberg thinks men are more interested in Justice perspective and women in a care perspective

True

T or F Moral standards concern behavior that can be of serious consequence to human welfare.

True

T or F Most people don't distinguish between a person's "morals" and his or her "ethics."

True

T or F One feature about utilitarianism that makes it appealing as a standard for moral decisions in business and nonbusiness organizations is that it provides a clear and straightforward basis for formulating and testing policies.

True

T or F Our conscience evolved as we internalized the moral instructions of the parents or other authority figures who raised us as children.

True

T or F Some feminists argue the difference between male and female morality lies in male and female reproductive capacities and experiences

True

T or F The connection between rights and duties is that, generally speaking, if you have a right to do something, then someone else has a correlative duty to act in a certain way.

True

T or F The phrase 'the declining marginal utility of money" means that successive additions to one's income produce, on average, less happiness or welfare than did earlier additions.

True

T or F Utilitarians reject the very idea of a natural right to property.

True

T or F Worker control socialism is a hybrid economic system with no marketplace and no profits.

True

Who is more likely to be sympathetic with the idea of reducing the disparities of income in Society

Utilitarians

How did Aristotle think that virtue could be acquired?

Virtue is Acquired through education and training

Why did Aristotle say there were no child prodigies in ethics like there was in music, math, and the sciences?

Well worked ethics comes from practice and children have done very little of that

What would the world be without advertising? Would companies be able to maintain sales or would they go under because of lack of business without advertising? What role would "word of mouth" have if there were no advertising?

Without advertising, many businesses would be forced to go out of business. Only the most popular companies would be able to make enough profit to stay open as a result of word of mouth. The more popular the store, naturally there are going to be more people talking about it. This would result in an almost monopolistic society where select businesses would control the economy.

If you are a disciple of Virtue Ethics

You do what's right because that's what you do, out of practice of cultivating your moral excellence.

The code or principles of conduct that a person accepts

can be distinguished from the person's morality in a broader sense that includes his or her values, ideals, and aspirations.

Which of the following is an accurate statement?

common defense of capitalism is the argument that people have a fundamental moral right to property and that our capitalist system is simply the outcome of this natural right.

According to Galbraith's "dependence effect",

consumer demand tends to be shaped by the production process.

In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling included

support for corporations' First Amendment right to participate in the political process

When religion and morality are considered:

the moral instructions of the world's great religions are often general and imprecise.

For philosophers, the most important issue is not where our moral principles came from, but

whether those moral principles can be justified

How do defenders of capitalism respond to critics who point to the profound economic inequalities that characterize capitalist society?

1. Extremists deny that capitalism is responsible for poverty. 2. Moderates argue that the system can be modified or its inherent tendencies corrected by political action, so that inequality and poverty are reduced or even eliminated. 3. Defenders in general argue that the benefits of the system outweigh this weak point.

Human rights have at least four important characteristics. What are these characteristics of human rights?

1.Human Rights are Universal 2. Human rights are equal rights 3. Human rights are not transfeable, nor can they be relinquished 4.Human rights are natural rights

For the first time since the Industrial Revolution, less than _____ percent of the American workforce was employed by manufacturing.

10

We cannot listen to John's opinion on global warming because he is a dirt worshiping tree hugger.

Ad Hominem

If you are cheating on me, you will be out of the house a lot. You are out of the house a lot, so you must be cheating on me

Affirming the consequent

If men are not really evil, then it is unnecessary to have police to prevent crime. And if men are really evil, then police will be ineffectual in preventing crime. Now either men are not evil or they are evil. Therefore, police are either unnecessary or ineffectual.

All or nothing mistake (black and white thinking)

Terms like "can be," "as much as," and "help," are examples of

Ambiguity

According to one survey of cultural values

Americans typically value things like their children's education and a satisfactory love life more than work.

Choose the statement that is a true reflection of moral beliefs.

Bystander apathy appears to result in part from diffusion of responsibility.

A distinguishing feature of virtue theory is that it places the ethical focus on

Character

A distinctive feature of Virtue Theory is that it

Claims to make you a better person

What the speaker or writer is trying to prove in an argument

Conclusion

The only accurate statement about consequentalism is:

Consequentialism says that the moral rightness of an action is determined solely by its results.

The music of Bach filled the room, entered my ears. The flowers were fresh on the sideboard at the end of the room; they were purple irises, carefully arranged, and they leaned toward me like the small, delicate heads of birds

Consistent

In 1972 Congress created one of the most important agencies for regulating product safety. This agency is the

Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Give an example of deceptive ambiguity in advertising.

Continental Baking Company implied in its ads for Profile bread that eating the bread would lead to weight loss, and a large number of people interpreted the ad to mean that eating Profile bread really would cause them to lose weight.

The debate over corporate moral agency hinges on which question?

Corporate punishment

Which philosopher referred to a bureaucracy as "a circle from which no one can escape" ?

Karl Marx

Which of the following accurately reflects the concept of Marxism?

Labor is alienated in a capitalist economic system (in part) because the labor of a worker stands opposed to the worker as an autonomous power.

In Nozick's example of Wilt Chamberlain, he argues that other theories of economic justice inevitably fail to respect people's

Liberty

Explain one of the three criticisms of utilitarianism..

One of the criticisms of utilitarianism is the personal decision criticism. For example, if killing a loved one was the only way to save the greater good, utilitarianism would say to kill that person. But the criticism states that you love the person too much and could not bring yourself to kill them.

From John Stuart Mill's viewpoint

Only the utilitarian standard can best resolve conflicts between competing principles of Justice

According to John Rawls

People in the original position choose the principles on the basis of self-interest

Identify two forms of ethical egoism. What are these two forms and how do they differ from one another?

Personal egoism: the claim that they should pursue their best interests, but they do not do what other people say. Impersonal Egoism: The claim that everyone should let self-interest guide his or her conduct. Personal is essentially saying everyman for himself, dont worry about anyone else. Impersonal, is stating do what benefits you most, but consider other people as well.

To the libertarians, their concept of liberty includes a commitment to

Private property

In 1988 Pat Robertson claimed there were still Soviet missiles in Cuba. "I am not backing off from that," he reiterated in response to criticism from political opponents, and he challenged his critics to "prove me wrong" on the missile issue.

Shifting the burden of Proof

Aristotle's formal principle of justice states

Similar cases must be treated alike except when there is some relevant difference.

John Rawls' Theory of Justice lays within which type of tradition?

Social Contract

What is the difference between capitalism and socialism? What is "worker control socialism"?

Socialism is an economic system characterized by public ownership of property and a planned economy. Capitalism is an economic system that operates on the basis of profit and market exchange in which the majority means of production and distribution are in private hands. In essence, socialism is an economy controlled by a group of people, such as a government, while capitalism is a free economy where individuals control their own fate. Worker control socialism is a hybrid economic system advocated by some socialists, where individual firms respond to a market when deciding what to produce and acquiring the necessary factors of production. However the workforce of each enterprise controls the enterprise, and profits accrue to the workers as a group to divide in whatever matter they agree on.

The supreme court gave decision making power for Eminent domain to the

States and local communities

According to divine command theory, if stealing is wrong then it is wrong because:

Stealing is wrong only because God commands us not to steal.

What is subliminal advertising?

Subliminal advertising is the use of images and sounds by advertisers in order to influence consumers' responses without their being conscious of it.

Which statement is accurate in its description of consumer protection?

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has the power to order recalls, public warnings, and refunds.

Which of the following contributed to the more relaxed incorporation procedures of modern times?

The idea that incorporation is a by-product of the people's right to associate, not a gift from the state.

Our relationship with the law is best described by which of the following?

To a significant extent, law codifies a society's customs, norms, and moral values.

Critics of advertising contend that

advertising rarely gives consumers much useful information.

Proper logic states

all sound arguments are valid arguments.

Good moral judgments should be logical and

based on facts and acceptable moral principles.

Corporations are limited-liability companies which means that

corporate shareholders are liable for corporate debts only up to the extent of their investments.

To properly protect consumers,

if a product poses a potential, serious threat, a company may need to take extraordinary measures to ensure continued safe use of it.

In the corporate world, the board of directors will

rubber stamp the policies and recommendations of the management.

EXTRA CREDIT: Professor Gerdes actually came to class sober today

shifting of accent

Those with a broader view concerning business obligations believe that with power comes

social responsibility.

Kenneth Arrow discussed two important situations in which profit maximization can be socially inefficient. One of these occurs when

there is an imbalance of knowledge between buyer and seller.

Karl Marx believed that

under capitalism workers are alienated in several ways.

The courts and the general public find corporate responsibility

useful and intelligible.

A basic premise of Adam Smith's is

we can secure what we need from others only by offering them something they need from us.

When ethical relativism is put into practice, it implies that

we cannot say that slavery is wrong if the society in question believes it is right.

The example of Huckleberry Finn shows

we shouldn't rely uncritically on what our conscience says.