Business Ethics-Chapters 1-4

self-interest

Focus on actions or activities that are advantageous to an individual or organization.

lockean rights

Nozick believes people have certain basic moral rights. These rights are both negative and natural.

entitlement theory

Nozick's theory of economic justice. People are entitled to their holdings (that is goods, money and property) as long as they have acquired them fairly. If you have obtained your possessions without violating other people's lockean rights, then you are entitled to them and may dispose of them as you choose.

worker control socialism

a hybrid economic system advocated by some socialists. individual firms respond to a market when acquiring the necessary factors of production and when deciding what to produce. a market-oriented socialism. the workers manage their factories, but the capital assets of each interprise are owned by society as a whole and not by private individuals.

industrial capitalism

large-scale industry. technology of mass production, expanding markets for cheaply manufactured goods, and a large and willing labor force-produced industrial expansion. (assembly line)

statues

laws enacted by legislative bodies. The law that prohibits and defines theft is a stature. Congress and state legislatures enact statues.

Impersonal egoists

claim that everyone should let self-interest guide his or her conduct.

Personal egoists

claim that they should pursue their own best interests, but they do not say what others should do.

hollow corporations

companies that in years past were identified with making goods of all sorts now are likely to produce only the package and the label.

corporate welfare

examples include subsidies for farmers and tariffs on assists business and protects it from competition.

state welfare capitalism

government plays an active role in the economy, attempting to smooth out the boom-and-bust pattern of the business cycle through its fiscal and monetary policies. government programs such as social security and unemployment insurance seek to enhance the welfare of the workforce, and legislation legitimizes the existence of trade unions.

argument

group of statements that is claimed to follow from the others.

unsound arguments

have at least one false premise or invalid reasoning

sound arguments

have true premises and valid reasoning

utilitarianism (consequentialist theory)

holds that one must take into account everyone affected by the action. Also, they believe that rightness and wrongness are solely a function of an action's results.

libertarianism

identify justice with an ideal of liberty. 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. "a philosophy of personal liberty"-the liberty of each person to live according to his own choices, provided he does not attempt to coerce others and thus prevent them from living according to their choices.

profit motive

implies and reflects a critical assumption about human nature. that human beings are basically economic creatures who recognize and are motivated by their own economic interests.

worker participation

in industrial life and more equal distribution of income.

administrative regulations

legislatures often set up boards or agencies whose functions include issuing detailed regulations covering certain kinds of conduct.

free market

libertarians say that their commitment to an unrestricted free market reflects the priority of liberty over other values. comittment to private property

capital

money that is invested for the purpose of making more money. individuals or corporations purchase various means of production or other related assets and use them to produce goods or provide services which are then sold.

normative theories

propose some principle or principles for distinguishing right actions from wrong actions. these theories are divided into two kinds: consequentialist and nonconsequentialist.

constitutional law

refers to court rulings on the requirements of the Constitution and the constitutionality of legislation.

Etiquette

refers to the norms of correct conduct in polite society, any special code of social behavior or courtesy. Good business etiquette calls for writing follow-up letters after meetings, retuning phone calls, and dressing appropriately.

negative rights

reflect the vital interests that human beings have in being free from outside interference. (freedom of speech, religion, assembly).

positive rights

reflect the vital interests that human beings have in receiving certain benefits. they are rights to have others provide us with certain goods, services, or opportunities. (right to education, medical care).

difference principle

the distinctive core of Rawls's theory. it states that inequalities are justified only if they work to the benefit of the least-advantaged members of society-meaning those least well-off.

globalized capitalism

the economies are becoming more and more integrated, a process labeled globalization. investivement capital is more mobile than ever.

basis structure

the fundamental social institutions and their arrangement into one scheme. Rawls believes that social structure concerns the basic structure of society, not transactions between individuals.

ethical relativism

the theory that what is right is determined by what a culture or society is right. what is right in one place may be wrong in another one because the only criterion for distinguishing right from wrong, and so the only ethical standard for judging an action-is the moral system of the society in which the act occurs.

rule utilitarianism

the utilitarian standard should be applied not to individual actions but to moral codes as a whole.

egoism

the view that equates morality with self-interest. An act is morally right if and only if it best promotes the agent's own interests. Egoism makes personal advantage the standard for measuring an action's rightness.

business egoism

the view that it is morally acceptable for individuals to pursue their economic interests when engaged in business-is defended on utilitarian grounds. self-interest

hedonism

the view that pleasure or happiness is the only thing that is good in itself, that it is the ultimate good, the one thing in life worth pursuing for its own sake.

considered moral beliefs

these beliefs CONTRAST with our gut responses, with beliefs based on ignorance or prejudice, and with beliefs we just happen to hold without having thought them through. We think about these beliefs coolly, rationally, impartially, with conceptual clarity.

moral standards

they concern behavior that is of serious consequenceto human welfare, that can profoundly injure or benefit people. the moral principle that human beings should be treated with dignity and respect uplifts the human personality. moral standards take priority over other standards. their soundness depends on the adequacy of the reasons that support or justify them.

hypothetical imperatives

they tell us what we must do on the assumption that we have sompe particular goal. "If you want to go to medical school, you must take biology." Kants imperative is categorical: it commands unconditionally. it is necessarily binding on everyone, regardless of his or her specific goals or desires, regardless of consequences. "do this, do that, no ifs ands or buts."

businesspeople

those who participate in planning, organizing, or directing the work of business.

maxim 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-this rule makes sense when you care much more about avoiding an unacceptable or disastrous result than about getting the best possible result.

organization

a group of people working together to achieve a common purpose.

valid argument

whose premises logically entail its conclusion

laissez faire

"let people do as they please"-we are all free to pursue our own interests.

free competition

Adam Smith believes this is the regulator that keeps a comunity activated only by self-interest from degenerating into a mob of ruthless profiteers.

comparitive advantage

David Ricardo-the goods that it can produce at a lower opportunity cost than other countries can.

maxim

Kant means the subjective principle of an action, the principle or rule that people in effect formulate in determining their conduct.

good will

Kant says nothing is good in itself except good will. Kant believed their goodness depends on the will that makes use of them. Intelligence is not good when exercised by an evil person.

categorical imperative

Kant says that we should always act in such a way that we can will the maxim of our action to become a universal law. An act is morally right is and only if we can will it as a universal law of conduct.

alienation

Marx argued that under capitalism workers are alienated in several different ways. The separation of individuals from the objects they create, which in turn results in one's separation from other people, from oneself, and ultimately from one's human nature. Workers are exploited by capitalism amd inevitably experience alienation.

exploitation

Marx believes that only through this can capitalists make a profit and increase their capital. Because workers have nothing to sell but their labor, the bourgeoisie is able to exploit them by paying them less than the true value created by their labor.

veil of ignorance

Rawls believes people in the original position know nothing about themselves personally or about what their individual situation will be once the rules are chosen and the veil is lifted. They have a general knowledge of history, sociology, and psychology-although no specific information about the society they will be in once the veil is lifted.

original position

That's where a person goes behind a "veil of ignorance." That way they don't know if they will be rich or poor, athletic or lazy, anything that could bias their decisions about what they would choose in a social contract.

oligopolies

a concentration of property and resources, and thus economic power, in the hands of a few. Several companies go outside their company and buy other companies. They take over other companie's production.

supererogatory actions

actions taht it would be good to do but not immoral not to do. For instance, we do not expect ordinary people to be like Mother Teresa.

egoism (consequentialist theory)

advocates individual self-interest as its guiding principle. Also, they believe that rightness and wrongness are solely a function of an action's results.

primary social goods

although people in the original position are ignorant of their individual circumstances, they know that whatever their particular goals, interests, and talents turn out to be, they will want more, rather than less of what Rawls calls these things...these include not only income and wealth but also rights, liberties, opportunities, status and self-respect. once the veil of ignorance is lifted, people will have more specific ideas about what is good for them.

outsource

buying parts or whole products from other producers, both at home and abroad.

socialism

an economic system characterized by public ownership of property and a planned economy. A society's productive equipment is owned not by individuals but by public bodies. depends primarily on centralized planning rather than on a market system for both its overall allocation of resources and its distribution of income. crucial economic decisions are made by the government.

legal right

an entitlement to act or have others act in a certain way. Your right to drive under certain conditions is derived from our legal system and is thus considered a legal right.

counterexample

an example that is consistent with the premises but is inconsistent with the two stated premises.

prima facie obligation

an obligation that can be overridden by a more important obligation. For instance, we take the keeping of promises seriously, but almost everyone would agree that in some circumstances, when a life is at stake, it would not only be morally permissible, but morally required to break a promise.

business

any organization whose objective is to provide goods or services for profit.

moral arguments

arguments whose conclusions are moral judgments

mercantile capitalism

capitalism that is based on mutual dependence between state and commercial interests.it possesses and that therefor government should regulate production and trade with the goal of encouraging exports while keeping out imports, thus building up the nation's bullion reserves.

nonconsequentialist (deontoligical) theories

contend that right and wrong are determined by more than the likely consequences of an action. They do not necesarilly deny that consequences are morally significant, but they believe that other factors are also relevant to the moral assessment of an action.

financial capitalism

development of money system. strengthen their financing and shore up their assets. characterized by pools, trusts, holding companies, and the interpretation of banking, insurance, and industrial interests.

capitalism

economic system that operates on the basis of profit and market exchange and in which the major means of production and distribution are in private hands.

conscience

evolved as we internalized the moral instructions of the parents or other authority figures who raised us as children. You should not ignore your conscience but that the voice of conscience is itself something that can be critically examined.

Ethics

moral philosophy; find out how moral judgements can be justified and the principles or properties that distinguish right actions from wrong actions. deals with individual character and with the moral rules that govern and limit our conduct. investigates questions of right and wrong, fairness and unfairness, good and bad, duty and obligation, moral responsibility and the values that should guide our actions.

human rights

moral rights that are not the result of particular roles, special relationships, or specific circumstances. they are universal. (right to life). they are equal rights. they are not transferable, nor can they be relinquished. they do not depend on human institutions like legal rights do.

ideal

morally significant goal, virtue or notion of excellence worth striving for.

optimal moral code

must take into account what rules can reasonably be taught and obeyed, as well as the costs of inculcating those rules in people. the "optimality" of a moral code encompasses both the benefits of reduced objectionable behavior and the long-term costs.

morality in the broad sense

not just the principles of conduct that we embrace but also the values, ideals, and aspirations that shape our lives. The type of life each of us seeks to live reflects our individual values.

justice

often used to mean fairness. justice frequently concerns the fair treatment of members of groups of people or else looks backward to the fair compensation of prior injuries.

moral worth

only when we act from a sense of duty does our action have moral worth. According to Kant, if you do not will the action from a sense of your duty to be fair and honest, your action lacks moral worth.

natural right to property

our capitalist system is simply the outcome of this right. we are free to own a variety of things. people have this fundamental right.

psychological egoism

people are so constructed that they must act selfishly. All actions are selfishly motivated and that truly unselfish actions are therefore impossible.

paradox of hedonism

people who are exclusively concerned with their own interests tend to have less happy and less satisfying lives than those whose desires extend beyond themselves. Also known as "paradox of selfishness". Individuals who care only about their own happiness will generally be less happy than those who care about others.

state of nature

prior to the formation of government, property rights were limited not only by the requirement that one not waste what one claimed, but also by the restriction that "enough and as good" be left for others-that is that one's appropriatoin not make others worse off.

moral rights

some of these moral rights derive from special relationships, roles, or circumstances in which we happen to be. For instance, if I agreed to water your plans while you were on vacation, you have a right to expect me to look after them in your absence.

act utilitarianism

states that we must ask ourselves what the consequences of a particular act in a particular situation will be for all those affected. If its consequences bring more net good than those of any alternative course of action, then this action is the right one and the one we should perform.

Business Ethics

study of what constitutes right and wrong, or good and bad, human conduct in a business context.

declining marginal utility of money

successive additions to one's income produce, on average, less happiness or welfare than did earlier additions.

short-term focus

tends to make U.S. corporations unimaginative, inflexible, and ultimately uncompetitive. Strategists urge the U.S. to focus on long-term goals even at the expense of a short-term profit.

divine command theory

that if something is wrong (like killing an innocent person for fun) then the only reason it is wrong is that God commands us not to do it-many theologians and certainly most philosophers would reject this view. They would contend that if God commands human beings not to do something, such as commit rape, it is because God sees that rape is wrong, but it is not God's forbidding rape that makes it wrong.

invisible hand

that when people are left to pursue their own interests, they will, without intending it, produce the greatest good for all. Each person's individual and private pursuit of wealth results-as if guided by this thing. It is the most beneficial overall organization and distribution of economic resources.

common law

the body of judge-made law that first developed in the English-speaking world centuries ago. Each of these opinions became a precedent for later decisions in similar cases. The massive body of precedents and legal principles that accumulated over the years is collected referred to as "common law"

eminent domain

the government may appropraite private property for public use, usually with compensation to the owner. The government may legally purchase your house from you to widen a highway. Utilitarianism may even require that some people's happiness be sacrificied in order to achieve the greatest overall amount of happiness.

Morality in the narrow sense

the moral code of an individual or a society. concerns the principles that do or should regulate people's conduct and relations with others.

utilitarianism

the moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest good over bad for everyone affected by our actions. The greatest happiness of all constitutes the standard that determines whether an action is right or wrong. John Stuart Mill and Bentham developed this theory.

consequentialist theories

the moral rightness of an action is determined solely by its results. If its consequences are good, then the act is right. Consequentialists determine what is right by weighing the ratio of good to bad that an action will produce.

distributive justice

the proper distribution of social benefits and burdens (in particular economic benefits and burdens). For instance, to each an equal share, to each according to individual need.

universal acceptability

the rule commands would be acceptable to all rational beings.

professional codes of ethics

the rules that are supposed to govern the conduct of members of a given profession. Adhering to these rules is required in being part of that profession.

work ethic

values the work for its own sake, seeing it as something necessary for every person. It emphasizes the belief that hard work pays of in the end.

property rights

what you have legitimately acquired is yours to do with as you will.

invalid argument

whose premises do not entail its conclusion