Philosophy 301 business ethics thread 1

On pages 8 – 12 of our book, the editors introduce some of the key concepts of ethics. Pay close attention to the definitions of morality, ethics, values, norms, and principles in particular.

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One practice that all people who are engaged in ethical thinking should be able to do is to describe the moral beliefs of other people. This practice is called “descriptive ethics.” Can you describe the values and beliefs of a particular moral system or group of people? For example, what do you think the values and moral beliefs of a typical Drexel student are?

But descriptive ethics is only the beginning. The most important thing that ethicists do is what is called “normative ethics.” In normative ethics you are not concerned with how people do behave, but with how they should behave. Normative ethics thus concerns itself with formulating norms and principles that tell people how they should act and giving arguments for why the moral principles being proposed are preferable to the alternatives.

In this class we will thus not be focusing on how people do behave in business. We will, instead, ask ourselves how people should behave.

Regarding the distinction between descriptive ethics and normative ethics, it is crucial to keep in mind that you cannot argue on the basis that people do believe a certain thing that they should believe that thing. To do so would be a violation of the is-ought fallacy. What is the nature of the is-ought fallacy? Simply stated: you cannot deduce what one ought to do on the basis of what isthe case with regards to what people do do. So murder may be immoral, but it is not immoral because most people believe it is immoral. It is immoral for some other reason.

It may be a bit premature to ask this question, but as someone who has perhaps never taken an ethics class before or studied ethics in any formal manner, what do you think makes a moral action moral? What makes an immoral action immoral? What is the difference between a moral action and an immoral action?

The distinction between relativism and absolutism is also of interest here. Moral absolutists believe that there is only one right answer to questions of what is right and wrong, and only one moral system that can properly address moral issues. On the other hand, relativists believe there is no single right answer to questions of what is right or wrong, that each individual or culture has their own perception of what is right or wrong, and that there are no universal principles of right and wrong that would allow anyone to say that one person’s moral beliefs are any better or any worse than another person’s. So, for example, a moral absolutist might say that lying is always immoral, and then articulate universal principles that show why lying is wrong in all circumstances. A moral relativist, on the other hand, might say that in their own eyes lying is immoral, but their own perspective does not allow them to judge others when they lie because these other people may have different, but in no way better or worse, moral views on the matter.

So are any of you moral absolutists or moral relativists? What are some problems with absolutism or relativism? What are some alternatives to absolutism and relativism?

Finally, a lot of people think that business has nothing to do with morality. Business is about making money, and morality has nothing to do with that. How would you respond to someone who expressed this point of view?