Nature of Morality Essay

Moral Issues in Business Chapter One The Nature of Morality Terminology What is ethics? The study of right and wrong find out between ethics and morality? Some people distinguish between the two. We will use them interchangeably. What is course ethics? The study of what constitutes right and wrong, or good and bad, human conduct in a bank line context. Non-Moral Standards Characteristics of moral standards Concern behavior that is of serious consequence to human welfare Take priority all over other standards, including self-interest Their soundness depends on the adequacy of the reasons that support or justify them. Moral Standards vs. Etiquette Rules for socially acceptable behavior are non moral standards Dont eat with your mouth full. presuppose please and thank you. Moral Standards vs. Law An action can be moral but not legal. An action can be legal but not moral. Moral Standards vs. Professional Codes of Ethics Rules that prescribe the conduct of members of a given profession. Sources Of Moral Standards Societal norms-Ethical Relativism The right thing to do is what ones finishing says is right.This keeps culture stagnant no moral growth It leaves no basis for one culture to pass judgment on anothers actions Ones culture is hard to localise in the modern world. Role of religionpositive and negative Nearly every religion has a version of the Golden Rule Most theologians disagree with divine command theory. That theory says that something is right or wrong because God says so. Instead, God commands what is right and forbids what is wrong. Saying that something is right because God says so is not ingratiatory to the atheist.There are differences of opinion about what God commands. The Context of Business Ethics Business as a game Soccer and pizza party example Business values in tenseness with personal values What is my responsibility as an employee? As a person? Social pressures can hazard it hard to stick with our moral rules. C orporations can bring pressure to bear against our personal values. Organizational residenceherd instinctradical norms Being a member of a team can consider that people relinquish some of their personal freedom in order to further organization goals. mental studies show that people will change their answers to questions to agree with the majority. Groupthink group members may make up the illusion that the group is invulnerable or that because the group is good or right, whatever it does is permissible. Diffusion of Responsibility Im just doing my job. If I dont do it, someone else will. Its someone elses responsibility. (The Kitty Genovese story) How do Moral Principles Help Us? The Limits of Conscience Conscience often reflects principles that have not been critically examined.Terrible crimes have occasionally been committed in the name of conscience. Moral Principles and egoism Morality serves to restrain our purely self-interested desires so we can all live together in troupe Having a moral principle involves having a desire to follow the principle for its own sake riddle of Selfishness People who are exclusively concerned with their own interests tend to have slight happy and less satisfying lives than those whose desires extend beyond themselves.