...Ethics Ryan P. Quinn Business Society & Ethics Professor Peter J. Classetti March 24, 2014 Keynesian economics, also referred to as “mainstream” economics differs drastically from its counterpart, the Austrian school of economic thought. In a very basic sense, the two varying economic philosophies connect with and represent the two main political philosophies, (or what are known in the political realm as parties). Keynesianism is the liberal way of perceiving and practicing economics, whereas Austrian economists are much more conservative in their views on policies and procedures. Not unlike the liberals and conservatives in the world of politics, the main bone to pick with one another among the liberals and conservatives in the world of economics is the topic of government intervention. Conservative Austrian economists believe in an entirely free market, with very little to no government intervention whatsoever, (even in times of severe economic downturn and in the midst of financial crises), whereas more liberal Keynesian economists believe that government intervention is key to maintaining a healthy, growing economy with little to no possibility of collapse. These two vastly different economic philosophies not only have monetary implications, but also very significant social as well as ethical ones. Keynesian economics was developed by the British economist John Maynard Keynes who was born in 1883 and died in 1946 (Keynesian Economics, 2). His economic theory...
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...with pleasure and minimized pain. During the 19th century John Stuart Mills another utilitarian philosopher further advanced the development of this philosophy; however, breaking away from hedonism. For Mill, pleasure or happiness should be calculated by measuring the greater good of people. He also recognized that certain pleasures were superior to others. It important to understand the utilitarianism change the way of thinking. Meanwhile, religious morals are based on rules and divine revelation as the way of thinking, while utilitarianism is the opposite. Utilitarianism outstanding traits are it relatively simple. To understand if an action is moral, there is no need estimate if the consequences are positive or negative. When the good outdoes the bad, it can be considered that the actions are moral. In essence Bentham and Mills were both utilitarian; however each follow a dissimilar type of utilitarianism. Their difference was fairly evident in the information provided above. Because the views of ethical humane hedonism in opposition to psychological self-centered hedonism and the relevance of the principle of utility. Deontological Ethics The 18th Century German Philosopher Immanuel Kant, stated that deontology was an uncompromising science of the duties or consideration in which they do not concern the aims, but the intentions of the act,...
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...Externalism, Internalism, Empiricism, Rationalism, Constructivism, Infinitism, Foundationalism, Coherentism, Skepticism | Aristotle, Plato, Spinoza, Locke, George Berkeley, Immanuel Kant. (with all the questions I think we can attribute some Socrates also) | Focused on the analysis of the nature of knowledge; how do we know what we know, why? How is knowledge acquired? What makes justified beliefs justified? | Metaphysics | Metaphysics is the study of the nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and body, substance, and accident, events, and causation (Johnson, 2008). | Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity is considered by many to be based in metaphysics but was adopted into physics because of its significance (Howie, 1997). | Cosmology, Ontology, Natural Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Mind, Perception | Aristotle, Plato, George Berkeley, Anne Conway, Oliva Sabuco de Nantes, Benedictus de Spinoza, Émilie du Châtelet, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes | The study of existence; Natural Theology – study of Gods, nature of religion, what is the divine? Universal Science - what are the first principals and how do they interact with being? | Moral | The philosophical study of moral judgments—value judgments about what is virtuous or base, just or unjust, morally right or wrong, morally good or bad or evil, morally proper or improper. | Looking at humans, how ethics should be applied through historical precedence? Movement from Greece to modernity asking about...
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...The Categorical Imperative Analyzing Immanuel Kant’s Grounding for A Metaphysics of Morals Anders Bordum WP 4/2002 January 2002 MPP Working Paper No. 4/2002 © January 2002 ISBN: 87-91181-06-2 ISSN: 1396-2817 Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy Copenhagen Business School Blaagaardsgade 23B DK-2200 Copenhagen N Denmark Phone: +45 38 15 36 30 Fax: +45 38 15 36 35 E-mail: as.lpf@cbs.dk www.cbs.dk/departments/mpp 2 The Categorical Imperative Analyzing Immanuel Kant's Grounding for a Metaphysics of Morals By Anders Bordum Keywords: Categorical imperative, discourse ethics, duty, ethics, monologic, dialogic, Immanuel Kant, Jürgen Habermas, self-legislation, self-reference. 3 Abstract In this article I first argue that Immanuel Kant’s conception of the categorical imperative is important to his philosophy. I systematically, though indirectly, interconnect the cognitive and moral aspects of his thinking. Second, I present an interpretation of the Kantian ethics, taking as my point of departure, the concept of the categorical imperative. Finally, I show how the categorical imperative is given a dialogical interpretation by Jürgen Habermas in his approach, usually referred to as discourse ethics. I argue that the dialogical approach taken by discourse ethics is more justifiable and therefore more usefuli. I The Synthesis of Rationalism and Empiricism The philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is in the main inspired...
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...somewhat agreeable and sympathetic to human rights. Deontology focuses not on the consequences of actions but on the duties we have; and one man’s rights are another man’s duties. Deontology is based on the idea that good consequences do not override our duties. Doing the right thing is more important than increasing the good in society. The idea is that if you do the right thing versus what is good for society ultimately it will become what is good for society. Deontology does not accept slavery. Humans should be treated as objects of intrinsic moral value; that is, as ends in themselves and never as a mere means to some other end. We are not to enslave torture or murder one person even if that would increase total welfare. Respecting people’s right to be free is not simply good to do because you will be condemned if you don’t. It’s also more than the proper thing to do. It’s not just something that is strongly logical or something that you should do. Deontology is based on duties. A duty is specific and is something you must do. In all of my research I find that deontological ethics is widely against slavery in every way. Whether is against slavery because of the action or the consequence you will find that no form of deontology supports slavery. Based on Immanuel Kant’s ideal justice would always be safeguarded for individuals who are always “ends in themselves” Deontology avoid the flaw of allowing the minority to suffer for the benefit of the majority. This means that...
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...Jestin Thompson Political Science 23 April 2013 Final Paper Theory of Democratic Peace The idea of democratic peace was brought up in the enlightened era. The theory of democratic peace was based off of Immanuel Kant’s “Perpetual Peace.” The theory of democratic peace argues that nation-states governed by democratic regimes do not tend to have conflicts with other countries that would lead to wars. With this theory, it shows that nation-states with a democratic rule are more likely to not go to war with other countries. In some cases, this theory has been proven to be true, but in other cases it has not, especially with the United States. There are many proponents and opponents for this theory. Through this essay, the theory is to see if democratic, authoritarian, and totalitarian rule can coexist peacefully together, which will be proven either to be true or untrue. In 1795, Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, wrote the basis for the theory of democratic peace, which is called “Perpetual Peace.” Through his writings, it explains how countries can reach a perpetual peace and fit the democratic peace theory. In this writing, contains the preliminary articles for perpetual peace among states. This section includes six main topics to help achieve a perpetual peace. First, he explains that after a war there should not be a treaty with provisions for the future wars between the two nation states. Secondly, no state, whether large or small, should be controlled...
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...in prison, told in the form of a collection of biographical and psychological sketches of his fellow inmates. The book was especially welcomed by liberal critics because of its sympathetic approach to the subject and its realistic portrayal of the sufferings of the convicts. In 1861, Dostoyevsky published his first long novel, The Insulted and the Injured, also to critical acclaim. It is the story of a young student of middle-class origins, a person of sensibility and talent, whose life is ruined by the ill will of a cynical aristocrat. The novel features a complicated plot with many separate lines and many characters. This book inspired the leftist critic N. A. Dobroliubov to epitomize Dostoyevsky's leading quality as his "pain for man, his impassioned defense of the moral and human worth of downtrodden people." In 1863 Dostoyevsky promptly disillusioned his supporters in the liberal camp with his next work, "Winter Notes on Summer Impressions," an essay concerning his tour of Europe. In this essay, he attacked the west European dream of the triumph of reason. He resisted the idea...
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...power; despotic abuse of authority. Absolutism – political system: a political system in which the power of a ruler is unchecked and absolute theory of objective values: a philosophical theory in which values such as truth or morality are absolute and not conditional upon human perception something absolute: a standard, principle, or theory that is absolute Utilitarianism: ethical doctrine of greatest good: the ethical doctrine that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the criterion of the virtue of action doctrine based on value of usefulness: the doctrine that the value of an action or an object lies in usefulness utilitarian quality: the quality of being designed primarily for practical use rather than beauty Libertarianism: advocate of individual responsibility: somebody who believes in the doctrine of free will advocate of individual freedom: somebody who believes in the principle that people should have complete freedom of thought and action Categorical Imperative: Kantian moral law: according to the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant, an unconditional moral law applying to all rational beings and independent of all personal desires and motives Communism: Class less political system: the political theory or system in which all property and wealth is owned in a classless society by all the members of that society Socialism: political system of communal ownership:...
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...had never stopped seeking knowledge about the human psychology, development, and education. Here, are the ten greatest. John Locke and the Tabula Rasa Locke (1632-1704), an English philosopher and physician, proposed that the mind was a blank slate or tabula rasa. This states that men are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge comes from experience and perception, as opposed to predetermined good and evil nature, as believed by other thinkers. On his treatise “Some Thoughts Concerning Education”, he emphasized that the knowledge taught during younger years are more influential than those during maturity because they will be the foundations of the human mind. Due to this process of associations of ideas, he stressed out that punishments are unhealthy and educators should teach by examples rather than rules. This theory on education puts him on a clash with another widely accepted philosophy, backed by another brilliant mind Immanuel Kant and Idealism They never lived at the same time, but history always put Locke and Kant on a dust up. A famed German thinker, Kant (1724–1804) was an advocate of public education and of learning by doing, a process we call training. As he reasons that these are two vastly different things. He postulated “Above all things, obedience is an essential feature in the character of a child…”. As opposed to Locke, he surmises that children should always obey and learn the virtue of duty, because children’s inclination to...
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...motivations making us irrational, not totally consistent and are at balance the majority of the time with corruption. They believe that our inherent imperfect human nature stems from original sin, the Christian Belief. This shows a wholesome negative outlook on human nature. The New Right on the other hand is more positive as a result of the neo-liberal ideological view that we are in fact rational, shown by the classical liberal belief in self-regulating society and a ‘realm of coercion’. However, as the New Right is a marriage of neo-liberal and neo-conservative views there is also the negative view of human nature present, as held by traditional conservatives. At the heart of the debate, obviously is whether or not conservatism is a philosophy of imperfection, it is my view that it is a philosophy of imperfection to a large extent, as I will explain now. To begin, it is important to quote O’Sullivan who in 1976 said that conservatism is a ‘philosophy of imperfection. He said this, as unlike many ideologies which believe that humans are naturally good or at least can be made good through the improvement of their social circumstances (like liberals and socialists who believe in personal development), conservatives have an intrinsically negative view on human nature that they are imperfect and also unperfectible. This is shown firstly through the idea that humans are psychologically flawed. Traditional conservatives think that...
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...THREE ETHICAL APPROACHES BASED ON VIRTUE, DUTY AND CONSEQUENCE Three ethical approaches have evolved as the focus of those who study moral philosophy: virtue ethics, duty ethics and consequential ethics. Virtue ethics, associating ethics with personal habits, is associated with Aristotle. Duty ethics is associated with religious beliefs, although Kant tried to create a system of duties independent of belief in God. Consequential ethics is associated with the quest for rationalism during the Enlightenment, and especially with the Utilitarians. Virtue Ethics Plato and especially later Aristotle described moral behavior as “what the moral or virtuous person does.” The virtuous person develops a sense of right and wrong. This idea endures. We look to people we think of as ethical to give us advice on an ethical issue because such people have a sense of right and wrong. Aristotle tried to take the idea further, with less success. He thought that virtuous behavior meant people realizing their potential. He suggested that virtue was tied to moderation, a middle way between excess and deficiency. This idea is in practice not proven so helpful because where the midpoint is depends on where we put the extremes.[2] For example if an extreme drinker is someone who drinks six liters a day of vodka, then is three liters a day a moderate drinker? Markets operate without depending on the virtue of the business people who trade in them. But in practice ethical behavior is admired...
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... 17-12-12 PHILOSOPHY,SOCIOLOGY;PSYCHOLOGY AND BUSINESS CONSCIOUS CAPITALISM: Lecture: Josè Alarcòn EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Conscious Capitalism: A more complex form of Capitalism that hold within itself the possibility to enhancing corporate performance while contributing to advance billion peoples’ quality of life...or...just good business. When approaching to this “new” horizon we have to know that is not new...capitalism doesn’t involve avidity and disrespect, it just has been corrupted. When Kant and Montesquieu were talking about the reducing of conflict through commerce, they were talking about just good business. This is a really important thing that has to enlighten everyone while approaching to capitalism in general and, obviously, to Conscious Capitalism. This philosophical and economical theory has to be understood in all its details because it seems there are no trap this time, we have eroded our world till today but maybe tomorrow we can began to “reconstruct” it. In fact, now, we can see our reality and our future “on the shoulder of the giants” (passage from Bernard de Chartres) and of the other tall men that have kept thinking about what the giants saw and sad. We need a “new” focus,...
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...1 JUSTICE, EQUALITY, AND RIGHTS by John Tasioulas For R. Crisp (ed), The Oxford Handbook of the History of Ethics 1. The Nature of Justice Philosophers have advocated many divergent views as to the content of the correct principles of justice. In contemporary philosophy, for example, the live options range from the austere libertarian thesis that the claims of justice are limited to a small class of rights that protect us from coercive interference by others to more radically egalitarian doctrines that mandate the large-scale redistribution of wealth and other goods. But there is a prior, conceptual question: is there an illuminating sense in which these disagreements are aptly described as concerned with justice? Alternatively put, is there a concept of justice of which these rival accounts can be interpreted as offering different conceptions? (Rawls 1971/1999: 5-6). If not, the dispiriting conclusion looms that these disputes are „verbal‟ rather than genuine, like a debate about the nature of „banks‟ in which one party has in mind financial institutions and the other party the sloping bits of land at the sides of rivers. One answer is that the concept of justice marks out the entire domain of moral evaluation, or at least the whole of inter-personal morality, excluding only moral concerns relating purely to oneself or to non-persons, such as animals. This expansive reading of justice – as (inter-personal) moral rightness or virtue – has a venerable pedigree. The Greek...
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...Leadership and Ethical decision making Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission First of all this is an assignment what is very interesting again. As a foreigner this was a totally new topic for me. While reading and researching everything I learned about a lot of new stuff. I had to research everything since some of this stuff I never heard of or if I heard about them it was in another language. First I am going to start off my paper with telling the back ground behind Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, No. 08-205, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), is a U.S. constitutional law case dealing with the regulation of campaign spending by organizations. The United States Supreme Court held that the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by a nonprofit corporation. The principles articulated by the Supreme Court in the case have also been extended to for-profit corporations, labor unions and other associations. In the case, the conservative lobbying group Citizens United wanted to air a film critical of Hillary Clinton and to advertise the film during television broadcasts in apparent violation of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (commonly known as the McCain–Feingold Act or "BCRA"). Section 203 of BCRA defined an "electioneering communication" as a broadcast, cable, or satellite communication that mentioned a candidate within 60 days of a general election or 30...
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...Ethics and Human Values Materials for This Course Available in the Bookstore J. S. Mill Utilitarianism (Hackett) Immanuel Kant Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals (Hackett) Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics (Chicago) These are all relatively inexpensive paperbacks. So acquire them immediately. There will also be a few brief handouts. Course Description The subject of ethics is the pursuit of the good. For animals, the good is given in instinct; however, with the advent of reason we have the capacity of the human being to choose that which is not given by nature. This means that it is unclear that our immediate impulses guide us correctly; there must be a standard to be argued for, since the immediately given is not satisfactory. It is in ethical reality that the degree of difference of intelligence between man and the animals is perhaps equivalent to a difference in kind. Because of this, the human good, as opposed to the natural good, is inherently questionable. In this class, we will be looking at how it is that philosophers have concerned themselves with this question. We will look at 3 of major different ways in which the question the ultimate ethical principle has been understood; the utilitarian, the “deontological” and the “eudaimonistic”, by considering a few of the primary texts that deal with these. Requirements, Expectations, Grading You are expected to attend and attentively participate in every class period. The grade...
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