Session 4
Recap
• What is ethics? What is it not?
• Business Ethics is not an oxymoron
• The Conscientious Moral Agent
• Cultural relativism and other moral blinders
• Utilitarianism – greatest happiness principle
Fundamental Principles of Ethics
Deontology (Rights and Fairness and Justice)
Deontological Ethics
Moral theory according to which certain acts must or must not be
done, regardless to some extent of the consequences of their
performance or non-performance.” (Oxford Companion to Philosophy)
• From Greek deonē: “duty”; dei: “one must”
• vs. “consequentialism” (ex: Utilitarianism) where the rightness or
wrongness of the act depends entirely on its consequences
• For deontology, acts are right or wrong in themselves
Immanuel Kant
• 1724-1804
• Lived in Königsberg, East Prussia
• German philosopher
• Wrote, among others, Critique of Pure Reason
(1781), The Groundwork for a Metaphysics of
Morals (1785), Critique of Practical Reason(1788),
Critique of Judgment (1790)
• For Kant, following one’s moral duty is what
makes one act in a morally right manner.
• Morality is not teleological, but deontological
a priori
• The sun rises every morning. • relating to or derived by
• 1+1=2 reasoning from self-evident
propositions
• A square has four sides.
• Distinguished from “knowledge
• Humans are bipeds. based solely on experience or
personal observation” – a
posteriori
Why are they true anytime?
A priori assertions have the binding force of reason
• Kant’s agenda: to apply this binding force to moral commands
Everyone must admit that a law, if it is to be valid morally, i.e., as the ground of an
obligation, has to carry absolute necessity with it; that the command ‘You ought not
to lie’ is valid not merely for human beings, as though other rational beings did not
have to heed it; and likewise all the other genuinely moral laws; hence that the
ground of obligation here is to be sought not in the nature of the human being
or the circumstances of the world in which he is placed, but a priori solely in
concepts of pure reason. – Kant, Groundwork for a Metaphysics of Morals
There is nothing it is possible to think of anywhere in the world, or indeed
anything at all outside it, that can be held to be good without limitation,
excepting only a good will. Understanding, wit, the power of judgment, and like
talents of the mind, whatever they might be called, or courage, resoluteness,
persistence in an intention, as qualities of temperament, are without doubt in some
respects good and to be wished for; but they can also become extremely evil and
harmful, if the will that is to make use of these gifts of nature, and whose
peculiar constitution is therefore called character, is not good. It is the same with
gifts of fortune. Power, wealth, honor, even health and that entire well-being and
contentment with one’s condition, under the name of happiness, make for courage
and thereby often also for arrogance, where there is not a good will to correct their
influence on the mind, and thereby on the entire principle of action, and make them
universally purposive; not to mention that a rational impartial spectator can never
take satisfaction even in the sight of the uninterrupted welfare of a being.
Why should duty be the motive?
I pass over all actions that are already recognized as contrary to duty,
even though they might be useful for this or that aim; for with them the
question cannot arise at all whether they might be done from duty, since
they even conflict with it. I also set aside the actions which are
actually in conformity with duty, for which, however, human beings
have immediately no inclination, but nevertheless perform them because
they are driven to it through another inclination. For there it is easy to
distinguish whether the action in conformity with duty is done from
duty or from a self-seeking aim.
What’s the point about duty as motive?
This is all about the moral worth of an action.
What’s the difference between:
• from duty and
• merely in conformity with duty
Which of these is self-imposed and which is
other/externally imposed?
Let’s get real…
Since the pandemic, why, if you In your life at home, work, etc.,
did, do the following: why do you?
• Avoid hoarding essential goods? • Help with the chores?
• Wear a face mask? • Attend Sunday Mass or other
• Observe social distancing? forms of worship?
• Avoid super spreader events? • Pay your taxes?
• Get vaccinated? • Observe company rules and
regulations?
More on duty
Externally imposed duty – Merely following the orders of authority,
peer group, culture?
Duty as freely imposing obligations on the self – as duty to a principle
Between these two, which has moral worth?
Duty and inclination
• Kant was mistrustful of acts propelled by inclinations and desires
• inclinations and desires – not “bad” per se but unreliable, passive,
phenomenal
Now, all imperatives command either hypothetically or categorically.
The former represent the practical necessity of a possible action as a
means to achieving something else that one wills (or that it is at least
possible for one to will). The categorical imperative would be that
which represented an action as objectively necessary of itself,
without reference to another end (4:414).
Hypothetical Imperative Categorical Imperative
if you want a peaceful world, do not Do not murder
murder
if you don’t want to be miserable, do the Do the right thing
right thing
if you want x, do y Do Y
its necessity is dependent on the objectively necessary, its binding force
condition, its binding force resides in resides in its being true or right
the desired incentive or avoided
punishment
When I have a moral dilemma…
I do not decide based on:
• What the context dictates
• What the consequences will be
• What or how I feel about it
The decision should instead be based on an autonomous will that
reasons and asks itself whether what it is contemplating is
UNIVERSALIZABLE AND TREATS HUMANITY AS ENDS
The Categorical Imperative
(1st Formulation)
• Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at
the same time will that it become a universal law (4:421).
• (Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will
a universal law of nature.)
Kant provides a maxim that has a specific formulation: When
[situation], I shall [action].
Universalized maxim is not imagined as done by everyone, but an
obligation for everyone.
Test involves not consequences, but internal validity of the
universalized maxim.
We do not test general (genus) actions; instead, we test specific
(species) actions. For example: Not “lying” but “adding false
credentials to one’s resume”
Test: not that everyone actually did it, but we were obligated to do it,
as if it were a law.
Is Universalizability the same as the
Golden Rule of Christianity?
“Do unto others as you would want others to do unto you.”
Getting real with Kant
• Kant emphasized the “binding force of reason” as a matter as self-
evident as 1 + 1= 2
• insofar as it is demonstrated to be universally true, it is thus always
true, whoever, whenever, wherever it is claimed.
• How true is this in the world?
The Categorical Imperative
(1st and 2nd Formulations)
• Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at
the same time will that it become a universal law (4:421).
• (Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will
a universal law of nature.)
• So, act that you use humanity, whether in your own person or in the
person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never
merely as a means (4:429).
https://restavekfreedom.org/2018/09/11/the-history-of-slavery/
Do you have other examples of persons
used as means and not as ends?
Getting real with Kant
why must I do the right thing?
because it is the right thing to do
This is what dignity means, to have “principles”
The opposite of dignity is price, “may presyo ka ba?”
Primitivo “Tibo” Mijares, a journalist who had become a
propagandist and confidant for Ferdinand Marcos, had
served under Marcos since 1963 and claimed to have
been privy to government's high-level doings. As
Chairman of the National Press Club, Mijares ran the
Media Advisory Council, a state agency established to
censor the press in 1973.
He disappeared after the publication of the book and his
own 16 year-old son was found dead after being
dropped from a helicopter and bearing signs of torture.
Excerpt: The Conjugal Dictatorship of
Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
“In dangling the $50,000 for my non-testimony and another $50,000 for my
departure from the United States, President Marcos was obviously quite sure
that he was giving me an offer I would hardly be able to refuse. Yes, every
man has his price. I have just been offered mine and the dictatorial regime
that goes by the false façade of sponsor of a New Society in the Philippines
could sit serene, insured for the price of $100,000 against a damaging expose
by an insider in a forum where the New Society would get hurt the most.
“Either by oversight or some providential happening, the martial regime of
Marcos miscalculated. The regime failed to reckon with that little possibility
that I might also be influenced by the highfalutin principle that there are
things in this life more precious than gold, like the duty and obligation I owe
to myself, my family, my profession, my country, and most of all, its history.”
how shall I do the right thing?
• in an autonomous manner
• heteronomy versus autonomy Greek: autos | heteros | nomos
heteronomy is a moral childhood, autonomy is moral maturity
• heteronomy versus autonomy
Greek: autos | heteros | nomos
what does this imply, to autonomously not borrow money
without intending to pay
how shall I do the right thing?
• in an autonomous manner
Autonomy:
• self-directing freedom and especially moral independence;
personal autonomy (Merriam Webster)
• (in Kantian moral philosophy) the capacity of an agent to act in
accordance with objective morality rather than under the influence
of desires. (Oxford Languages)
The Categorical Imperative
(1st to 3rd Formulations)
• Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at
the same time will that it become a universal law (4:421).
• (Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will
a universal law of nature.)
• So, act that you use humanity, whether in your own person or in the
person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never
merely as a means (4:429).
• Act so that [your] will is thus not solely subject to the law but is
subject in such a way that it must be regarded also as legislating to
itself, and precisely for this reason as subject to the law (of which it
can consider itself as the author) (4:431).
Moral autonomy appears when the mind regards as necessary
an ideal that is independent of all external pressures.
- Jean Piaget
One last point…
…yet we take the liberty of making an exception for ourselves, or (even only for
this once) for the advantage of our inclination. Consequently, if we weighed
everything from one and the same point of view, namely that of reason, then we
would encounter a contradiction in our own will, namely that objectively a certain
principle should be necessary as a universal law and yet subjectively that it should
not be universally valid, but rather that it should admit of exceptions. But since we
consider our action at one time from a point of view that accords entirely with
reason, and then, however, also the same action from the point of view of a will
affected by inclination, there is actually no contradiction here, but only a resistance
of inclination against the precept of reason (antagonismus), through which the
universality of the principle (universalitas) is transformed into a mere general
validity (generalitas), so that the practical principle of reason is supposed to meet
the maxim halfway. Now although this cannot be justified in our own
impartially rendered judgment, it proves that we actually recognize the validity
of the categorical imperative and (with every respect for it) allow ourselves only
a few exceptions, which are, as it seems to us, insignificant and forced upon us.
And again…
From this, however, arises a natural dialectic, that is, a propensity to
ratiocinate against those strict laws of duty and to bring into doubt
their validity, or at least their purity and strictness, and where
possible, to make them better suited to our wishes and inclinations,
i.e., at ground to corrupt them and deprive them of their entire dignity,
which not even common practical reason can in the end call good.
Rationalizations for doing the wrong thing
• everybody does it anyway
• other people do far worse
• if it isn’t illegal, it’s ethical
• if I don’t do it, somebody else will
• I have no choice.
The Rights-based Approach to Ethics
The ethical action is the one that best protects and respects the
moral rights of those affected. This approach starts from the belief
that humans have a dignity based on our human nature per se or on
our ability to choose freely what we do with our lives. On the basis of
such dignity, we have a right to be treated as ends and not merely as
means to other ends. Also, it is often said that rights imply duties -in
particular, the duty to respect others' rights.
right: something that one is entitled to do
or have on the basis of need, custom, law,
or intrinsic value.
karapatan: ang nauukol sa sarili o kapwa
batay sa pangangailangan, nakagawian,
batas, o likas na buti.
Rights - Implications
• Rights impose correlative duties on
others (and on oneself), duties of
positive performance & non-
interference.
• In other words, if a person
possesses a right, you have a
corresponding OBLIGATION in
relation to that right. https://www.remate.ph/videoke-sa-bahay-ok-sa-pampublikong-lugar-bawal-dilg/
• Rights imbue individuals with
autonomy and equality in the free
pursuit of their interests.
Negative Rights
“Negative rights”, such as the right to privacy, the right not to be killed,
or the right to do what one wants with one's property, are rights that
protect some form of human freedom or liberty, . These rights are
called negative rights because such rights are a claim by one person
that imposes a "negative" duty on all others—the duty not to interfere
with a person's activities in a certain area. The right to privacy, for
example, imposes on us the duty not to intrude into the private
activities of a person. (Velasquez)
Positive Rights
Positive rights are "positive" in the sense that they claim for each
person the positive assistance of others in fulfilling basic constituents
of human well-being like health and education. In moral and political
philosophy, these basic human needs are often referred to as "welfare"
concerns… Many people argue that a fundamental right to freedom is
worthless if people aren't able to exercise that freedom. A right to
freedom, then, implies that every human being also has a fundamental
right to what is necessary to secure a minimum level of well being.
(Velasquez)
Does a business have rights?
Does it have responsibilities?
UN Global Compact
Human Rights
Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed
human rights; and
Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
Labour
Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of
the right to collective bargaining;
Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;
Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labour; and
Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
UN Global Compact
Environment
Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
Anti-Corruption
Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and
bribery.
Shareholders
Local
Employees
Community
Creditors Business Customers
Suppliers /
Government
Vendors
Environment
Jack Daniel’s facility blocked as whiskey vapour blamed for spread
of fungus
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/02/jack-daniels-whiskey-black-fungus-tennessee
Ethanol vapour released through porous whiskey barrels during the ageing of bourbon might bring a
smile in the heavens – the fumes are known as the “angel’s share” – but it can mean misery for local
mortals. A strain of black whiskey fungus feeds on the alcoholic gases, coating neighbourhoods
around distilleries with a stubborn mouldy crust.
The spread of the fungus has become such a problem in Lincoln county, Tennessee, that a local
court has halted construction of a new barrel warehouse for the world’s biggest-selling brand of
American whiskey: Jack Daniel’s.
The move came after the owner of an events venue next to six operating warehouses sued the local
zoning office, saying the fungus was out of control and damaging her business.
The fungus, Baudoinia compniacensis, is a familiar pest in the vicinity of barrelhouses which rely on
wooden casks. Up to 2% of the volume of the alcohol can evaporate through the barrels each year
as the drink matures, sending vapour into the air and encouraging the fungus.
Lawsuits have been brought by residents in several countries complaining that the black mould
smothers walls, outdoor furniture, cars, trees and road signs and has adversely affected their lives
and harmed property values.
What do you think?
Photo from:
Photo from:
https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3105101/blackpink-are-
https://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2021/03/05/2081965/chris-evans-first-
unshakeable-samsung-ambassadors-jisoo
hollywood-list-smart-endorser
Medico-Fast. Watchutink?
Medico-Fast is a medical diagnostic testing center operating in Quezon
City. It offers all forms of medical testing from blood chemistry, CBC,
urinalysis, fecal analysis, radiological imagery, etc. It has a staff of 20
people and has been enjoying a very profitable run in the past 2 years.
This has prompted Dr. Wong and Dr. Reyes, the co-owners of the
facility to plan the expansion of the center to accommodate the
growing number of customers. They plan to hire 10 more people to
meet this expanded demand.
As part of their plans, the two doctors want to institute a policy that
the new people to be hired should not have any tattoos on their
bodies. As regards the existing staff, they will all be enjoined from
adding any tattoos to their bodies, in case they have any such tattoos.
What are the rights of Medico-Fast?
What are the rights of the employees?
What are the rights of other persons?
“We need to defend the
interests of those whom
we've never met and
never will.”
- Jeffrey D. Sachs
