Business Ethics BUSI 1314 Lecture 4 – Ethical Theories part 1

outcomes: lecture/tutorial will enable you to

Recognise and distinguish different types

of ethical arguments
Understand the underlying sensitivities and assumptions of ethical theories
Appreciate the limits of specific ethic theories
Design and use different types of ethical argument in a complementary way

(2000) Crane & Matten (2010, chapter 3)
Wim Vandekerckhove - Business Ethics

BUSI 1314 - University of Greenwich - 2010-2011

University of Greenwich - 2010-2011
What

makes an action good?

BUSI 1314 - University of Greenwich -

2010-2011

Jeremy Bentham

John Stuart Mill

An action is morally right if it results in
the greatest amount of good
for the greatest amount of people
affected by the action

chain of causes and effects

pain and pleasure

It’s not about you, but about all affected
Do we know all the outcomes in advance?

Greenwich - 2010-2011
If we don’t

know all the outcomes, is it fair to judge upon that,
especially if we know the intentions were good?

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Immanuel Kant
Dare

to think!
We can know by our own reasoning what is ethical.
(without an external authority)

Hypothethical Imperative:
Do this if you want to achieve that

Categorical Imperative:
That what you need to do …
simply because you must do it.

University of Greenwich - 2010-2011
Act

according to a rule by which you can will that it should become a universal law
(consistency)

Act so that you treat humans
always as an end,
and never as a means only
(respect)

Act so that your will through its rule could regard itself as universal lawgiving
(universality)

of Greenwich - 2010-2011
LAW
Laws represent

an ethical consensus,
But whether the consensus is realised through the law depends on the loopholes.

1314 - University of Greenwich -

2010-2011

OR?

Equality

Justice as Fairness

justice:
Distributive justice
Procedural justice
Informational justice
Interpersonal justice

Wim Vandekerckhove - Business Ethics BUSI

1314 - University of Greenwich - 2010-2011

Kant cannot contribute to business ethics’, Journal of Business Ethics

74, 253-266.
Cole, M.S., Bernerth, J.B., Walter, F., and Holt, D.T. (2010), ‘Organizational justice and individuals’ withdrawal: Unlocking the influence of emotional exhaustion’, Journal of Management Studies 47(3), 367-390.
Crane, A. and Matten, D. (2010) Business Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McKay, R.B. (2000), ‘Consequential utilitarianism: Addressing ethical deficiencies in the municipal landfill siting process’, Journal of Business Ethics 26, 289-306.

Wim Vandekerckhove - Business Ethics BUSI 1314 - University of Greenwich - 2010-2011