Ethics Midterm (Mel)

Ethics

Deals with individual character and with the moral rules that govern and limit our conduct.

Business ethics

The study of what constitutes right and wrong, or good and bad, human conduct in a business context.

Business

Any organization whose objective is to provide goods or services for profit.

Businesspeople

Those who participate in planning, organizing, or directing the work of business.

Organization

A group of people working together to achieve a common purpose.

Moral standards

Concern behavior that is of serious consequence to human welfare, that can profoundly injure or benefit people.

Etiquette

The norms of correct conduct in polite society or any special code of social behavior or courtesy.

Statutes

Laws enacted by legislative bodies.

Common law

The body of judge-made law that first developed in the English-speaking world when there were few statutes.

Constitutional law

Court rulings on the requirements of the Constitution and the constitutionality of legislation.

Professional code of ethics

The rules that are supposed to govern the conduct of members of a given profession.

Divine command theory

If something is wrong, then the only reason it is wrong is that God commands us not to do it.

Ethical relativism

The theory that what is right is determined by what culture or society says is right.

Paradox of hedonism

People exclusively concerned with their own interests tend to have less happy and less satisfying lives.

Normative theories

Propose principles for distinguishing right actions from wrong actions.

Consequentialist theories

The moral rightness of an action is determined solely by its results.

Nonconsequentialist theories

Right and wrong are determined by more than the likely consequences of an action.

Egoism

The view that equates morality with self-interest.

Hedonism

The view that pleasure (or happiness) is the ultimate good worth pursuing for its own sake.

Utilitarianism

The moral doctrine that we should act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone affected.

Act utilitarianism

We must ask ourselves what the consequences of a particular act will be for all those affected.

Business egoism

The view that it is morally acceptable for individuals to pursue their economic interests when engaged in business.

Good will

Kant believed that goodness depends on the will that makes use of them.

Moral worth

When we act from a sense of duty.

Categorical imperative

We should always act in a way that we can will the maxim of our action to be a universal law.

Maxim

The subjective principle of an action that people formulate in determining their conduct.

Universal acceptability

You can embrace something as a moral law only if all other rational beings can also embrace it.

Prima facie obligation

An obligation that can be overridden by a more important obligation.

Supererogatory actions

Actions that are good to do but not immoral not to do.

Legal right

Your right to drive under certain conditions derived from the legal system.

Moral rights

Rights derived from special relationships, roles, or circumstances in which we happen to be.

Human rights

Moral rights that are not contingent upon specific roles or particular circumstances.

Negative rights

Rights reflecting vital interests in being free from outside interference.

Positive rights

Rights reflecting vital interests in receiving certain benefits.

Capitalism

An economic system based on profit and market exchange, with major means of production in private hands.

Socialism

An economic system characterized by public ownership of property and a planned economy.

Worker control socialism

A hybrid economic system advocated by some socialists.

Mercantile capitalism

Capitalism based on mutual dependence between state and commercial interests.

Industrial capitalism

An economic system where industrialists replaced merchants as the dominant power.

Financial capitalism

Characterized by pools, trusts, and interpenetration of banking, insurance, and industrial interests.

State welfare capitalism

Government plays an active role in the economy to smooth out business cycles.

Globalized capitalism

A new stage of capitalist development.

Profit motive

The assumption that human beings are motivated by their own economic interests.

Laissez faire

To let people do as they choose.

Capital

Money invested for the purpose of making more money.

Natural right to property

A defense of capitalism arguing that people have a fundamental right to property.

Invisible hand

The concept that individual pursuits of wealth result in beneficial overall organization of resources.

Oligopolies

A concentration of property and economic power in the hands of a few.

Corporate welfare

Assistance to businesses that protect them from competition.

Alienation

The separation of individuals from the objects they create, leading to disconnection from others and oneself.