Week 1 Economics, Governance and Business Ethics

Confucianism

A body of thought potentially relevant to business ethics and practice, with important insights for virtue ethics, and applied by scholars to corporate social responsibility and corporate governance. Confucius is generally optimistic about creating communities of virtuous individuals and views the political community as the family writ large.

Aristotelian Virtue Ethics

A popular normative theory in business ethics journals, with significantly more published about it in English than Confucian ethics. Aristotle is less optimistic about communal harmony, seeing civil war as a constant threat due to differing understandings of justice.

Virtue Ethics

The most popular normative theory in business ethics. It focuses on developing individual character and practical wisdom, guiding decisions not by set rules but by being the best person one can be.

Golden Mean

In Aristotelian virtue ethics, virtue is the mid-point between two extremes or vices. For example, courage is the midpoint between cowardice (deficiency) and recklessness (excess), and honesty is the midpoint between brutal honesty (excess) and failing to say things that need to be said (deficiency).

Moral Exemplars

Individuals whose behavior can be imitated to develop virtue by copying what they do repeatedly until a new skill is learned. Aristotle, however, focuses on learning from artificial imitations (like tragedies) rather than directly imitating role models for virtue acquisition, as finding the "mean" requires deliberation specific to a situation.

Harmony (Confucian)

Confucius is generally optimistic about the possibility of creating harmonious communities, which he conceptualizes as familial in spirit. It involves working with natural and historical propensities and adjusting oneself to them.

Harmony (Aristotelian)

Aristotle is less optimistic about achieving communal harmony due to people's differing understandings of happiness and justice, which can lead to conflict. For Aristotle, individuals achieve harmony within themselves when reason guides desires, and the parts of the soul work together as intended by nature, even if the community experiences strife.

Polis (Aristotelian)

Sharply distinguished from the household, the polis (political community) revolves around contested views of the good life and justice, making stable agreement challenging. Aristotle would be reluctant to consider a corporation a small polis.

Household (Aristotelian)

The realm of biological reproduction and meeting physical needs, where there is generally less disagreement than in the polis.

Corporation as a Nursery of Virtue (Confucian)

The idea that corporations can function as environments where employees and stakeholders learn and practice virtues, drawing on the analogy of the family writ large.

Corporation as a Nursery of Virtue (Aristotelian)

Aristotelian virtue ethicists would be hesitant to endorse this, as Aristotle sharply distinguishes types of communities and views corporate roles as technical rather than practical activities that foster virtue.

Roles (Confucian)

Occupy a more prominent place in Confucian virtue ethics than in Aristotle's system; acquiring virtue involves learning to fulfill various social roles. Virtues are necessary to evolve and perfect humanizing roles.

Roles (Aristotelian)

Not assigned an ethical function in habit acquisition; practical wisdom and virtuous judgments are situation-specific and not dictated by role responsibilities or codes. Aristotle treats roles as technical rather than practical activities.

Rituals (Lĭ) (Confucian)

Emphasized extensively by Confucius as a way of acquiring new habits, creating openings for change, and breaking unproductive patterns. They are context-sensitive and can be suspended under extreme duress for the sake of human life, but must be disregarded ethically. Rituals can be relevant to business practice for employee satisfaction and understanding.

Rituals (Aristotelian)

Aristotle does not mention rituals, as ritual practice itself does not obviously lead to hitting the mean between excess and deficiency in virtuous action.

Wú wéi (Confucian)

Refers to working with incipient energies in a flowing way and trusting in the power of influencing others through one's example. Ethically sound leadership largely involves self-development, self-control, and civil engagement, rather than dominating or actively persuading subordinates.

Pragmatic Ethics (Confucian)

Confucius's approach, which does not posit universal and invariable laws for human action. Ethical insight arises from acting, reflecting, and reinterpreting experience, remaining at a practical level rather than a theoretical or speculative one.

Epistemic Ethics (Aristotelian)

Aristotle's approach, which is more systematic and ordered. He believes moral and intellectual virtues operate within specific domains and have a definable, invariable essence. His ethical analysis is "epistemic" (scientific) because it analyzes that which is invariable.

Normative Ethics

A branch of ethics generally studied by philosophers that focuses on what is moral and what should guide decisions.

Kantian Ethics (Deontology)

An ethical theory that emphasizes moral duty, universal laws, and treating humanity as an end in itself, never merely as a means. Autonomy is central, as people are not mere objects to be used by others.

Universal Law (Kantian)

A principle in Kantian ethics stating that one should "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become universal law without contradiction".

Formula of Humanity (Kantian)

A principle in Kantian ethics stating: "Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end, and never as a mere means".

Autonomy (Kantian)

The concept that individuals are not mere objects to be used by others, but are self-governing beings.

Utilitarianism

An ethical theory based on the principle of utility, which states that actions should aim to produce "the greatest good for the greatest number." It often defines "good" as pleasure (hedonistic standpoint).

Principle of Utility

The core tenet of utilitarianism: "we should act always so as to produce the greatest good for the greatest number".

Act Utilitarianism

A form of utilitarianism where, in any given situation, the chosen action should be the one that produces the greatest good for the greatest number in the short run.

Rule Utilitarianism

A form of utilitarianism where one ought to live by rules that, in general, are likely to lead to the greatest good for the greatest number in the long run.

Contractarianism (Justice Theory)

An ethical framework suggesting that moral principles or rules are derived from social contracts, which should be fair, considering concepts like the "original position," "veil of ignorance," and "unanimity of actions".

Care Ethics

An ethical framework that emphasizes connection to others and defines caring as everything done to meet basic needs, alleviate pain or suffering, and sustain basic capabilities in an attentive, responsive, and respectful manner.