Business and consumer ethics
INTRODUCTION I – WHAT IS (APPLIED) ETHICS?..................................... 4
THE LITTLE PRINCE (ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY)..........................................4
WHAT IS (APPLIED) ETHICS?......................................................................5
INDIVIDUALITY / HUMANITY / NORMATIVITY........................................................................5
THE THREEFOLD CHARACTERISTIC OF ETHICAL DEMAND......................................................8
MORALS, MORALITY, ETHICS.......................................................................................... 9
NORMATIVE VS. NON-NORMATIVE ETHICS.......................................................................12
GENERAL REMARKS.................................................................................................... 13
RELATION OF ETHICS AND LAW.................................................................................... 13
1 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION: AGAINST BUSINESS ETHICS.................15
1.1 SIX PROBLEMS WITH BUSINESS ETHICS...................................................16
1.1.1 FORECLOSING PHILOSOPHY................................................................................. 16
1.1.2 FORECLOSING SOCIETY...................................................................................... 16
1.1.3 FORECLOSING ‘THE ETHICAL’.............................................................................. 16
1.1.4 FORECLOSING ‘THE MEANING OF ETHICS’..............................................................17
1.1.5 FORECLOSING POLITICS..................................................................................... 17
1.1.6 FORECLOSING THE GOAL OF ETHICS.....................................................................17
2 CHAPTER 2 – COMMON SENSE BUSINESS ETHICS.............................. 18
2.1 WHAT IS BUSINESS?.........................................................................18
2.2 WHAT IS ETHICS?.............................................................................19
2.3 WHAT IS BUSINESS ETHICS?................................................................19
2.4 WHAT IS COMMON SENSE?.................................................................21
2.5 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?......................................................................21
2.6 THREE ETHICAL TRADITIONS................................................................23
3 CHAPTER 3 – ‘BUSINESS ETHICS’ I: CONSEQUENCES.......................... 25
3.1 UTILITARIANISM...............................................................................25
3.1.1 REDEFINING UTILITARIANISM............................................................................... 29
3.2 CRITICISM OF UTILITARIANISM..............................................................30
3.2.1 THE UTILITY OF UTILITARIANISM...........................................................................31
3.2.2 WEIGHING THE GOOD....................................................................................... 31
3.2.3 POLITICAL ARITHMETIC....................................................................................... 32
3.2.4 THE PROBLEM OF INFORMATION..........................................................................32
3.3 CONCLUSION..................................................................................34
4 CHAPTER 4 – ‘BUSINESS ETHICS’ II: INTENTIONS............................... 36
4.1 IMMANUEL KANT..............................................................................36
4.1.1 NORMAN BOWIE.......................................................................................... 39
1
,4.1.1.1 How to (ab)use Kant in Business Ethics (N. Bowie)? ................................40
4.2 DUTY AND MORAL CONFLICT ...............................................................41
4.3 DUTY AND FREEDOM ........................................................................42
4.4 DUTY AND HAPPINESS.......................................................................43
5 CHAPTER 5 – ‘BUSINESS ETHICS’ III: VIRTUES................................... 46
5.1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................46
5.1.1 REVIVAL OF VIRTUE ETHICS................................................................................ 47
5.1.2 VIRTUE ETHICS (GENERAL REMARKS)....................................................................47
5.1.3 ARISTOTLE CONCEPTION OF ETHICS......................................................................48
5.2 VIRTUE AND BUSINESS.......................................................................49
5.3 VIRTUE AND COMMUNITY ..........................................................51
5.3.1 ILLUSTRATION: FRIENDSHIP................................................................................. 51
5.3.2 VIRTUES......................................................................................................... 52
5.4 ‘BUSINESS COMMUNITIES’............................................................53
6 CHAPTER 6: THE MEANING OF ETHICS.............................................. 55
6.1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................55
6.2 MEANING.......................................................................................55
6.2.1 THE MEANING OF ETHICS................................................................................... 56
6.3 OTHER AND THE OTHER.....................................................................57
6.3.1 THE OTHER AND CRITIQUE................................................................................. 59
7 CHAPTER 7: DENYING ETHICS I: BUREAUCRACY................................ 60
7.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................60
7.2 THE BANALITY OF EVIL.......................................................................61
7.3 MCETHICS.....................................................................................63
7.4 INTENTIONS AND CONSEQUENCES..........................................................64
7.5 IN PRAISE OF BUREAUCRACY?.............................................................64
7.6 MORAL DISTANCE.............................................................................65
7.7 MODERN BUSINESS..........................................................................66
8 CHAPTER 8: DENYING ETHICS II: GLOBAL CAPITAL............................ 68
8.1 MODERN BUSINESS..........................................................................68
8.2 THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESS..............................................68
8.3 NEOLIBERALISM...............................................................................70
8.4 STRIKING BACK...............................................................................71
8.5 CAPITALISM, COMMODITIES AND ETHICS.................................................72
8.6 CHALLENGING COMMODITY FETISHISM...................................................73
8.7 CAN WRONG LIFE BE LIVED RIGHTLY? ....................................................74
9 WHAT OBLIGATES US – CHAPTER 1 (VERSTRYNGE)............................ 78
10 WHAT OBLIGATES US – CHAPTER 2 (VERSTRYNGE).......................... 79
2
,11 ON SEPARATION AS THE CONDITIONS FOR ALL EXISTENTIAL ETHICS
(VERSTRYNGE).................................................................................. 81
12 DOES ETHICS HAVE A CHANCE? (BAUMAN)..................................... 83
3
, INTRODUCTION I – WHAT IS (APPLIED) ETHICS?
THE LITTLE PRINCE (ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY)
_ Highly commercialised, second most translated book (after
Bible)
9 First published in US because France was occupied and could not be
published
9 Author crashed also in the book: coincidence?
_ What is it about?
9 Pilot crashes in desert and meets ‘the little prince’
9 Prince is from elsewhere and addresses different themes
9 Little prince makes observations about adults
o He is not convinced adults know what adult life is about
o Adults tend to oversee the little things in life and forget we
were once children
o Little prince makes us constantly aware that we all have been
young, “but few of them remember it”
9 If we want to say something about life, our action we act
“DRAW ME A SHEEP”
_ If you reflect on what ethics is about, then you realise that ethics is like
the sheep in the box
9 There is no theoretical representation of what ethics is about
9 Just because we can’t see it, doesn’t mean we can’t talk or reflect
about it we NEED to do that!
o In the box = about what we actually are and are
supposed/expected to be
9 Being a human is all about reflecting what is in the box
o People who don’t reflect will live as a creature that don’t know
what is to be a human
_ Ethics is what you yourself reflect on
9 Ethics is about something that we know is there, but we simply
cannot see and represent
9 It is about something we can’t address, but also can’t avoid (it will
not go away)
_ What ethics addresses and what it’s about, is something theory
cannot put into frameworks
9 Ethics is something very vivid, yet we don’t have full access to it
4
INTRODUCTION I – WHAT IS (APPLIED) ETHICS?..................................... 4
THE LITTLE PRINCE (ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY)..........................................4
WHAT IS (APPLIED) ETHICS?......................................................................5
INDIVIDUALITY / HUMANITY / NORMATIVITY........................................................................5
THE THREEFOLD CHARACTERISTIC OF ETHICAL DEMAND......................................................8
MORALS, MORALITY, ETHICS.......................................................................................... 9
NORMATIVE VS. NON-NORMATIVE ETHICS.......................................................................12
GENERAL REMARKS.................................................................................................... 13
RELATION OF ETHICS AND LAW.................................................................................... 13
1 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION: AGAINST BUSINESS ETHICS.................15
1.1 SIX PROBLEMS WITH BUSINESS ETHICS...................................................16
1.1.1 FORECLOSING PHILOSOPHY................................................................................. 16
1.1.2 FORECLOSING SOCIETY...................................................................................... 16
1.1.3 FORECLOSING ‘THE ETHICAL’.............................................................................. 16
1.1.4 FORECLOSING ‘THE MEANING OF ETHICS’..............................................................17
1.1.5 FORECLOSING POLITICS..................................................................................... 17
1.1.6 FORECLOSING THE GOAL OF ETHICS.....................................................................17
2 CHAPTER 2 – COMMON SENSE BUSINESS ETHICS.............................. 18
2.1 WHAT IS BUSINESS?.........................................................................18
2.2 WHAT IS ETHICS?.............................................................................19
2.3 WHAT IS BUSINESS ETHICS?................................................................19
2.4 WHAT IS COMMON SENSE?.................................................................21
2.5 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?......................................................................21
2.6 THREE ETHICAL TRADITIONS................................................................23
3 CHAPTER 3 – ‘BUSINESS ETHICS’ I: CONSEQUENCES.......................... 25
3.1 UTILITARIANISM...............................................................................25
3.1.1 REDEFINING UTILITARIANISM............................................................................... 29
3.2 CRITICISM OF UTILITARIANISM..............................................................30
3.2.1 THE UTILITY OF UTILITARIANISM...........................................................................31
3.2.2 WEIGHING THE GOOD....................................................................................... 31
3.2.3 POLITICAL ARITHMETIC....................................................................................... 32
3.2.4 THE PROBLEM OF INFORMATION..........................................................................32
3.3 CONCLUSION..................................................................................34
4 CHAPTER 4 – ‘BUSINESS ETHICS’ II: INTENTIONS............................... 36
4.1 IMMANUEL KANT..............................................................................36
4.1.1 NORMAN BOWIE.......................................................................................... 39
1
,4.1.1.1 How to (ab)use Kant in Business Ethics (N. Bowie)? ................................40
4.2 DUTY AND MORAL CONFLICT ...............................................................41
4.3 DUTY AND FREEDOM ........................................................................42
4.4 DUTY AND HAPPINESS.......................................................................43
5 CHAPTER 5 – ‘BUSINESS ETHICS’ III: VIRTUES................................... 46
5.1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................46
5.1.1 REVIVAL OF VIRTUE ETHICS................................................................................ 47
5.1.2 VIRTUE ETHICS (GENERAL REMARKS)....................................................................47
5.1.3 ARISTOTLE CONCEPTION OF ETHICS......................................................................48
5.2 VIRTUE AND BUSINESS.......................................................................49
5.3 VIRTUE AND COMMUNITY ..........................................................51
5.3.1 ILLUSTRATION: FRIENDSHIP................................................................................. 51
5.3.2 VIRTUES......................................................................................................... 52
5.4 ‘BUSINESS COMMUNITIES’............................................................53
6 CHAPTER 6: THE MEANING OF ETHICS.............................................. 55
6.1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................55
6.2 MEANING.......................................................................................55
6.2.1 THE MEANING OF ETHICS................................................................................... 56
6.3 OTHER AND THE OTHER.....................................................................57
6.3.1 THE OTHER AND CRITIQUE................................................................................. 59
7 CHAPTER 7: DENYING ETHICS I: BUREAUCRACY................................ 60
7.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................60
7.2 THE BANALITY OF EVIL.......................................................................61
7.3 MCETHICS.....................................................................................63
7.4 INTENTIONS AND CONSEQUENCES..........................................................64
7.5 IN PRAISE OF BUREAUCRACY?.............................................................64
7.6 MORAL DISTANCE.............................................................................65
7.7 MODERN BUSINESS..........................................................................66
8 CHAPTER 8: DENYING ETHICS II: GLOBAL CAPITAL............................ 68
8.1 MODERN BUSINESS..........................................................................68
8.2 THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESS..............................................68
8.3 NEOLIBERALISM...............................................................................70
8.4 STRIKING BACK...............................................................................71
8.5 CAPITALISM, COMMODITIES AND ETHICS.................................................72
8.6 CHALLENGING COMMODITY FETISHISM...................................................73
8.7 CAN WRONG LIFE BE LIVED RIGHTLY? ....................................................74
9 WHAT OBLIGATES US – CHAPTER 1 (VERSTRYNGE)............................ 78
10 WHAT OBLIGATES US – CHAPTER 2 (VERSTRYNGE).......................... 79
2
,11 ON SEPARATION AS THE CONDITIONS FOR ALL EXISTENTIAL ETHICS
(VERSTRYNGE).................................................................................. 81
12 DOES ETHICS HAVE A CHANCE? (BAUMAN)..................................... 83
3
, INTRODUCTION I – WHAT IS (APPLIED) ETHICS?
THE LITTLE PRINCE (ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY)
_ Highly commercialised, second most translated book (after
Bible)
9 First published in US because France was occupied and could not be
published
9 Author crashed also in the book: coincidence?
_ What is it about?
9 Pilot crashes in desert and meets ‘the little prince’
9 Prince is from elsewhere and addresses different themes
9 Little prince makes observations about adults
o He is not convinced adults know what adult life is about
o Adults tend to oversee the little things in life and forget we
were once children
o Little prince makes us constantly aware that we all have been
young, “but few of them remember it”
9 If we want to say something about life, our action we act
“DRAW ME A SHEEP”
_ If you reflect on what ethics is about, then you realise that ethics is like
the sheep in the box
9 There is no theoretical representation of what ethics is about
9 Just because we can’t see it, doesn’t mean we can’t talk or reflect
about it we NEED to do that!
o In the box = about what we actually are and are
supposed/expected to be
9 Being a human is all about reflecting what is in the box
o People who don’t reflect will live as a creature that don’t know
what is to be a human
_ Ethics is what you yourself reflect on
9 Ethics is about something that we know is there, but we simply
cannot see and represent
9 It is about something we can’t address, but also can’t avoid (it will
not go away)
_ What ethics addresses and what it’s about, is something theory
cannot put into frameworks
9 Ethics is something very vivid, yet we don’t have full access to it
4
