Session 1: Moral and Ethics
Readings
This first session introduces us to morality, ethics and ethical theories. We focus on normative
ethical theories which aim to provide us guidance on how we should behave. During the
session we review some of the classic Western theories and briefly present alternative
perspectives. We illustrate these theories through the example of the autonomous vehicle.
Crane, A., Matten, D., Glozer, S. & Spence, L. 2019. Business ethics: managing
corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization (5th ed.). Oxford
University Press. Chapter 3 (Pages 85-135).
This is the latest edition of a classic text book in business ethics, providing an
excellent albeit brief overview of some Western modernist theories of ethics.
Compare and contrast the basic premises of each theory and think about how they
can be used together in a pluralistic way to support our decision-making.
Awad, E., Dsouza, S., Kim, R., Schulz, J., Henrich, J., Shariff, A., Bonnefon, J.-F. &
Rahwan, I. 2018. The Moral Machine experiment. Nature, 563, 59-64.
This fascinating article published in one of the most prestigious scientific publication
provides the results of this study related to how we should design the ethical rules of
autonomous vehicles. Think about what are the key takeaways of the article and how
it can illustrate the normative ethical theories of the previous reading.
Ciulla, J.B. 2020. Ethics and effectiveness: the nature of good leadership. In The search
for ethics in leadership, business, and beyond (pp. 3-32). Springer.
This is a humanistic and ethical analysis of what is good leadership, both in the
sense of ethics and efficiency. The book chapter provides some insightful
perspectives on leadership and its link to ethics, including the limitations of
leadership. Reflect on its key arguments.
Talk by Professor Michael Sandel (”Why we shouldn’t trust markets with our civic life”)
We will not necessarily discuss these topics much in the first class, but this is an
excellent summary of a book by Sandel and an important societal topic to think
Ethics and the Future of Business 2
, about. It functions as a broad introduction on the role of markets in our lives and is a
good complement to the previous reading about maximizing and measuring value.
Reflection Questions
1. What is morality, ethics and an ethical theory?
Morality is the human ability to distinguish between right and wrong.
Ethics is the systematic study of morality.
Ethical theories are principles and rules that determine right and wrong in different situations.
Normative ethics is the study of how we ought to behave.
2. What is the difference between ethics and the law?
The law does not cover all ethical issues
Not all legal issues are ethical
Law and ethics can involve contradictions
3. Which dimensions of the Moral Machine experience more agreement?
There is variance in agreement across different dimensions, but sparing humans instead of
pets, sparing more characters instead of fewer, and sparing the young instead of the old tend
to receive more agreement.
4. Which cultural differences come through in the Moral Machine when comparing
Western, Eastern and Southern cultures?
Southern cultures:
For: spare younger, women, high status individuals, fit people and spare more
Less: sparing humans over pets (compared to other two clusters), inaction, sparing
the lawful
Western:
For: Inaction, spare humans and spare more
Less: spare pedestrians, females
Eastern:
For: spare humans, pedestrians, the lawful
Less: spare more, the young, high status, the fit and females
Ethics and the Future of Business 3
, 5. What are the core normative theories in Modernist Western thinking? What are the
core ideas of each?
Ethical egoism
Not usually considered an ethical theory
Action is morally right if decision maker decides to pursued their desires or interests
Thomas Hobbes, Adam Smith, Ayn Rand
Problems:
Inconsistent → condones blatant immoral wrongs since anything goes as long as
needs are served
Short term satisfaction of needs contradicts our moral principles; enlightened egoism
produces conflicting interests
Needs to be complemented by more developed ethical theories
Utilitarianism
Greatest amount of good to greatest amount of people affected by the action
Influential in normative economics, related to egoistic view of humans in economics
Act utilitarianism: whether an act is right or wrong depends on the amount of common
good it produces
Rule utilitarianism: creating rules that produce the most common good
In practice: Cost/benefit analysis
Problems:
utilitarian good is subjective, context dependent, and difficult to compare between
people
Struggles to justify topic of equal weighting; we should neither exclude nor prioritise
ourselves
Maximising is not the best approach to address all values, should make short and
long term considerations
Problems of quantification and calculation (respecting basic rights)
Ethics of duties
morality as question of certain abstract and unchangeable obligations, defined by a set of
a priori moral rules that humans should apply to all ethical problems
Ethics and the Future of Business 4
, central concepts of duty, consistency, dignity and universality
Immanuel Kant
Develop categorical imperatives to guide our actions:
Universal applicability: check that principle is acceptable to every human being
Respect for persons: human being is valuable autonomic all being, not a means to an
end or a tool
Problems:
Undervalues underlying motivation of actions
Undervaluing outcomes of actions, a little rule bending is okay as long as it benefits
many in the long run
Morality founded too strictly on the use of reasoning (kids may not make most
reasonable decisions)
Ethics of rights and justice
Central part of Western political and ethical thought and foundation of universal human
rights
Human rights: basic, inalienable, and unconditional entitlements that are inherent to all
human beings without exception that are based on human dignity, duty of others to
protect, respect and support them
Main natural rights: right to life, freedom, property, speech, privacy, conscience, and fair
trial etc.
Justice: fair treatment of all individuals in any situation that result with everyone getting
what they deserve
Key ideas: procedural vs distributive fairness, veil of ignorance (impartiality), social
contract (unspoken social understanding), system of basic liberties, judgment of society
by the state of least advantaged and equal opportunity
Problems:
most lists of basic rights are seen as arbitrary, criticised as being too western and or
neo-colonial
Basic rights presuppose institutions that allow for recourse in case of breach but does
not offer practical guidelines in extreme situations
Ethics and the Future of Business 5
Readings
This first session introduces us to morality, ethics and ethical theories. We focus on normative
ethical theories which aim to provide us guidance on how we should behave. During the
session we review some of the classic Western theories and briefly present alternative
perspectives. We illustrate these theories through the example of the autonomous vehicle.
Crane, A., Matten, D., Glozer, S. & Spence, L. 2019. Business ethics: managing
corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization (5th ed.). Oxford
University Press. Chapter 3 (Pages 85-135).
This is the latest edition of a classic text book in business ethics, providing an
excellent albeit brief overview of some Western modernist theories of ethics.
Compare and contrast the basic premises of each theory and think about how they
can be used together in a pluralistic way to support our decision-making.
Awad, E., Dsouza, S., Kim, R., Schulz, J., Henrich, J., Shariff, A., Bonnefon, J.-F. &
Rahwan, I. 2018. The Moral Machine experiment. Nature, 563, 59-64.
This fascinating article published in one of the most prestigious scientific publication
provides the results of this study related to how we should design the ethical rules of
autonomous vehicles. Think about what are the key takeaways of the article and how
it can illustrate the normative ethical theories of the previous reading.
Ciulla, J.B. 2020. Ethics and effectiveness: the nature of good leadership. In The search
for ethics in leadership, business, and beyond (pp. 3-32). Springer.
This is a humanistic and ethical analysis of what is good leadership, both in the
sense of ethics and efficiency. The book chapter provides some insightful
perspectives on leadership and its link to ethics, including the limitations of
leadership. Reflect on its key arguments.
Talk by Professor Michael Sandel (”Why we shouldn’t trust markets with our civic life”)
We will not necessarily discuss these topics much in the first class, but this is an
excellent summary of a book by Sandel and an important societal topic to think
Ethics and the Future of Business 2
, about. It functions as a broad introduction on the role of markets in our lives and is a
good complement to the previous reading about maximizing and measuring value.
Reflection Questions
1. What is morality, ethics and an ethical theory?
Morality is the human ability to distinguish between right and wrong.
Ethics is the systematic study of morality.
Ethical theories are principles and rules that determine right and wrong in different situations.
Normative ethics is the study of how we ought to behave.
2. What is the difference between ethics and the law?
The law does not cover all ethical issues
Not all legal issues are ethical
Law and ethics can involve contradictions
3. Which dimensions of the Moral Machine experience more agreement?
There is variance in agreement across different dimensions, but sparing humans instead of
pets, sparing more characters instead of fewer, and sparing the young instead of the old tend
to receive more agreement.
4. Which cultural differences come through in the Moral Machine when comparing
Western, Eastern and Southern cultures?
Southern cultures:
For: spare younger, women, high status individuals, fit people and spare more
Less: sparing humans over pets (compared to other two clusters), inaction, sparing
the lawful
Western:
For: Inaction, spare humans and spare more
Less: spare pedestrians, females
Eastern:
For: spare humans, pedestrians, the lawful
Less: spare more, the young, high status, the fit and females
Ethics and the Future of Business 3
, 5. What are the core normative theories in Modernist Western thinking? What are the
core ideas of each?
Ethical egoism
Not usually considered an ethical theory
Action is morally right if decision maker decides to pursued their desires or interests
Thomas Hobbes, Adam Smith, Ayn Rand
Problems:
Inconsistent → condones blatant immoral wrongs since anything goes as long as
needs are served
Short term satisfaction of needs contradicts our moral principles; enlightened egoism
produces conflicting interests
Needs to be complemented by more developed ethical theories
Utilitarianism
Greatest amount of good to greatest amount of people affected by the action
Influential in normative economics, related to egoistic view of humans in economics
Act utilitarianism: whether an act is right or wrong depends on the amount of common
good it produces
Rule utilitarianism: creating rules that produce the most common good
In practice: Cost/benefit analysis
Problems:
utilitarian good is subjective, context dependent, and difficult to compare between
people
Struggles to justify topic of equal weighting; we should neither exclude nor prioritise
ourselves
Maximising is not the best approach to address all values, should make short and
long term considerations
Problems of quantification and calculation (respecting basic rights)
Ethics of duties
morality as question of certain abstract and unchangeable obligations, defined by a set of
a priori moral rules that humans should apply to all ethical problems
Ethics and the Future of Business 4
, central concepts of duty, consistency, dignity and universality
Immanuel Kant
Develop categorical imperatives to guide our actions:
Universal applicability: check that principle is acceptable to every human being
Respect for persons: human being is valuable autonomic all being, not a means to an
end or a tool
Problems:
Undervalues underlying motivation of actions
Undervaluing outcomes of actions, a little rule bending is okay as long as it benefits
many in the long run
Morality founded too strictly on the use of reasoning (kids may not make most
reasonable decisions)
Ethics of rights and justice
Central part of Western political and ethical thought and foundation of universal human
rights
Human rights: basic, inalienable, and unconditional entitlements that are inherent to all
human beings without exception that are based on human dignity, duty of others to
protect, respect and support them
Main natural rights: right to life, freedom, property, speech, privacy, conscience, and fair
trial etc.
Justice: fair treatment of all individuals in any situation that result with everyone getting
what they deserve
Key ideas: procedural vs distributive fairness, veil of ignorance (impartiality), social
contract (unspoken social understanding), system of basic liberties, judgment of society
by the state of least advantaged and equal opportunity
Problems:
most lists of basic rights are seen as arbitrary, criticised as being too western and or
neo-colonial
Basic rights presuppose institutions that allow for recourse in case of breach but does
not offer practical guidelines in extreme situations
Ethics and the Future of Business 5
