ETHICS Dr. John Cullen
thinking versus doing……
Contemporary business ethics ■ Negative ■ Positive ■ Prescriptive
■ What are our lives for? ■ Everything in nature has purp urpose se (telos) that is specific to itself in the grand scheme of things. ■ The purpose of our short human lives is our essence, so we must find out what our telos is. ■ The things that make a contribution to ‘the good’ in nature are what make them ‘excellent’ at fulfilling their purpose. ■ These qualities = virtues tues ■ Arete = Excellence [Greek], but often translated as virtu tue ■ What makes us individually excellent?
human virtues ■ Humans differ from the rest of nature because we are self conscious ‘ rational tional animals imals ’ ■ What we want from life is happi ppines ness ■ But happiness means different things to different people…..
Aristotle said that we generally believe that 3 things can make us happy….. ■ Pleasure – Aristotle rejects this because animals also share this. – It isn’t uniquely human ■ Honour or status – Aristotle also rejects this because animals also have a ‘pecking order’ – Sometimes people seek these without having earned them ■ Virtue – True happiness is not pleasure or prestige – It is the process of finding our purpose and flour ourishing ishing as a result of doing it.
Artistotle’s ‘Nicomachean Ethics’ (Book 1) ‘We are now in a position to define the happy man as “one who is active in accordance with complete virtue, and who is adequately furnished some external goods, and that not for some unspecified period but through a complete life”. And probably we should add “destined both to live this way and to die accordingly”; because the future is obscure to us, and happiness we maintain to be an end in every way utterly find and complete. If this is so, then we shall describe those of the living who possess and will continue to possess the state qualification as supremely happy – but with a human happiness” (p.. 85).
Virtue ethics ‘The virtues are the only things worth pursuing for their own sake, for they constitute the deepest happiness and true honour. True happiness is not the same thing as having pleasurable states of mind, but is instead the process of flourishing , of one’s nature flowering. It is the joy of being what you’re meant to be, of doing what you’re meant to do, and doing it well – of being a goo specimen of your species. It is fulfilling your ‘ destiny’ . The virtuous life is our telos. Aristotle’s word for the true happiness of a fulfilled and flourishing life is eud udaimo imonia nia .’ (Stewart, 2009: 61). SO, it is in our interest to be moral because each one of us is supposed to have a deeply satisfying, fulfilling, purposeful and happy life. Being moral means acquiring virtues.
How do we acquire the virtues that will help us flourish? ■ No quick fixes! ■ The doctrine of the mean – Virtues lies between vices of deficiency and vices of excess ■ Good role models and mentors ■ The four Ancient Greek cardinal virtues – Courage – Temperance – Justice – Wisdom ■ We develop character through practice and making our virtues habit itual ual ■ These se habits ts will help us make e the right t call each h time e we are unexpect xpectedl edly tested ed
Trolleyology!
Other ‘classic’ approaches to bringing about happiness… Utilitarianism Consequentialism ■ The greatest good (or happiness) of ■ The results of an action count in the greatest number should be our deciding whether it is ethical or not aim.
■ The Categorical Imperative – Used for determining whether actions are right or wrong – Can a maxim be universalised for everyone? – If the e maxim im can be un univer ersali salise sed d with thout out self-co contradic ntradicti tion on, then en it passes ses the e categorical imperative test. If it doesn’t, then en it is wron ong, g, and nobo obody y shou ould ld do it, even en when hen the e conseq nsequenc ences s look ok appeali ling. ng. – ACT ON THOSE MAXIMS WHICH YOU CAN WILL TO BE UNIVERSAL LAWS – ALWAYS TREAT OTHER PERSONS AS ENDS IN THEMSELVES AND NEVER AS MEANS
Virtue ethics grows in interest from the 1950s…..
Alasdair MacIntyre (1979) ‘Everyone needs to find some productive work to do in the world, if their lives are to have point and meaning. Productive work has point and purpose, both because of the way in which it involves us in common enterprises with others and because of the ways in which it is worth doing in and for itself.’
BUT ARE THESE IDEAS PRACTICAL?
Will these theories work in real life? ■ What happens to our ethical, moral or religious beliefs when we see someone close to us suffer? ■ Evil appears to always trump goodness? ■ Power corrupts absolutely? ■ Is virtue really rewarded? ■ How can we think about the good life when we are busy dealing with all this guilt and anxiety?
OTHER PROBLEMS WITH ETHICS?
‘First, psychoanalysis is in a position to take up the promise of ancient Greek ethics: namely the development of a robust moral psychology. Plato and Aristotle are explicit that the virtuous person must have an integrated, harmoniously functioning psyche. But they cannot say in any detail what such harmony consists in. They use suggestive phrases – for example, that the rational and non-rational parts of soul much act “in concord” or “speak with the same voice” – but at the time they wrote, such places could only serve as placeholders. If moral al psychology chology is to avoid id the charge ge of cheerl eerleadi eading ng for an illus usor ory y image e of virtue, e, it mus ush h provide vide a convincin vincing g account ount of what t the e requi uired red psychi chic c un unity y amounts nts to. . Psycho choanaly nalysis sis is especia ecially lly well ll-placed aced respon pond d to this s challenge lenge – and d thus us take e up up the e legacy cy of ancien ient t Greek ek ethic ethical al thought’.
Freud’s fundamental rule of psychoanalysis. An analysand is asked to say whatever it is that comes into his or her mind, without censorship or inhibition.
Carol Gilligan
What can we learn from contemporary ethical controversies?
It doesn’t matter what you do, or how you do it, it is your personal reason why you do it that matters. ■ S.C. – identify your princi cipl ples es and live by them ■ Aristotle – find your purp urpose se ■ Peterson – accept perso sonal nal resp spon onsi sibi bility lity for your own life – Don’t blame others or participate in systems that blame others. – If you fail to live up to your personal ethical responsibilities, you will blame other groups – Your ethical drive focuses on destroying ‘evil’ rather than fostering what you believe to be good.
responding to the fact of morality: de deni nial al ■ Faced with death, we construct ‘immortality projects’ ( means of reminding ourselves that our existence is significant) ■ These projects are based on our ideas of just systems of living and governing ■ Conflicts emerge between immortality projects ■ Frustration with not being fulfilled can lead to illness
the fact of mortality ■ Julia Kristeva ‘contemporary secular discourse and philosophy cannot successfully accommodate the inevitability of death, which has meant that secularism is in crisis and religious/spiritual traditions are not’
responding to the fact of morality: engaging ‘To philosophize is to learn how to die’.
“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart” Jobs, S. (2005) Stanford Commencement Address [Speech]. 12 June. Available from: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs- 061505.html [Accessed 08 December 2014].
Feeling that what we do is meani eaningful ngful is critical to our wellbeing.
■ PTSD = anxiety disorder in response to witness tnessing ing or exposure to a traumatic experience ■ Moral Injury =depression as a result of kno nowing wing that they have violated their own values. A persistent sense of meaningles aninglessne sness ss arises.
What t to d do wi with th th this s se sense se of me meaningles ninglessness? sness? Kierkegaard: Faith is the opposite of despair Camus ‘We must imagine Sissyphus happy’
‘ And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up .” Stephen Hawking
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