Introduction to Ethics
Spring 2006
MBA 670
1
Some Basic Issues

Topics of discussion




Legal systems
Moral / ethical considerations
Social forces
Morality vs. legality vs. social forces
Spring 2006
MBA 670
2
Legal Systems

Rules or laws that regulate behavior



Types of laws






Necessary for any large-scale social organization
Codification of a society’s standards
Property rights
Family issues
Business conduct
Private action (criminal activity)
Types of systems
Origins of law
Spring 2006
MBA 670
3
Types of Systems

Common law (i.e., “common” to all England, not regional customs)




Civil law




Based on codified law
Corpus Juris Civilis (Justinian, 6th centrury AD), Code Napoléon
Civil only covered (transactions between individuals)
Religious law



Based on tradition, precedent
U.K., U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India (i.e., British influence)
Both civil and criminal covered
Theocratic rule
Usually associated with Islamic countries (sharia)
Canon law

Spring 2006
Used to regulate ecclesiastical matters
MBA 670
4
Emperor Justinian
Spring 2006
MBA 670
5
Hammurabi



Babylonian ruler, ca.
1792-50 BC
First written law code
Primarily commercial
transactions
Spring 2006
MBA 670
6
Babylonian Commercial Laws
104. If a merchant give an agent corn, wool, oil, or any other goods to
transport, the agent shall give a receipt for the amount, and
compensate the merchant therefor. Then he shall obtain a receipt
from the merchant for the money that he gives the merchant.
105. If the agent is careless, and does not take a receipt for the money
which he gave the merchant, he can not consider the unreceipted
money as his own.
121. If any one store corn in another man's house he shall pay him
storage at the rate of one gur for every five ka of corn per year.
235. If a shipbuilder build a boat for some one, and do not make it
tight, if during that same year that boat is sent away and suffers
injury, the shipbuilder shall take the boat apart and put it together
tight at his own expense. The tight boat he shall give to the boat
owner.
Spring 2006
MBA 670
7
Babylonian Property Laws
36. The field, garden, and house of a chieftain, of a man, or of
one subject to quit-rent, can not be sold.
37. If any one buy the field, garden, and house of a chieftain,
man, or one subject to quit-rent, his contract tablet of sale
shall be broken (declared invalid) and he loses his money.
The field, garden, and house return to their owners.
38. A chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent can not assign his
tenure of field, house, and garden to his wife or daughter, nor
can he assign it for a debt.
39. He may, however, assign a field, garden, or house which he
has bought, and holds as property, to his wife or daughter or
give it for debt.
Spring 2006
MBA 670
8
Babylonian Criminal Law
194. If a man give his child to a nurse and the child die in her hands, but the
nurse unbeknown to the father and mother nurse another child, then they
shall convict her of having nursed another child without the knowledge of
the father and mother and her breasts shall be cut off.
195. If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.
196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. [ An eye
for an eye ]
198. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he
shall pay one gold mina.
199. If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave,
he shall pay one-half of its value.
205. If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a freed man, his ear shall be
cut off.
206. If during a quarrel one man strike another and wound him, then he shall
swear, "I did not injure him wittingly," and pay the physicians.
Spring 2006
MBA 670
9
Babylonian Justice
1. If any one ensnare another, putting a ban upon him, but he can not
prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death.
3. If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and
does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital
offense charged, be put to death.
4. If he satisfy the elders to impose a fine of grain or money, he shall
receive the fine that the action produces.
5. If a judge try a case, reach a decision, and present his judgment in
writing; if later error shall appear in his decision, and it be
through his own fault, then he shall pay twelve times the fine set
by him in the case, and he shall be publicly removed from the
judge's bench, and never again shall he sit there to render
judgment.
Spring 2006
MBA 670
10
Babylonian Family Law (I)
129. If a man's wife be surprised (in flagrante delicto) with another
man, both shall be tied and thrown into the water, but the
husband may pardon his wife and the king his slaves.
133. If a man is taken prisoner in war, and there is a sustenance in
his house, but his wife leave house and court, and go to another
house: because this wife did not keep her court, and went to
another house, she shall be judicially condemned and thrown
into the water.
135. If a man be taken prisoner in war and there be no sustenance in
his house and his wife go to another house and bear children;
and if later her husband return and come to his home: then this
wife shall return to her husband, but the children follow their
father.
Spring 2006
MBA 670
11
Babylonian Family Law (II)
137. If a man wish to separate from a woman who has borne him children, or
from his wife who has borne him children: then he shall give that wife her
dowry, and a part of the usufruct of field, garden, and property, so that she
can rear her children. When she has brought up her children, a portion of
all that is given to the children, equal as that of one son, shall be given to
her. She may then marry the man of her heart.
148. If a man take a wife, and she be seized by disease, if he then desire to take
a second wife he shall not put away his wife, who has been attacked by
disease, but he shall keep her in the house which he has built and support
her so long as she lives.
183. If a man give his daughter by a concubine a dowry, and a husband, and a
deed; if then her father die, she shall receive no portion from the paternal
estate.
Spring 2006
MBA 670
12
The Laws of Æthelberht, King of Kent
(560-616 AD)
21. If a man slay another, let him make bot with a half leodgeld of 100
shillings.
31. If a freeman lie with a freeman's wife, let him pay for it with his wergeld,
and provide another wife with his own money, and bring her to the other.
39. If an ear be struck off, let bot be made with twelve shillings.
40. If the other ear hear not, let bot be made with twenty-five shillings.
54. If a thumb be struck off, twenty shillings. If a thumb nail be off, let bot be
made with three shillings. If the shooting [i. e. fore] finger be struck off,
let bot be made with eight shillings. If the middle finger be struck off, let
bot be made with four shillings. If the gold [i. e. ring] finger be struck off,
let bot be made with six shillings. If the little finger be struck off, let bot
be made with eleven shillings.
Spring 2006
MBA 670
13
Code Napoléon




Product of French Revolution / Napoleonic reforms
Idea was to give France a unified, logical legal
system
The result -- Code Civil des Français, promulgated
on March 21, 1804
Three major areas:



Spring 2006
Personal status (marriage)
Property (easements)
Acquisition / transfer of property (wills)
MBA 670
14
Ethics




The area of philosophy concerned with human
behavior in the social context
Based on a consideration of values, rather than facts
(although it is necessary to determine the facts)
Not the same as legal considerations (although laws
overlap with society’s agreed-upon ethical standards)
Economic factors not part of ethical decisions
(although many ethical decision have economic
implications)
Spring 2006
MBA 670
15
Sources of Ethical Beliefs

Basic human values



Institutional sources



Reciprocity (Golden Rule)
Altruism
Religion
Philosophy
The environment


Spring 2006
Historical setting
Cultural values
MBA 670
16
The Problem…..


Often, different moral philosophies lead to the
same results (we don’t settle disputes by coldblooded murder)
But, there are also circumstances when
differing perspectives lead to different
answers
Spring 2006
MBA 670
17
The Golden Rule
“Every religion emphasizes human
improvement, love, respect for others,
sharing other people's suffering. On
these lines every religion had more or
less the same viewpoint and the same
goal.”
-- The Dalai Lama
Spring 2006
Source: http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc.htm
MBA 670
18
Is the Golden Rule Enough?



Can we always assume that we “know best”?
That is, do we do unto others what we think
they should want us to do?
When we are looking ate people different from
us, do we fall into this trap: the Golden Rule
applies, but just to “us”, whoever “us” may be.
It doesn’t tell us what is right and wrong, just
that our actions toward others be what we
would want ourselves
Spring 2006
MBA 670
19
Altruism


When a person acts in another’s benefit, as a cost to
him / herself
Why?



Doesn’t it make more sense to do what benefits us?
However, biology (kin-selection theory) tells us that it
makes sense to help a relative, even at the cost of one’s
own life
But, we’re not animals – does that make a
difference?
Spring 2006
MBA 670
20
Source:http://www.infoplease.com/
World Religions
Catholic
Orthodox
Protestant
Other
Christianity
Buddhist
Spring 2006
Islam
Judaism
MBA 670
Hindu
Other
Chinese Folk
21
The World of Islam
On the day of judgment, the
honest Muslim merchant
will stand side by side with
the martyrs
- The Prophet Mohammed
Spring 2006
MBA 670
22
Moral Values in the Work Setting: Islam

Prohibition on charging interest




Lending fees
Leasing
Share of a bank’s profits rather than interest
Investment (Syariah principles)




Spring 2006
operations based on riba (interest) such as banking or
finance companies
Gambling
Manufacture and/or sale of haram (forbidden) products
such as liquor, non-halal meats and pork; and
Elements of gharar (uncertainty) such as conventional
insurance
MBA 670
23
Philosophers

Asia



Is it religion or philosophy
Is this even a valid distinction
Western philosophers: A long tradition




Spring 2006
Classical thinkers
Theologians
Enlightenment philosophers
Writers in other areas (politics, social issues)
MBA 670
24
Socrates and Plato

Socrates (470 BC – 399 BC)





Virtue is knowledge of what is good
Virtue has an existence of its own; we know what is good
without being told
Virtue cannot be taught
If one knows what is good, one will act virtuously
Plato (428 BC – 348 BC)


Spring 2006
Platonic forms – Pure, eternal and unchanging ideas, that
exist independently
Differs from Socrates, in that Plato believed that virtue
could be taught
MBA 670
25
Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC)

Virtue is fulfilling a function


Virtue is “a state of deliberate moral purpose consisting in a mean that is
relative to ourselves, the mean being determined by reason, or as a
prudent man would determine it.”






Function / life goal = self-fulfillment
Moral purpose – voluntary, deliberate action
Some actions are evil or virtuous in and of themselves (e.g., adultery)
Other actions require judgment to find the mean (cowardice vs.
foolhardiness)
Virtue comes from strength of character
Virtue involves both feeling and action
Virtue is innate, but also requires training and practice to form proper
habits
Spring 2006
MBA 670
26
Theologians

St. Augustine (354 AD – 430 AD)




St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)



Spring 2006
Influenced by Plato and Platonic philosophers (merged
classical and Christian thought)
Every work of God is good; evil comes from mankind and
the freedom they have to choose (also, original sin)
Evil does not have an independent existence (the
Manichæan heresy)
Influenced by Aristotle
Mankind aspires to goodness
Goodness or virtue requires the exercise of reason
MBA 670
27
Others


Niccolò Machiavelli (1469 -1527)
Herbert Spencer (1820 –1903)


Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)

Spring 2006
Social Darwinism
The great man can make his own rules
MBA 670
28
Niccolò Machiavelli



The Prince
Bad reputation today, but also a very pragmatic thinker
What actually occurred versus what actually worked:
…the gulf between how one should live and how one does live is so wide
that a man who neglects what is actually done for what should be
done learns the way to self-destruction rather than self-preservation
(XV)

The end -- stable rule -- justifies the means:
…a prince, and especially a new prince cannot observe all those things
which give men a reputation for virtue, because in order to maintain
his state, he is often forced to act in defiance of good faith, of charity,
of kindness, of religion (XVIII)
Spring 2006
MBA 670
29
Social Darwinism
Is human potential a product of our genes or
our environment?
 A question relevant even today



The Bell Curve and critics
The nineteenth century approach:
Adapting biological models of evolution to social
change and evolution
 Social Darwinism

Spring 2006
MBA 670
30
Darwin and Natural Selection
Nineteenth century naturalist
 The Origin of Species

Populations contain variability
 Natural selection among population
 The result -- evolution

Photos from http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/nathist/darwin/darwinindex.html
Spring 2006
MBA 670
31
Enlightenment Philosophers


In general, these people separated theology and philosophy
Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)



Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832)




Teleology
Utilitarianism (greatest good to the greatest number)
John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873)
John Locke (1632 – 1704)



Spring 2006
Deontology
What are one’s duties?
Social contract
Natural rights of mankind
“The right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”
MBA 670
32
Deontology


Deontological ethical systems hold that a person
renders ethical decisions if he or she acts based on
what is right, regardless of the consequences of the
decision
In this formalistic view of ethics, what is right is
based on the categorical imperative, which is the
notion that every person should act on only those
principles that he or she, as a rational person, would
prescribe as universal laws to be applied to the
whole of humankind.
Spring 2006
MBA 670
33
Teleology



Teleological (or consequential) ethical systems are concerned
with the consequences of an act rather than the act itself
Basically, the goal is the greatest good for the greatest
number.
But what is the “greatest good”?



Per Mill, mankind strives to avoid pain and gain pleasure
But, we are human beings, with dignity and “higher faculties;” so it
isn’t just hedonism
Two varieties:


Spring 2006
Act-utilitarianism, where one’s goal is to identify the consequences of
a particular act to determine whether it is right or wrong
Rule-utilitarianism, which requires one to adhere to all the rules of
conduct by which society reaps the greatest value.
MBA 670
34
John Locke





English physician and philosopher (1632-1704)
People governed by “natural law of reason”, not
tradition or authority
Therefore, government depends on consent of
governed
Civil society founded on private property
Right to pursue individual goals
Spring 2006
MBA 670
35
Social Contracts




How can society best be structured and
regulated?
Governments are based on the “social
contract”
As a m,ember of society, I agree to the
contract by remaining a member of the society
Reciprocal obligations that can be changed
Spring 2006
MBA 670
36
Adam Smith


Scottish economist (1723-1790)
Division of labor



Market forces




Greater efficiency
But at a human cost
Opposed to mercantilist ideas (laissez-faire)
“The invisible hand”
Rewarding labor to motivate, rather than keeping people
hungry
But…..does Smith ignore “benevolence?”
Spring 2006
MBA 670
37