The Importance of ethical
contributions from Immanuel
Kant
Born April 22, 1724 in Konigsburg at the
time was apart of East Prussia
 Attended Collegium Fredericianum and
studied theology
 Also attended the University of
Konigsburg and studied mathematics
and physics

Kant’s influences
Was influenced by Martin Knutzen a
Professor at the University of
Konigsberg
 Other Philosophers are:

 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
 Christian Wolff
 David Hume

He also had influences in British
philosophy and science.
 Sir Isaac Newton
Followers of Kant while living
1746 Kant’s father died and he had to
drop out of school
 Kant became a tutor to three families in
Arnsdorf.
 Wrote several dissertations during his
time as a tutor.
 Began a following during this time and
began lecturing at the University of
Konigsburg.

Why was he Famous?
Most famous for his book The Critique of
Pure Reason
 He had three other books for his moral
philosophy

 Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals
 Critique of Practical Reason
 Metaphysics of Morals

He wrote many other articles and books.
Kant’s Legacy

Changed the thinking in Philosophy
forever
 Kant change the philosophy of thought on
God, the universe and the soul.
 Prior to Kant there was a lot of contradiction
about God and the universe and how it
came to be
Who did Kant influence?

Some of the people that Kant had a
influence on is:
 Karl Leonhard Reinhold
○ Published Letters on the Kantian Philosophy
 Johann Gottlieb Fichte
○ Met Kant in Konigsburg wrote a critique that
was mistaken for Kants writings.
Who did Kant influence Cont.

Modern day influence from Kant
 P.F. Strawson
 Wilfrid Sellars
 Albert Einstein
The end of Kant
Health started to fail in 1790
 Still wrote publications:

 Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone
 The Metaphysics of Morals

Immanuel Kant died on February 12,
1804
The Importance of ethics in
business. The History

Ethics in business had two fronts
 In academia
○ Schools would teach future business leaders
in ethics
 In business
○ Future business leader would incorporate their
ethics teaching into their companies.

Ethics in business had its roots in the
Civil Rights Movement.
Laws Created as a Result of
Unethical Companies

Several major laws have been created
as a direct result of unethical behavior
 1964 U.S. Civil Rights Act
 1970 U.S. Occupational Safety and Health
Act (OSHA)
 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Top 5 unethical companies
#5 Philip Morris
 #4 Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold
Inc
 #3 Chevron Corp.
 #2 Halliburton Company
 #1 Monsanto Co.

Some of the Most ethical
Ford Motor Company
 Microsoft
 Intel
 Best Buy Co.
 Cisco Systems

How to Compete Ethically
Consumer Trust
 Employee moral
 Guides employees in day to day work
 Creates a climate of integrity and
excellence

Ethical Behaviors in Business





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Not a short term solution
Put profits second
Make no compromises
If its all about you quit
Teach ethical behavior by example
Hire people with values
Solicit and welcome customer feedback
Ethical leader can change a corporation’s
culture
The Importance of Ethics in
Media Sharing
Arpanet original Media sharing
 Used FTP and Usenet to transfer files
 Napster revolutionized media sharing
 Napster lead to other file sharing sites
like:





Gnutella
Limewire
Bearshare
Bittorrents
Background of Media
Sharing
Media share has been around long
before internet
 Video cassette tapes and Compact
Cassettes have been shared since their
creation in the 70’s.
 Copies where not good quality
 Degraded over time
 Digital media never degrades
 Quality always the same

Ethical Media Sharing
Young artist use Media Sharing site to
promote their art.
 Large entertainment companies use
media sharing to promote future events
 Some of these would be:

 E!
 MTV
 Dimension Films
Unethical Media Sharing

Not paying for or not getting permissions
to download media like
 Music
 Movies
 Books
 Applications

Not paying you are breaking the law and
could face jail time
Media Sharing Prevention


Digital Millennium Copyright Act DMCA
Recording Industry Association of America
RIAA
 Represent Recoding industry
 Lobby congress stricter laws

Provide cheap and easy ways to obtain media





HULU
Pandora
YouTube
ITunes
Netflix
Why There Should be Ethics in
Science

To prevent issues that have occurred in
the history for example
 Nazi experiments during World War 2
 Tuskegee Syphilis Study
What Constitute Unethical
Scientific Research

Harming Humans or Animals
Not providing informed consent
 Plagiarism
 Falsifying results

Human Research
Informed consent is needed.
 Informed of privacy rights
 Make sure subject will be safe
 No bias towards results are in play.

Animal Testing
Most animal testing is done with little to
no risk to the animal
 PITA, Humane Society, and other work
to stop unethical animal testing
 Animals are used to test cosmetics,
soaps, and shampoo

Genetic Testing
Used to identify particular atributes
within a human
 Can be used to predict disease and birth
defects
 Issues with Genetic Testing

 Parent could dicide to abort a baby based
on a prediction
 Abort a baby because not the sex they
wanted.
Stem Cell Research






Used to repair damage area through out
the human body
Potentially could be used to cure diseases
like Alzheimer's disease
And possibly be used to fix paralyzation
Most pure stem cells is from embryos
Embryo is considered a life by may people
Destroying an embryo is unethical to many
because it is considered a life at that point
Ethics and Me
Found different ways to identify ethical
issues within the workplace
 Showed me the benefit of being ethical
in not just word but in actions.
 Learned about great people that have
changed the world due to be ethical and
doing what is right.

Ethics and Business
Ethical companies are more profitable
 Consumers like to shop at ethical
companies
 Unethical companies usually go away
 Unethical companies ruin the lives of
their employees like Enron

Future of Ethics and Me
○ Be more aware of the following
 Media Sharing
 Social websites
 Peer to peer networking
○ Become more ethical in daily life by
 Being honest even when it is not popular to be
 Doing what is right even when nobody is looking and
there is no risk of being caught.
Ethics in Society
Society help shape what is ethical and
unethical
 Controversial issues like stem cell and
cloning will be decided most likely by
society and either their acceptance or
rejection of the technology.

Summary

William Kant
 Great philosopher
 Influenced philosophy for generations to come

Ethics in Business and technology
 Society helps decide what is ethical and
unethical
 Technology can be used for ethical and
unethical
○ Help save lives
 Stem Cell Research
○ If used unethically can possibly destroy lives
 Hadron Collider
References
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Barbara J. Feldman. (June 2, 2008). Legal and Copyright Issues of P2P File Sharing. In Surfnetkids.
Retrieved Feb 3, 2013, from http://www.surfnetkids.com/tech/1388/legal-and-copyright-issues-of-p2pfile-sharing/.
Ethisphere. (no date). 2011 World’s Most Ethical Companies. In Ethisphere. Retrieved Jan 27, 2013,
from http://ethisphere.com/2011-worlds-most-ethical-companies/.
David C. Wyld. (September 16, 2010). Bizcovering. In Top Ten Management on Business Ethics: An
Overview of What Business Leaders Need to Know About Ethics Read more:
http://bizcovering.com/management/top-ten-management-on-business-ethics-an-overview-of-whatbusiness-leaders-need-to-know-about-ethics/#ixzz2JFQIyhUF. Retrieved Jan 27, 2013, from
http://bizcovering.com/management/top-ten-management-on-business-ethics-an-overview-of-whatbusiness-leaders-need-to-know-about-ethics/.
Grace Kiser. (March 30,2010). The 12 Least Ethical Companies In The World: Covalence's Ranking .
In Huffington Post. Retrieved Jan 27, 2013, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/28/the-leastethical-compani_n_440073.html?slidenumber=0ZHHXzV%2FaPE%3D&slideshow.
Humane Society. (Unknown). Be Cruelty Fee. In The Humane Society of the United States. Retrieved
Feburary 10, 2013, from http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/cosmetic_testing/becrueltyfree/.
Luke Mastin. (2008). Immanuel Kant . In Immanuel Kant > By Individual Philosopher > Philosophy.
Retrieved January 20, 2013, from http://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_kant.html.
New World Encyclopidia Editors. (August 12, 2011). Immanuel Kant. In Immanuel Kant - New World
Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 20,2013, from
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Immanuel_Kant#Legacy.
References
Morrissey, B. (2006, Apr 03). Old media faces a hard
lesson on sharing. Adweek, 47, 10-10. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/212446145?accou
ntid=38189
 Otto Allen Bird. (n.d.). Immanuel Kant. In Immanuel
Kant (German philosopher) : Last years -- Britannica
Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 20, 2013,
 SparkNotes Editors. (2005). SparkNote on Immanuel
Kant (1724–1804). Retrieved January 12, 2013, from
http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/kant Unknown.
(June 15, 2011). U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study
at Tuskegee. In CDC - NCHHSTP - Tuskegee Study Timeline. Retrieved Feburary 10, 2013, from
http://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm.
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