Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
BUSINESS ETHICS
PROF. FERGUSON
8109 DESMARAIS
Ken.Ferguson
@uottawa.ca
Todays class
Ethics as a sub-field in
philosophy
Another distinction
between
Descriptive (or factual) statements
merely try to describe how things
are in some respect
Normative statements try to give
an evaluation of something in some
respect as good or bad, right or
wrong, desirable or undesirable
6)
7)
8)
9)
Types of normative
system/standards
Morality
Etiquette, manners
Sartorial standards (standards of
dress)
Interior decorating
Aesthetics artistic standards
Epistemic standards standards for
evaluating beliefs as rational or
justified
(Law?)
Another distinction
Is morality subjective?
Some people think morality is just a
matter of taste or opinion.
But this does not seem accurate:
We sometimes disagree about, argue
about, what is right and wrong.
o We can give reasons to justify our moral
beliefs.
o Moral judgments can be mistaken.
o Intuitively clear that some moral facts are
objective, example, that pointless pain is
bad.
o
Distinctions
Laws usually written, involve
formal sanctions
Positive (customary) morality rules
about how one should behave that
exist in this or that society; they
are not usually written down, and
involve informal sanctions
Morality itself what really is right
and wrong, which is separate from
both law and positive morality
Contd
A revolution in business
ethics?
Ethics has always had a place in business,
since business cant really function
without some restrictions on what
behavior is acceptable.
But ethics is much more prominent in
business today than in the past. There
are things you could do in the past, both
at the level of individuals and
corporations, that would never be
tolerated today.
tell
us whats right and whats
wrong.
This misunderstands the purpose of this
course. Its not moral instruction I will
not tell you whats right and whats
wrong in business.
Together we will investigate and explore
a wide range of ethical issues in
business. Hopefully, this will help you
improve your ability to discuss ethical
issues that arise in business in an
intelligent, reasonable way.
moral principles.
Develop the skills needed to think clearly and
can be.
In general way, to become literate in business
ethics.
Required Text
A course pack, with the title PHI 2397:
Business Ethics, has been prepared by the
Instructor. This course pack can only be
purchased at Rytec Printers, 404 Dalhousie
Street, just off Campus.
In addition to the course pack, there will be
many online readings. The web addresses
for these are in the list of Topics and
Readings on Blackboard. (They are also
included in the table of contents at the
beginning of the course pack.)
Course Requirements
Three exams, tentatively scheduled for Feb. 8,
Mar. 14, and the third during the examination
period. Each exam will last about 90 minutes.
The exam on which you get the highest grade
worth 40%, the others 30%.
Format: A list of questions will be posted on
Blackboard one week before the exam. A
subset (about 5 or 6) of these questions will
then be selected by the Instructor for
students to answer on the exam. Answers to
each question should be roughly to 1 page
in length.
Readings
For next class:
Reading 1: W. Shaw, Business Ethics,
(Toronto: Wadsworth, 2005) Chap. 1, pp.
9-27
For next week:
Reading 2: W. Shaw and V. Barry, Moral
Issues in Business, Chapter 2:
Normative Theories of Ethics, pp. 2942