Name : Atharva More
Roll no: 141
Div : B BBA(IB)
Ethics weekly assignment -1
1. Define Ethics & explain in detail the dimensions of ethics with
examples (meta-ethics, normative ethics & applied ethics) –
Ans:
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing,
defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. The field
of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns matters of value, and thus comprises
the branch of philosophy called axiology.
Ethics seeks to resolve questions of human morality by defining concepts such
as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime. As a field
of intellectual inquiry, moral philosophy also is related to the fields of moral
psychology, descriptive ethics, and value theory.
Three major areas of study within ethics recognized today are:[2]
Meta-ethics, concerning the theoretical meaning and reference of moral
propositions, and how their truth values (if any) can be determined
Normative ethics, concerning the practical means of determining a moral
course of action
Applied ethics, concerning what a person is obligated (or permitted) to do in a
specific situation or a particular domain of action.
1- Meta ethics
Meta-ethics is the branch of philosophical ethics that asks how we understand,
know about, and what we mean when we talk about what is right and what is
wrong. An ethical question pertaining to a particular practical situation such as,
"Should I eat this particular piece of chocolate cake?" cannot be a meta-ethical
question (rather, this is an applied ethical question). A meta-ethical question is
abstract and relates to a wide range of more specific practical questions. For
example, "Is it ever possible to have secure knowledge of what is right and
wrong?" is a meta-ethical question.
Meta-ethics has always accompanied philosophical ethics. For example,
Aristotle implies that less precise knowledge is possible in ethics than in other
spheres of inquiry, and he regards ethical knowledge as depending upon habit
and acculturation in a way that makes it distinctive from other kinds of
knowledge. Meta-ethics is also important in G.E. Moore's Principia Ethica from
1903. In it he first wrote about what he called the naturalistic fallacy. Moore
was seen to reject naturalism in ethics, in his Open Question Argument. This
made thinkers look again at second order questions about ethics. Earlier, the
Scottish philosopher David Hume had put forward a similar view on the
difference between facts and values
2: Normative ethics
Normative ethics is the study of ethical action. It is the branch of ethics that
investigates the set of questions that arise when considering how one ought to
act, morally speaking. Normative ethics is distinct from meta-ethics because
normative ethics examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of
actions, while meta-ethics studies the meaning of moral language and the
metaphysics of moral facts. Normative ethics is also distinct from descriptive
ethics, as the latter is an empirical investigation of people's moral beliefs. To
put it another way, descriptive ethics would be concerned with determining
what proportion of people believe that killing is always wrong, while normative
ethics is concerned with whether it is correct to hold such a belief. Hence,
normative ethics is sometimes called prescriptive, rather than descriptive.
However, on certain versions of the meta-ethical view called moral realism,
moral facts are both descriptive and prescriptive at the same time.
3: Applied ethics
Applied ethics is a discipline of philosophy that attempts to apply ethical
theory to real-life situations. The discipline has many specialized fields, such as
engineering ethics, bioethics, geoethics, public service ethics and business
ethics.
2. Enlist & explain any 5 unethical business practices with real examples of
companies
Ans-
Ethics can be defined as going beyond what is legal and doing what is right,
even when no one is looking. So when we talk about unethical behavior in
business, we're talking about actions that don't conform to the acceptable
standards of business operations, failing to do what is right in every situation.
In some cases, it may be an individual within a business who is unethical in the
course of his or her job and at other times, we're talking about corporate
culture, where the whole business is corrupt from the top down, with
disastrous results for society. It's important to realize that what is unethical
may not always be illegal (though sometimes it is both). There are many
instances where businesses may act within the law, but their actions hurt
society and are generally considered to be unethical.
Examples-
1.Millions of kids' personal data hacked.
VTech, a toymaker that sells tablet computers for children, was the target of a
massive hack that exposed personal data on 6.4 million children and 4.8 million
adults. The company, which is based in Hong Kong, had been keeping names,
home addresses, photos, videos, and chat logs on vulnerable servers.
Fortunately for all involved, instead of selling the data or holding it for ransom,
the hacker just went to the press so VTech would fix the security issues.
2. Exxon Mobil deliberately misleads the public about climate change.
From the 1980s through the early '90s, Exxon had teams of scientists studying
global warming in the Arctic. The scientists concluded that global warming is
real, and that it posed potential dangers for the company--higher sea levels
could damage Exxon's drilling platforms, processing plants, pump stations, and
pipelines. But company documents reveal that, instead of helping to combat
the environmental risk, Exxon (now Exxon Mobile) decided to launch a
multimillion-dollar campaign questioning climate change in order to bolster
company profits.
3. Volkswagen cheats emissions tests.
In September, the Environmental Protection Agency caught Volkswagen in a
huge scandal that reportedly could cost the company as much as $87 billion.
The EPA uncovered that diesel-engine VW models sold in the United States had
software installed allowing the cars to falsely pass emissions tests. Since then,
VW has admitted to cheating the tests deliberately and revealed that 11
million cars worldwide were fitted with the so-called "defeat device."
4.Turing Pharmaceuticals jacks up prices.
Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli bought the rights to a drug named
Daraprim, which treats a rare infection in HIV/AIDS patients--and promptly
increased the price of it by 5,000 percent, from $18 a pill to $750. The former
hedge fund manager said he was pressured by the company's board to make
the company profitable. Still, the price hike and Shkreli's boorish behavior
following it--including a statement that he should have raised the cost even
higher--was a PR nightmare for the company and gave him the title of "most
hated CEO in the world."
5. FIFA's RICO problem.
FIFA, soccer's international governing body, isn't a corporation in the
traditional sense, but make no mistake: It's big business. This year, the world
heard the long-suspected news that the organization is plagued by institutional
corruption. In two waves of arrests in May and December, U.S. investigators
brought RICO charges against the organization, accusing FIFA officials of taking
millions of dollars in bribes to influence clothing sponsorship contracts, the
FIFA presidential election, and the selection process for the World Cup.
Types of Unethical business practices
•Accounting Fraud – Satyam Scam (Overstated revenues & profits,
understated liabilities), Enron
•Insider Trading – Martha Stewart
•Fraud – Lance Armstrong & Livestrong foundation
•Falsifying documents
•Concealing information - Facebook
•Deceptive Advertising – Fair & Lovely
•Defective Products – Samsung, Nestle baby formula
•Bribery - Samsung
•Cruelty - KFC
•Employee Theft
•Discrimination – United Airlines
