Portico Final Review Questions 1. What are three arguments Rand ...
Portico Final Review Questions 1. What are three arguments Rand makes in support of egoism? • You can do things for other people as long as it also brings some happiness to you • Use mind as a rational being to choose existence that will bring you happiness. That is morality • Plants and animals cant choose, humans can choose to live or die. • Explains why you shouldn’t steal, it does not satisfy your long term goal go to jail 2. What are three arguments against relativism? Rand: • If you don’t condemn a torturer you are allowing it to happen. You must remain consistent with your belief • it is justice to treat people equally by condemning one man’s vice and another’s evil • People avoid judging others because when you judge someone your put on trial. • You develop neutrality because you want a moral blank check so you give one. Midgely: • If theres no standard for other cultures theres no standard for our culture. Our culture is compiled of many different cultures, political beliefs, and religions. Cultural relativism is ambiguous. Different groups may have the same moral beliefs. • Relativism is a claim but doesn’t say how one ought to act. Most cultures believe in fairness but do not agree on what is fair. Hospers: • Cultural relativism is stereotyping in some countries. If majority accepts something everyone does then it is culturally accepted. But if the majority then changes its mind, how can something be both right and wrong. 3. What are three misconceptions about Utilitarian theory? • Does not mean the right action is most beneficial to the one performing the action. It is for all people affected by the action • It also doesn’t say an action is right as long as the benefits outweigh the cost. It says the action that is right is the one that has the most benefits and the least costs of all possible alternatives • Must consider direct and long term conswquences 4. What are three arguments against Utilitarian theory? • It is difficult to measure costs and benefits, How can you compare the benefits of two different people, who will benefit more. • Future consequences can be difficult to measure and hard to predict • Hard to put a price on life • Not all goods are tradable • Doesn’t always hold theft and dishonesty as wrong • All goods are put on a comparable scale, unable to deal with rights and justice
5. • • • •
What are three arguments for Utilitarian theory? Diminishes social cost and increases social benefit Fits into ideal of morality because takes everyone’s interest into account Explains why things such as lying and adultery are wrong. Everything can be measured on one common numerical scale
6. What is the categorical imperative? What is the Practical imperative? • The categorical imperative reduce everything you do to a maxim and then generalize that maxim. If can be universally applied than it is moral. The golden rule: do unto others as you would have do unto you. False promise: if everyone made false promises nobody’s promise would be taken seriously everyone’s promise would be meaningless. • Practical imperative is to use human beings always as an end and never as a means. 7. Provide three reasons why wages should be increased for Guatemalans, based on the Deontological Theory? • Practical imperative: human beings re always an end and never a mean. Everyone is equal, cannot exploit their work and pay them for less than they deserve to make a higher profit margin. • Categorical imperative: cannot take advantage of another person because if we all did this, order in society could not be maintained. Everyone cannot live below the poverty line and not have enough money to live. • Everyone should be paid fair amounts for basic food shelter and clothing because everyone is equal 8. Provide three reasons why wages should be maintained for the Guatemalans, based on Utilitarian theories? • Keep giving the lowest and best competitive cost to the consumer. • If wages were raised, the company couldn’t compete competitively with the other companies that outsource work to China and pay their employees less. The company would go out of business. • Because the wages are low, they can hire more people and afford better on-site working conditions than if the raises were raised. If they were raised, the company could not afford to hire as many employees and the greatest good would not be brought to the greatest number of people in society. Right now the company offers some of the highest wages in the country, the employee there are better off than their neighbors. 9. Identify and explain three goods that cannot be the highest good to Aristotle. Briefly explain why each of these three goods cannot be the highest good. • Honor Cannot be highest good because it is dependent upon others bestowing it and is only pursued for goodness • Pleasure lead slavish life of beast live only on instinct. We have greater happiness • Excelenceyou can be excellent but inactive. • Money because you only do it for the sake of something else • Happiness is the highest good because it is always an end and never a means
10. What are three reasons we need friends, according to Aristotle? • We need friends to take care of us, call us out, and stimulate us to take moral actions 11. Identify and explain Aristotle’s three types of friendship? • Friends of pleasure friends who find pleasure in each other. Once pleasure dissolves friendship dissolves. Most prevalent, many young people have this kind of friendship • Friends of utility are friends because they benefit from each other. Once benefit diminishes friendship diminishes • Friends of the good friends based on shared virtue. Greatest and most stable of all. Each friend brings out the good in the other friend. 12. Define “pro-social” spending, and explain why the author of “Happiness: A buyer’s guide” believes that this kind of spending will make you the happiest. Also, note what kind of spending we often think will make us happy and why it does not? • Best kind of happiness is a strong social network so pro social spending akes us happy. Pro-social spending is spending money on memories and experiences rather than material goods. If you spend money on something such as a dinner with a friend, you are creating a happy memory with can then be talked about and relived. As much as it is remembered and talked about and relieved, it will not diminish the value of that memory. People don’t compete with happy experiences as they do with material possessions • We often think spending money on goods rather than experiences, ourselves over others, and things over people. It does not make us happy because we are constantly competing with material possessions. If you buy a new car, you may look at your neighbor’s car, the newer model, and become jealous. The happiness associated with that new car will eventually diminish. You can never spend enough to compete with material possessions. 13. What problems arose in the Himalayas that prevented Stephen from getting the support of the group? • No process for developing a concensus • No unified purpose for the group Could make a decision on that purpose • No leader • Cultural complexities 14. Identify and explain three organizational blocks? • Strong role model and strict line of command dependent on them, imitate their behavior, think nothing can be done to disengage from these practices and still fulfill requirements of job. See reality the way the mentor does. Executives have power to enforce compliance without tipping off higher ups. Assumption of where an order comes form. loyalty • Intargroup cohesion reduce intergroup cohesion work tg how you define reality in ambiguous situations, support continued involvement in illegal activity, hard to disengage because have loyalty to group, threat to group to withdraw from activities. Can overcome by having office-wide ethics case convo
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Create and maintain ambiguity about priorities directive to obey law and pressure to make profits, resolved if employees know how decision will receive social support if exposed. Making profits often drive out ethical practices. Corp should emphasize ethics first and move from abstract examples to concrete ones. Separations of decisions block upper level employees make decisions, can place lower level employees in difficult situations Task Specialization employees in one part of an org may know of illegal practices In another part but believe they are in no position to do anything about it. mlower level level employees may think something is illegal but do not have enough command of facts to report suspicion without fear of misreading situation Lack of open discussion employees know what is pretty much okay but may be divided on organizational stance or specific issue. If there is open discussion can leave morality questions open to debate. Constructive for whistle blowers to feel comfortable.
15. What are three crucial factors radically changing the landscape in which we all live and work? • Change • Culture clash • Increasing scale can make you feel alienated. Things change and you are powerless to stop them. You can be easily replaced. • complexity 16. What are three characteristics required of a good leader, according to Chris Lowery? • Courage, love, self-awareness 17. What is the most important “take away” from out study of ethics, according to Prof. Cabral? • You have to figure our who you are and what you stand for A wall street Job cant match a calling in life: • A calling attaches importance to a job. It is something you have that you end up organizing your entire life around to the detriment of your outside life • A job is something you use solely for fame or fortune. It will not satisfy you alone. You use a job for security to pursue something exciting outside of work. Zappos CEO • Most enduring happiness comes from being part of something bigger than yourself. Are you happy? Ben Bernake wants to know • Gauging happiness can be as important for measuring economic progress as determining whether inflation or low unemployment might. Economics is about promoting the enhancement of well-being
•
Can be useful in determining economic progress or setbacks as well as explaining economic decision making.
Kant (Deontological theory) • The only thing that can be considered good is the will. Other things often thought of as good such as intelligence can be mischievous if there is no good will to correct it. • Cannot act on desire or inclination. You must act on reason and duty. Acting on inclination implies a selfish desire, because you are seeking satisfaction in acting on it. • If you do something in order to do something else, it takes away from the moral value of it. you must think that you must preserve your life so that everyone will preserve their lives. • Make sure maxim can be universalized: categorical imperative • People as ends not means: practical imp • suicide against cat imp must act to preserve your own life so that everyone will preserve theirs, if you love yourself enough to kill yourself in hopes of finding a better situation that is contradictory, you should act to benefit your health and pract imp cannot use life as an end to a means. • Act according to one’s duty focus on duty rather than intentions Rand (Ethical Egoism) • it is not self-righteous to condemn someone it requires a rational process of thought, apply thought to situations with well defined moral principles. Be prepared to answer why when you judge. You’re not saving everyone’s soul. You must know and be able to verbalize your moral evaluation and make it known when it is rational. Don’t disagree with someone who is pigheaded. Speak up when your values are attacked or when silence is seen as agreement. • Altruism doesn’t make you any better or worse than someone with more self-interest. If people walk all over you, you lack self-respect. Why is it immoral to serve your own happiness when it is moral to serve someone else’s. Bentham (Utilitarian Theory) • Social good strategy into company can help a company’s long term performance by strengthening the company in the eyes of the consumer, public and employees motivate them to work, use more innovative thinking , cohesive culture in company • To do well financially it is better for companies to do some god because bad things all get aired over internet and the company wants a good reputation. If it sold a faulty product it wouldn’t stay in business very long. US treasury puts a value on life • How much spending gov is willing to do in order to prevent one death is the value of life. creates regulations and standards for businesses to follow, hampers economic growth. • 1-10 million is the parameter. Usually round 5 million Aristotle (virtue ethics) • Intellectual virtue formed through the use of rational thought
• • •
moral virtue is formed through controlling the desire of the lower drives with rational though if you desire to act virtuously it adds to the moral worth of the action because we must take pleasure for doing the right thing virtue ethics one ought to act according to one’s virtue and have moral character
Parable of the Sadhu • the lesson to be learned according to Brown McCoy is that the individual requires and deserves the support of the group. Boston Beer Company • get in front of the truth , tell it fast, overreact and make sure there s only one story • its okay to say emotive comments to others as long as you sincerely felt it and have a reason to explain it and listen to the other side of the story. Conflicts arise when people think differently then they act so culture is honest and open Chris Lowney • three unfolding crisis: Search for fulfillment in prosperous world slaves to prosperity • more aware than before of miserable poor but loss of hope for change • anxiety of the middle class live paycheck to paycheck, what happens if you loose your job Catch 20.5 • Employees are typically good but sometimes chief executives are involved, most lower level employees will not know what is going on, or don not have anyone they can go to with concerns. Go along with deception of quit
5. • • • •
What are three arguments for Utilitarian theory? Diminishes social cost and increases social benefit Fits into ideal of morality because takes everyone’s interest into account Explains why things such as lying and adultery are wrong. Everything can be measured on one common numerical scale
6. What is the categorical imperative? What is the Practical imperative? • The categorical imperative reduce everything you do to a maxim and then generalize that maxim. If can be universally applied than it is moral. The golden rule: do unto others as you would have do unto you. False promise: if everyone made false promises nobody’s promise would be taken seriously everyone’s promise would be meaningless. • Practical imperative is to use human beings always as an end and never as a means. 7. Provide three reasons why wages should be increased for Guatemalans, based on the Deontological Theory? • Practical imperative: human beings re always an end and never a mean. Everyone is equal, cannot exploit their work and pay them for less than they deserve to make a higher profit margin. • Categorical imperative: cannot take advantage of another person because if we all did this, order in society could not be maintained. Everyone cannot live below the poverty line and not have enough money to live. • Everyone should be paid fair amounts for basic food shelter and clothing because everyone is equal 8. Provide three reasons why wages should be maintained for the Guatemalans, based on Utilitarian theories? • Keep giving the lowest and best competitive cost to the consumer. • If wages were raised, the company couldn’t compete competitively with the other companies that outsource work to China and pay their employees less. The company would go out of business. • Because the wages are low, they can hire more people and afford better on-site working conditions than if the raises were raised. If they were raised, the company could not afford to hire as many employees and the greatest good would not be brought to the greatest number of people in society. Right now the company offers some of the highest wages in the country, the employee there are better off than their neighbors. 9. Identify and explain three goods that cannot be the highest good to Aristotle. Briefly explain why each of these three goods cannot be the highest good. • Honor Cannot be highest good because it is dependent upon others bestowing it and is only pursued for goodness • Pleasure lead slavish life of beast live only on instinct. We have greater happiness • Excelenceyou can be excellent but inactive. • Money because you only do it for the sake of something else • Happiness is the highest good because it is always an end and never a means
10. What are three reasons we need friends, according to Aristotle? • We need friends to take care of us, call us out, and stimulate us to take moral actions 11. Identify and explain Aristotle’s three types of friendship? • Friends of pleasure friends who find pleasure in each other. Once pleasure dissolves friendship dissolves. Most prevalent, many young people have this kind of friendship • Friends of utility are friends because they benefit from each other. Once benefit diminishes friendship diminishes • Friends of the good friends based on shared virtue. Greatest and most stable of all. Each friend brings out the good in the other friend. 12. Define “pro-social” spending, and explain why the author of “Happiness: A buyer’s guide” believes that this kind of spending will make you the happiest. Also, note what kind of spending we often think will make us happy and why it does not? • Best kind of happiness is a strong social network so pro social spending akes us happy. Pro-social spending is spending money on memories and experiences rather than material goods. If you spend money on something such as a dinner with a friend, you are creating a happy memory with can then be talked about and relived. As much as it is remembered and talked about and relieved, it will not diminish the value of that memory. People don’t compete with happy experiences as they do with material possessions • We often think spending money on goods rather than experiences, ourselves over others, and things over people. It does not make us happy because we are constantly competing with material possessions. If you buy a new car, you may look at your neighbor’s car, the newer model, and become jealous. The happiness associated with that new car will eventually diminish. You can never spend enough to compete with material possessions. 13. What problems arose in the Himalayas that prevented Stephen from getting the support of the group? • No process for developing a concensus • No unified purpose for the group Could make a decision on that purpose • No leader • Cultural complexities 14. Identify and explain three organizational blocks? • Strong role model and strict line of command dependent on them, imitate their behavior, think nothing can be done to disengage from these practices and still fulfill requirements of job. See reality the way the mentor does. Executives have power to enforce compliance without tipping off higher ups. Assumption of where an order comes form. loyalty • Intargroup cohesion reduce intergroup cohesion work tg how you define reality in ambiguous situations, support continued involvement in illegal activity, hard to disengage because have loyalty to group, threat to group to withdraw from activities. Can overcome by having office-wide ethics case convo
•
• •
•
Create and maintain ambiguity about priorities directive to obey law and pressure to make profits, resolved if employees know how decision will receive social support if exposed. Making profits often drive out ethical practices. Corp should emphasize ethics first and move from abstract examples to concrete ones. Separations of decisions block upper level employees make decisions, can place lower level employees in difficult situations Task Specialization employees in one part of an org may know of illegal practices In another part but believe they are in no position to do anything about it. mlower level level employees may think something is illegal but do not have enough command of facts to report suspicion without fear of misreading situation Lack of open discussion employees know what is pretty much okay but may be divided on organizational stance or specific issue. If there is open discussion can leave morality questions open to debate. Constructive for whistle blowers to feel comfortable.
15. What are three crucial factors radically changing the landscape in which we all live and work? • Change • Culture clash • Increasing scale can make you feel alienated. Things change and you are powerless to stop them. You can be easily replaced. • complexity 16. What are three characteristics required of a good leader, according to Chris Lowery? • Courage, love, self-awareness 17. What is the most important “take away” from out study of ethics, according to Prof. Cabral? • You have to figure our who you are and what you stand for A wall street Job cant match a calling in life: • A calling attaches importance to a job. It is something you have that you end up organizing your entire life around to the detriment of your outside life • A job is something you use solely for fame or fortune. It will not satisfy you alone. You use a job for security to pursue something exciting outside of work. Zappos CEO • Most enduring happiness comes from being part of something bigger than yourself. Are you happy? Ben Bernake wants to know • Gauging happiness can be as important for measuring economic progress as determining whether inflation or low unemployment might. Economics is about promoting the enhancement of well-being
•
Can be useful in determining economic progress or setbacks as well as explaining economic decision making.
Kant (Deontological theory) • The only thing that can be considered good is the will. Other things often thought of as good such as intelligence can be mischievous if there is no good will to correct it. • Cannot act on desire or inclination. You must act on reason and duty. Acting on inclination implies a selfish desire, because you are seeking satisfaction in acting on it. • If you do something in order to do something else, it takes away from the moral value of it. you must think that you must preserve your life so that everyone will preserve their lives. • Make sure maxim can be universalized: categorical imperative • People as ends not means: practical imp • suicide against cat imp must act to preserve your own life so that everyone will preserve theirs, if you love yourself enough to kill yourself in hopes of finding a better situation that is contradictory, you should act to benefit your health and pract imp cannot use life as an end to a means. • Act according to one’s duty focus on duty rather than intentions Rand (Ethical Egoism) • it is not self-righteous to condemn someone it requires a rational process of thought, apply thought to situations with well defined moral principles. Be prepared to answer why when you judge. You’re not saving everyone’s soul. You must know and be able to verbalize your moral evaluation and make it known when it is rational. Don’t disagree with someone who is pigheaded. Speak up when your values are attacked or when silence is seen as agreement. • Altruism doesn’t make you any better or worse than someone with more self-interest. If people walk all over you, you lack self-respect. Why is it immoral to serve your own happiness when it is moral to serve someone else’s. Bentham (Utilitarian Theory) • Social good strategy into company can help a company’s long term performance by strengthening the company in the eyes of the consumer, public and employees motivate them to work, use more innovative thinking , cohesive culture in company • To do well financially it is better for companies to do some god because bad things all get aired over internet and the company wants a good reputation. If it sold a faulty product it wouldn’t stay in business very long. US treasury puts a value on life • How much spending gov is willing to do in order to prevent one death is the value of life. creates regulations and standards for businesses to follow, hampers economic growth. • 1-10 million is the parameter. Usually round 5 million Aristotle (virtue ethics) • Intellectual virtue formed through the use of rational thought
• • •
moral virtue is formed through controlling the desire of the lower drives with rational though if you desire to act virtuously it adds to the moral worth of the action because we must take pleasure for doing the right thing virtue ethics one ought to act according to one’s virtue and have moral character
Parable of the Sadhu • the lesson to be learned according to Brown McCoy is that the individual requires and deserves the support of the group. Boston Beer Company • get in front of the truth , tell it fast, overreact and make sure there s only one story • its okay to say emotive comments to others as long as you sincerely felt it and have a reason to explain it and listen to the other side of the story. Conflicts arise when people think differently then they act so culture is honest and open Chris Lowney • three unfolding crisis: Search for fulfillment in prosperous world slaves to prosperity • more aware than before of miserable poor but loss of hope for change • anxiety of the middle class live paycheck to paycheck, what happens if you loose your job Catch 20.5 • Employees are typically good but sometimes chief executives are involved, most lower level employees will not know what is going on, or don not have anyone they can go to with concerns. Go along with deception of quit
