ACCT600
Ethics in Business and Accounting
Week 2 Part 1
Outline
Overview:
q Ethical Relativism
q Approaching Ethics
q Thinking about Ethics
q Boundaries of Ethics
q Nine Standards
q Types of Arguments
1. Ethical Relativism
§ Definition: The notion that no single acceptable standard exists.
§ The notion of moral progress does not exist since no since standard exist.
§ Judgement cannot be made, and sometimes, abhorrent consequences can result (Slavery).
§ The only real “judgement” that can be made is: “Is a particular society living up to their standards?”
ETHICAL RELATIVISM IS ILLOGICAL
2. Approaching Ethic (Since some standards have to exist)
§ Historically – (“historical perspective”) – What occurred in the past?
§ Conceptually – (“conceptual perspective”) – Focusing on why it occurred, more more analysis.
3. Thinking about Ethics
§ Descriptive ethics - (“Just describes the facts”)
§ Metaethics – (“Meaning, justification, synthesis”)
§ Normative ethics – (“Prescriptive”) – One should act a certain way.
4. Boundaries of Ethics (From whose perspective)
§ Personal – (“most detailed”)
§ Organizational – (“Collective entity”)
§ Systemic – (“Entire population of various collective entities”)
5. Nine Standards (Very Important)
6. Types of Arguments
§ Sound (Accurate) vs. Unsound (Inaccurate)
§ Valid (Logical) vs. Invalid (Illogical)
The best arguments are sound and logical.
7. Imperatives
§ Hypothetical Imperative = You can opt out if you want (i.e. Going skiing on Sunday).
§ Categorical Imperative = You cannot opt out (i.e. Gravity)
Moral Obligations are Categorical Imperatives
8. W.D. Ross and Prima Facie Obligation
§ This is the same as intuitionalism.