Ethics from Antiquity to the Present
How ethical reasoning developed from Athenian and Confucian virtue ethics to utilitarianism, deontology and modern theories of justice.
- Ethical business in ancient Athens
- Aristotelian virtue ethics
- Confucian advice for nobles and civil servants
- Comparing virtue ethics East and West
- Utilitarianism
- Deontology
- A theory of justice
Ethics, as a form of applied philosophy, was a central concern for teachers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. They taught that ethics was not merely what someone did but who someone was — a function of being, and therefore a guide to the sensitive areas of money and commerce.
Learning objectives
- Identify the role of ethics in ancient Athens
- Explain how Aristotelian virtue ethics affected business practices
- Identify the key features of Confucian virtue ethics and apply them to contemporary business
- Compare the virtue ethics of East and West
- Explain utilitarianism: the greatest good for the greatest number
- Explain deontology: ethics as duty
- Describe a theory of justice and its business implications
Notes
Aristotle's two kinds of virtue
Intellectual virtues — knowledge, wisdom and above all prudence — are acquired by learning. Moral virtues — courage, self-control, liberality, magnificence, honour, patience, amiability — are acquired by practice and habit. Action precedes character: courage is built by small courageous acts.
Greed, not money, was the problem
Aristotle did not condemn money-making. He condemned greed as an excess that tips the scales of justice: money is the bait, greed makes you grab, and scandal is the trap.
Aristotle vs Confucius in one line
Aristotle shows how a self-determining person can live well in society; Confucius shows how a relationship-determining person can live well with others.
The five great relationships
Parent/child, husband/wife, elder/junior sibling, master/apprentice, ruler/subject. Three lie inside the family, which Confucius treated as the basic unit of society and the first school of character.
Quan in practice
The Broad Group, a Chinese maker of central air conditioning, developed a clean-energy alternative to Freon; CEO Zhang Yue received the UN Champions of the Earth prize in 2011 for the work.
Reference notes for this topic.
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