December 12, 2014 by: Content Team Under the system of ethics described by German philosopher
German philosophy
German philosophy, here taken to mean either philosophy in the German language or philosophy by Germans, has been extremely diverse, and central to both the analytic and continental traditions in philosophy for centuries, from Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz through Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger an…
What is an ethical imperative?
What is an imperative in ethics? According to Kant, sentient beings occupy a special place in creation, and morality can be summed up in an imperative, or ultimate commandment of reason, from which all duties and obligations derive. He defines an imperative as any proposition declaring a certain action (or inaction) to be necessary.
Do ethics classes make people more ethical?
It was sponsored by the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society as part of a series of talks marking its 25th anniversary. Approaching the topic from diverse academic backgrounds, the Stanford professors who participated in the discussion agreed that ethics classes cannot be expected to make students more ethical.
What is meaning of imperative?
Imperative Sentence Definition. An imperative sentence is any sentence that issues a command to do something (or not do to something). It requires an imperative verb, which is always in the infinitive form. Additionally, imperative sentences are always statements that end with a period or an exclamation point.
What is the virtue theory in ethics?
Virtue ethics teaches:
- An action is only right if it is an action that a virtuous person would carry out in the same circumstances.
- A virtuous person is a person who acts virtuously
- A person acts virtuously if they "possess and live the virtues"
- A virtue is a moral characteristic that a person needs to live well.
Why is the categorical imperative not used?
However, the categorical imperative cannot be used to guide decisions about things that are not universally agreed upon, such as which religion is best, or whether pornography should be banned , because there are no universally agreed upon rules of social conduct in such matters .
What is the ethical orientation of Kant?
The Categorical Imperative, which comes from sixteenth century German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, is an ethical orientation that holds that one’s actions should be undertaken as if s/he had the power to make them universally applicable.
What did Kant say about trust?
For Kant, the answer is easy , if everyone did it, we could not trust individuals or organizations. Kant further argues that we should treat people as ends (or inherently valuable), and not as means to ends (taking advantage of people for personal gain as a situationalist might).
What is categorical imperative?
Under the system of ethics described by German philosopher Immanuel Kant, a categorical imperative is an absolute moral obligation to do or not do something that applies to all rational beings, with no consideration for personal desires, motives, or inclinations. To explore this concept, ...
Why is the categorical imperative not a base for moral judgements?
This type of “hypothetical” system of morality cannot be used as a base for making moral judgments against others simply because it relies on the subjective considerations of that person. The categorical imperative assumes people have a duty not to act in a manner that creates a contradiction between positive and negative outcomes ...
What is an example of an obligation under the law?
One example of an obligation under the law is a law that, in a contract of sale, there is an implication that the goods sold are what they are stated to be , and of merchantable quality. This law then imposes an obligation to ensure merchantability of the item that flows from the moral imperative, rather than from the words in which they are ...
What is moral obligation?
A moral obligation or duty that is universally binding and unconditional. Late 1700s Kant’s “Critique of Practical Reason,” (1788) and “Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals” (1785)
Is owning property a positive thing?
For example, most people consider owning personal property a positive thing . While taking a desired thing from a neighbor may create the positive outcome of “ownership” for the taker, it creates a negative outcome for the neighbor.
What is the definition of hypothetical imperative?
Hypothetical imperative, in the ethics of the 18th-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant, a rule of conduct that is understood to apply to an individual only if he or she desires a certain end and has chosen (willed) to act on that desire. Although hypothetical imperatives may be expressed in various ways, their basic logical form is: “If you ...
What is Kant's moral imperative?
For Kant there is only one categorical imperative in the moral realm. Nevertheless, he formulated it in two ways: “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” and “So act as to treat humanity…always as an end, and never as only a means.”.
What Happens When Senior Management Is Itself Unethical
- It is often the practice in organizations that whenever new recruits are being on-boarded, they are required to attend sessions on ethics and values. These sessions cover the need for ethical and transparent behavior by the employees and usually, someone from the compliance team or the senior management addresses them to impress upon them the ethical imperative and the import…
Some Real World Examples
- The examples of companies like Apple, Google, and Infosys are illustrative of how the senior management ought to lead by example. In all these companies, the founders of the companies ensured that they were setting high standards of ethical behavior for the other employees to follow. As the tagline of Google, Do No Evil, and that of Infosys, Powered by Intellect and Drive…
Need For Ethics as Part of Organizational Culture
- Returning to the main theme of the article that is what happens when the senior leadership becomes unethical. In that case, the organization loses its mojo or the motivation and the sense of purpose and as we have seen in the case of Enron in the US, Satyam Computers in India, and other companies in Asia, they either are wound up or become part of another company so that a…
Closing Thoughts
- Finally, though ethics and values depend to a large extent on the personality of the individual, the fact remains that organizational structures can help in fostering a sense of purpose and ethical attitudes. The key theme here is that when ethical behavior is rewarded and incentives exist for the same and when unethical behavior is punished and th...