BUS ETHICS Module 3 Philosophies

Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Governor Pack Road, Baguio City, Philippines 2600

Tel. Nos.: (+6374) 442-3316, 442-8220; 444-2786;
442-2564; 442-8219; 442-8256; Fax No.: 442-6268 Grade Level/Section: Grade 12- ABM
Email: [email protected]; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph
MODULE 3 – BUS ETHICS Subject Teacher: Kenny Jones A. Amlos
THE CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHIES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS ON THE BUSINESS

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this module, learners must be able to:
a. Identify the classical philosophies and their implication for business principles and practices;
and
b. Compare and contrast classical philosophies as they relate to the business setting.
For a long period in history, philosophy had always been a part of business. Some folks may
know it, but many may not. Some people apply it without knowing it.
In this module, you will review some known philosophies and how they are applied in the
business setting.
The Classical Philosophies and their Implications on Business
A. Socrates: The Gad-fly at the Marketplace

“the unexamined life is not worth living” – Socrates
Socrates (469- 399 B.C.E.) is one of the few individuals whom one could say has shaped the
cultural and intellectual development of the world that, without him, history would be profoundly
different. HE is best known for the Socratic Method of question and answer, his claim that he was
ignorant, and his claim that unexamined life in not worth living, for human beings. He was the
most inspiration for Plato; the thinker widely helps to be the founder of the Western philosophical
tradition. Plato, in turn, served as the teacher of Aristotle, thus establishing the famous triad of
ancient philosophers: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Page 1 of 7

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A. What can entrepreneurs learn from Socrates?

The Socratic Method is a way of thinking that allows individuals to define their own purpose for
learning and explore this purpose through open- minded questioning of what they hold to be
true.
Entrepreneurs can find value in Socratic Method because they, too, are bombarded by
assumptions based on what others and they themselves believe to be the best plan of action for
pursuing a business idea.
Entrepreneurship Learning or the acquisition of knowledge necessary for creating a business

venture is built around the constant questioning and testing of these assumptions can range from
beliefs about what the market wants, where opportunities lie, to the effectiveness of a new
product feature.
B. Dare to Disagree
Socrates insisted on our right to think for ourselves. Too often, he warned, humans sleepwalk
through life, simply going along with the crowd. This is dangerous in questions of morality, and
particularly in corporate governance. When corruption is uncovered, too often people say
“everyone was doing it”. But our characters are our responsibility.
Socrates was prepared to die rather than go against his conscience.
Socratic Method lets you reconsider these questions: Does your organization encourage
independent thinkers and people who follow their conscience? Does it allow people to give
critical feedback to managers? Does it create opportunities for good people to blow the whistle
on bad behavior?
B. Plato: The Philosopher King

“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way
around the laws” – Plato
Plato (427- 347 B.C.E) is one of the world’s best- known and most widely read and studied
philosophers. He was the student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle, and he wrote in the
middle of the fourth century B.C.E in ancient Greece. Though influenced primarily by Socrates, to
the extent that Socrates is usually the main character in many of Plato’s writings, he was also
influenced by Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Pythagoreans.

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1. The Theory of Forms

It represents Plato’s attempt to cultivate our capacity for the abstract thought. Philosophy was
relatively new in Plato’s day, and it completed with mythology, tragedy, and epic poetry as the
primary means by which people could make sense of their place in the world. Like philosophy, art,
and mythology do so by appealing to our emotions and desires. Philosophy appeals to the
intellect. The Theory of Forms differentiates the abstract world of thought from the world of the
senses, where art and mythology operate.
Plato also argued that abstract thought is superior to the world of senses. By investigating the
world of Forms, Plato hopes to attain a greater knowledge.
2. Education for the Health of the State In both the Republic and the Laws,
Plato identifies education as one of the most important aspects of a healthy state. He lays out
detailed education programs that start with exercises pregnant women should perform to ensure
the health of the fetus, and he goes on to explain not only what the children should study but also
what values they should be exposed to and what kinds of art and physical exercise they should
engage in. Plato apparently considered most of his fellow Athenians to be hopelessly corrupt
easily inflames by hollow rhetoric and seduced by easy pleasure. One can achieve only so much
by arguing with a corrupt soul that a virtuous life and to seek wisdom.
Plato thinks that a child’s education is the last thing that should be left to chance or parental
whim since the young mind is so easily molded.
3. Aristotle: All or Nothing

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and the end of human
existence” – Aristotle
Aristotle (384- 322 B.C.E) is a towering figure in ancient Greek philosophy, making contributions
to logic, metaphysics, physics, biology, botany, ethics, politics, agriculture, medicine, dance, and
theater. He was a student of Plato who in turn studied under Socrates. He was more empirically-
minded than Plato or Socrates and is famous for rejecting Plato’s theory of forms.
A. Virtue and Happiness

The word happiness in the Ethics is a translation of the Greek term ‘eudaimonia’, which means
carries connotations of success and fulfillment. For Aristotle, this happiness is our highest goal.
However, Aristotle does not say that we should aim at happiness, but rather that we do aim at
happiness. His goal in the Ethics is not to tell us that we ought to live happy, successful lives, but to
tell us what this life consists of.

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B. Moral Education
A question of high importance in any investigation of ethics is how we can teach people to be
good. Aristotle is quite clear that he does not think virtue can be thought in a classroom or by
means of argument. His ethics then is not designed to make people good, but rather to explain
what is good, why it is good, and how we might set about building societies and institutions that
might inculcate this goodness.
C. The Life of Contemplation

Aristotle ultimately concludes that contemplation is the highest human activity. This is largely a
consequence of his teleological view of nature, according to which the telos, or goal, of human
life, is the exercise of our rational powers. In discussing the various intellectual virtuous, Aristotle
extols wisdom as the highest, since it deals only with unchanging, universal truths and rests on a
synthesis of scientific investigation and the intuitive understanding of the first principles of nature.
The activity of wisdom is contemplation, so contemplation must be the highest activity of human
life.
Implications to Business:
“The rational person doesn’t seek money for its own sake. The rational person uses money so
that they can spend their time on good moral works and developing their mind.”
Aristotle concludes that the role of the leader is to create the environment in which all
members of an organization can realize their own potential. He says that the ethical role of the
leader is not to enhance his or her own power but to create the conditions under which followers can
achieve their potential. He did raise a set of ethical questions that are directly relevant to corporate
leaders who wish to behave in ethical ways:
• Am I behaving in a virtuous way?
• How would I want to be treated if I were a member of this organization?
• What form of social contract would allow all our members to develop their full potential in
order that they may each make their greatest contribution to the good of the whole?
• To what extent are there real opportunities for all employees to develop their talents and their
potential?
• To what extent do all employees participate in decisions that affect their work?
• To what extent do all employees participate in the financial gain resulting from their own ideas
and efforts?

Tel. Nos.: (+6374) 442-3316, 442-8220; 444-2786;
4. Immanuel Kant: Duty - Based Ethics

“Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become
a universal law” – Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant – is one of the most influential philosophers in the history of Western philosophy.
His contributions to metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics have had a profound
impact on almost every philosophical movement that followed him. He was a German
philosopher who advances the theory of deontology or deontological ethics the theory of duty
and obligation.
Deontology proposes that ethical behavior is simply doing God’s will. Since most of us believe
that is good, then goodwill and loving other human beings as God loves us in the universal
principle on which all moral behavior must be based.
The Categorical Imperative – Along with the concept of goodwill goes a concept of duty to
keep one’s promises which are known as Kant’s categorical imperative an absolute and
universally binding moral law. Kant believes in always telling the truth because if we cannot
believe what others will tell us, then agreements and even conversations with people are not
possible.
Kant believes that categorical imperative is the basis to determine whether one’s action is
deemed to be ethically correct. There are three (3) maxims:
• The first maxim: ac action can only be considered as ethically correct if it can be accepted or
made into a universal law.
• The second maxim: that a person should be treated as an end and not the means to achieve
an end.
• The third maxim: everyone should as a member of an ideal kingdom where he or she is both
the ruler and subject at the same time.

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5. Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism

“the end justifies the means” – Niccolo Machiavelli
“The said truth is that is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right
and wrong” – Jeremy Bentham
“A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case,
he is justly accountable to them for the injury.” – John Stuart Mill
Jeremy Bentham (1748- 1832) was an English philosopher and political radical. He is primarily
known today for his moral philosophy, especially his utilitarianism, which evaluates action based
upon their consequences. The relevant, consequences, in particular, are the overall happiness
created for everyone affected by the action. He famously held a hedonistic account of both
motivation and value according to which what is fundamentally valuable and what ultimately
motivates us is pleasure and pain. Happiness, according to Bentham, is thus a matter of
experiencing pleasure and lack of pain.
John Stuart Mill (1806- 1873) profoundly influenced the shape of nineteenth- century British
thought and political discourse. His substantial corpus of work includes texts in logic, epistemology,
economics, social and political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, and religion and current affairs.
Utilitarianism revolves around the concept of “the end justifies the means”. It is the brainchild
of philosophers John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham. It believes that outcomes as a result of an
action have a greater value compared to the latter. It also states that the most ethical thing to
do is to take advantage of happiness for the good of the society.
In utilitarianism, the business principle holds the morally right course of action in any situation is
the one that produces the greatest balance of benefits over harms for everyone affected. So
long as a course of action produces maximum benefits for everyone, utilitarianism does not care
whether the benefits are produced by lies, manipulation, or coercion.
Business responsibility usually defined as the net benefits that accrue to those parties affected
by the choice. Thus, most utilitarians hold the position that business choices must be evaluated by
calculating the net benefits of each available alternative action.
Types of utilitarianism:
• Rule utilitarianism – is put in place to benefit the most people by using the fairest methods
possible.
• Act utilitarianism – makes the most ethical actions possible for the benefit of the people.
There is a difference between rule and act utilitarianism. The act utilitarian considers only
the results or consequences of the single act while the rule utilitarian considers the
consequences that result of following a rule of conduct.

Tel. Nos.: (+6374) 442-3316, 442-8220; 444-2786;
References:
• Ariely, D. (2009). Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decisions. Revised
and expanded edition. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
• Ferrell, O., Fraedrich, J., and Ferrell, L. (2017). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and
Cases. 11th ed. Boston: Cengage Learning
• Padilla, R. (2016). Business Ethics and Social Responsibility. 1st ed. 168 D. Jorge Street, Pasay
City, Philippines: JFS Publishing Services.
• https://www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialsciences/ppecorino/intro_text/Chapter%208%20Ethics/Utilitar
ianism.htm#:~:text=There%20is%20a%20difference%20between,following%20a%20rule%20of%2
0conduct%20.

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Business Ethics and Social Responsibility

Governor Pack Road, Baguio City, Philippines 2600

MODULE 3 – BUS ETHICS Subject Teacher: Kenny Jones A. Amlos

THE CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHIES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS ON THE BUSINESS

The Classical Philosophies and their Implications on Business

A. Socrates: The Gad-fly at the Marketplace

Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Page 1 of 7

MODULE 3 – BUS ETHICS Subject Teacher: Kenny Jones A. Amlos

A. What can entrepreneurs learn from Socrates?

Entrepreneurship Learning or the acquisition of knowledge necessary for creating a business

Socrates was prepared to die rather than go against his conscience.

B. Plato: The Philosopher King

Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Page 2 of 7

MODULE 3 – BUS ETHICS Subject Teacher: Kenny Jones A. Amlos

1. The Theory of Forms

3. Aristotle: All or Nothing

A. Virtue and Happiness

Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Page 3 of 7

MODULE 3 – BUS ETHICS Subject Teacher: Kenny Jones A. Amlos

C. The Life of Contemplation

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MODULE 3 – BUS ETHICS Subject Teacher: Kenny Jones A. Amlos

4. Immanuel Kant: Duty - Based Ethics

Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Page 5 of 7

MODULE 3 – BUS ETHICS Subject Teacher: Kenny Jones A. Amlos

5. Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism

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MODULE 3 – BUS ETHICS Subject Teacher: Kenny Jones A. Amlos

Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Page 7 of 7

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