Ethics: "What Does It Mean to be an Ethical Person?"
Kant and Aristotle provide a moral framework for what it means to be a good person. They focus on the intentions of a person and how those intentions make all the difference in whether a person is acting morally or not. Since morality serves as the foundation for ethics, according to these philosophers, it stands to reason that ethical behavior is that which is intended to fulfill a moral purpose. Thus, in answer to the question, "What does it mean to be an ethical person?" this paper will show that a system of virtue ethics is the best response: honesty, integrity and compassion are the signs of an ethical person, and such a person will exhibit and display these qualities.
Both Kant and Aristotle take into consideration the intention of one's actions when they discuss the morality of behavior. For Aristotle, there is an intellectual virtue and a moral virtue.[footnoteRef:1] In the Nichomachean Ethics, for instance, Aristotle shows that some virtues we learn through habit and action (these are the moral virtues) and some we learn through instruction (these are the intellectual virtues). Both are formative and have an impact on how or why individuals behave a certain way. Virtue itself is an exercise and not so much a law (i.e., a universal law as might be found in deontology like that promoted by Kant). Kant argues for the existence of a universal maxim, a universal ethic that should guide behavior.[footnoteRef:2] This argument is the deontological side of the question, answering that what it means to be an ethical person is best answered by whether or not a person conforms his or her behavior to the universal ethical law. All that is needed is to know what the universal ethic is. For Aristotle, the idea of what it means to be an ethical person is approached much differently. It is approached by way of what one thinks and how one acts, which the measurement being the virtuous ideal itself -- that is, the nature of conformity of action to purpose. When action is oriented to purpose, ethical behavior is achieved. For Kant, ethical behavior is achieved when action is oriented to duty. The difference between the two is that one focuses on man's purpose and the other on man's duty. [1: Steven M. Cahn, Peter Markie. Ethics:
Ethical Behaviors of Mattel in the Toy Industry The ethicacy of corporate behaviors are influenced by a myriad of factors yet most strongly reflect the internal culture, alignment of leadership to vision, and accumulated trade-offs made by management over years of ethical decisions, trade-offs and outcomes. In the study Mattel, Inc.: Global Manufacturing Principles (GMP) - A life-cycle analysis of a company-based code of conduct in the toy industry (Sethi, Veral,
Here, Aristotle recognizes the variances which appear to define our establishment of the means to pursuing happiness, musing that "the characteristics that are looked for in happiness seem also, all of them, to belong to what we have defined happiness as being. For some identify happiness with virtue, some with practical wisdom, others with a kind of philosophic wisdom, others with these, or one of these, accompanied by pleasure or not without pleasure; while others
Acting in accordance with virtuous principles is a key to attaining happiness. In Book Three of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explains the difference between voluntary and involuntary action as well as total passivity. In the first chapter of the book, the philosopher explains the importance of free will and taking action in determining ethical behavior. Aristotle concludes that the only truly ethical acts are those that are chosen by
Aristotle thought happiness was longer in coming, it was the manner of being actualized and fulfilling one's true potential using their own individual gifts: Again, if the virtues are concerned with actions and passions, and every passion and every action is accompanied by pleasure and pain, for this reason also virtue will be concerned with pleasures and pains. This is indicated also by the fact that punishment is indicated by
Ethical Problems in Business PRINCIPLE: Ethics may be termed as the inner guiding moral principles, values and beliefs people use to indicate and identify what is acceptable and appropriate behavior whilst straying away from the opposite (Jones, 2007). However each individual may perceive different behaviors as acceptable and appropriate depending on the individual's own self-interests, attitudes, beliefs and values. To dig further into the aspects of business ethics, it is primarily a notion for
Ethical Dilemmas & Marketing Ethical Dilemmas Ethical dilemmas in international marketing Background of Marketing Ethics Ethical Issues in Marketing Modern Debate in Stakeholder Theory Ethical Theories Teleological Theories Virtue Ethics Ethics in Marketing Ethical dilemmas in international marketing Humanity has long struggled with the question of what constitutes ethical behavior. The answer to this question has not always been simple or easy especially in the midst of conflicting interests. Businesses desire and need to sell products to consumers but serious issues
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