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 Behavior Theory in Organizations This analytical research report discusses the debatable issue of the much-needed ethical behavior in working milieu. The research paper highlights the fundamental characteristics, a well-drafted research design, a separate section of suggestions; a Works Cited an appendix featuring important data and relevant diagrams pertaining to the organizational behavior theory and the underlying ethical issues. The Works Cited nine sources in MLA format. ETHICS AND ORGANIZATIONS Ethics and ethical
Ethical behavior of a person or a corporation greatly affects the stakeholders with which that person is involved. Often, people and companies take serious consideration when it comes to those stakeholders, and they work to take good care of the people who are involved with them (Keller, 2002). There have been cases, though, where ethical behavior has been ignored in the name of profit. Eventually, most companies and people who
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,
Immanuel Kant, an 18th century German philosopher, established a set of categorical imperatives on how one should conduct their lives, one of them being treat people as an end, and never as a means to an end (Johnson, 2010). A more recent duty-based theory is by British philosopher W.D. Ross, which emphasizes prima facie duties. Like those before him, Ross argues that our duties are part of the fundamental
370). On the subject of shareholders and adverse publicity, in the book Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance, the authors mention how much investors / shareholders "hate" surprises, in particular when the surprises are caused by the "unethical behavior of senior managers…" (Zimmerli, et al., 2007, p. 155). In today's mass media environment it is a sure thing that some blogger, local newspaper reporter or national cable news talking head is
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
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now