Book chapter
6. Organizational ethics
Abstract
What is the definition of organizational ethics? To rewind time, Socrates raised the central questions of ethical philosophy for the first time, and Socrates recognized the difficulty – bordering on the impossible – of finding adequate responses. Socrates argues that ”the life that is not examined is not worth living”. Priority must be given to knowledge and wisdom over personal interests. This way, knowledge is sought as a means to ethical action. Aristotle, another great philosopher, developed the theory of Aristotle’s ethics, or study of character.This theory is predicated on the premise that individuals should strive to develop an excellent character (virtue) in order to achieve happiness or well being. It is occasionally referred to as ”character-based ethics” in comparison to laterethical theories. Similar to Socrates, Aristotle stressed the importance of reason in achieving ’good spirit’ and the existence of logical and natural reasons for humans to act virtuously and strive to become virtuous [153]. Returning to more recent history, Immanuel Kant argued that the supreme moral principleis a rationality standard he coined the ”Categorical Imperative”. Kant defined the ”Categorical Imperative” as an objective, rationally necessary, and absolute principle that we must always follow regardless of our natural desires or inclinations. According to Kant, this principle justifies all specific moral requirements,which means that all immoral actions are irrational because they violate the ”Categorical Imperative”. For thousands of years, great philosophers have debated ethics, however, there are still divergent views on how to interpret the term ”ethics” [154].
Knowledge clip
Mats van Dijk, Bart Hoornstra, Lennard Marck, Mark van der Meer, Hugo van Vliet
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