International business ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

International business ethics - Essay ExampleVirtue ethics is a philosophy that de-emphasizes rules and concentrates its focus on the nature of the soul acting. It does not argue that an act is heartfelt or negative but instead puts the moral fiber of the person under the microscope. To say an act is virtuous does not mean anything. in that respect is no context for analysis. A person is virtuous, not the action itself. To say that a person acted out of virtue rather than fear of consequences and did the right thing or made the right choice in keeping with his morals kick downstairs describes the philosophy of Aristotelian virtue ethics. He or she made the choice they did because they personally thought it the right thing to do, regardless of the rules or the opinions or advice of otherwises in their society. They had the intestinal fortitude, responsibility, and accountability to themselves to make what they considered to be the right decision. Perhaps the phrase I couldnt sle ep with myself if I did it any other way or, as the considerable bard William Shakespeare put it to thine own self be true. These everyday phrases describe the ethical nature of this philosophy.On the other hand, there are other philosophies out there as well. One of which deals with the nature of personal and societal group ethics. Jeremy Benthams Principle of Utility founded on the philosophy of eighteenth century David Hume is genius that has stood the test of the ages with, granted, some modifications. But for all intents and purposes it has survived mainly intact and is based on four fundamental pillars Utilitarianism (1) Recognizes the fundamental role of suffer and joyfulness in human life, (2) approves or disapproves of an action on the basis of the amount of pain or pleasure brought about i.e, consequences, (3) equates skillful with pleasure and evil with pain, and (4) asserts that pleasure and pain are capable of quantification (and hence measure) (Cavalier p1).From t hese four pillars, Bentham developed utilitarian calculus as a way of measuring whether an act gave more pain than pleasure or vice versa. If it was demonstrated that the action was more pleasurable than painful then it was in keeping with the utilitarian philosophy and the action should be undertaken. This was circumscribed over the years by philosophers such as John Stuart Mills and Ludwig Von Mises to come to mean the greatest good (or happiness/pleasure) for the greatest amount of people. There are a variety of utilitarian philosophies that have evolved since the time of David Hume. Two of those have bearing here. Act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. The first is whether an act itself is morally good defined as meeting the four rules. The second is an action taken by evaluating a rule and then following the rule that brings the most good or happiness to the most people. This appears to give the notion that there are good and bad rules. The question arises that if we foll ow utilitarian principles how can we make bad rules Arent we following Act utilitarianism in making those rules Can bad rules come into being even with the best intentions These two philosophys, virtue ethics and utilitarianism, have at their core one basic fundamental difference individual versus society. Virtue ethics proposes that the person should make the right choice because they have considered all needed things, been brought up right, were