The Grey area of Ethics

Ethics

Aristotle (384-322 BC) postulated that the objective of ethics is to be good, as the action taken by an individual depends upon the situation, but not action depends upon the rules and restriction. Nicomachean Ethics, one of the books written by Aristotle concluded that the majority of the activities are meant to achieve at a higher level, including human good. Perhaps, it is about the amount of happiness caused by the individuals. In Nicomachean Ethics, the goal of it is how best to achieve happiness or eudaimonia (Bambrough, 2003).

Aristotle pointed out that being taught well and developing internal virtuous habits could assist an individual to live his life to the fullest. For example, children shall be educated on how to live a virtuous life and cultivate such good relationships among the society.

As we can see when people do something that seems to be unethical, for instance, stealing money from a bank, society expects the wrongdoers to get punished, whereas if people do good things such as giving food to the unfortunate ones, we might expect praise for this. In Aristotle’s principle, a person only deserves blame or praise for what they have done only when they are doing it intentionally.

Next, we investigate how Buddhists define ethics. Buddhists define ethics (Śīla or sīla) as an ability to embrace a commitment to maintain harmony and self-restraint. In general, it promoted the art of nonviolence, freedom from causing harm. In other words, it can be described as virtue, discipline, and precept. Śīla s known as internal peace as accordance with one’s commitment to the path of liberation. An ethical gauge that encouraged people to be obedient with high morality (Bhikkhu, 2010).

Business Ethics

Conrad (2018) Business Ethics is a study of the relation between ethics and economy. In general, the ethics of the economy are all kinds of human decision-making, behaviour, and approach at different levels of business hierarchy, whether it is wrong or right. Ethics can be different in all the organizations; it affects the behaviour management team as well as against the stakeholders.

An ethical organization is able to facilitate and promotes good to society, improve the amount of profit as well as foster business relation with all the parties. Ethical issues occur in the context of business for many reasons, such as the pressure on profits, the clash of personal views, etc. However, all the consequences will be back to the one who did all these, it will have a direct impact on its business and the society at large (Fernando, 2010).

However, Carr (1968) postulated that in the business world there is no yardstick to measure the wrongfulness and the rightfulness of a person’s action. We could see that all of the businesses have their own norms, rules, regulations, cultures, and preferences to differentiate themselves from society as a whole. Several actions that are written in the English Bible, Al-Quran, and Tripitaka are wrong, but it is permissible in the context of business.

Friedman (1970) proposed a definition for business ethics in a New York Times article title “The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits”. He said the responsibility of a business is to maximize its profit and stays in the rules of the game, which promotes free competition without any frauds.

Morality

Morality is a practice with respect to right or wrong conduct. It is known that how individuals react according to the character traits. Particularly, individuals’ self-belief system on judging what is right and wrong. The actions taken by the people will affect their feelings, such as frustration, uncomfortable, and disappointment.

Kant (1724-1804) pointed out that all moral criteria are based on “Categorical Imperative” (CI). An ability to be rational and unconditional towards everything. In other words, all immoral activities are irrational as they are violating the CI principle.

Sources of Morality

From the viewpoint of Islam (Qur’ān), morality refers to the degree of society adapt to good manners. One shall not commit any sins under the impulse of humanity against the Islamic morality and virtue. In general, it is to “believed and do right” (Mohamed, 2019).

Next, from the viewpoint of Buddhism, morality is meant to practice inner peace and not to harm one and others. Seven Pillar Institute (2017) “Gautama Buddha included 5 precepts abstinence from 1) harming living beings. 2) taking things not freely given, 3) sexual misconduct, 4) false speech, 5) intoxicating drinks and drugs causing heedlessness.” These are the common codes shared among the regions and traditions of Buddhism.

In conclusion, there are several points to define morality, however, morality comes from a personal point of view, it is how one sees the world and how one behaves by their own.

References

1) Bambrough, R, 2003, The Philosophy of Aristotle. New York: Penguin Group.

2) Bhikkhu, T., 2010, The Ten Perfections. [Online Library].

Available at < https://web.archive.org/web/20160613033615/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/study/perfections.html > [Accessed 7/1/2020].

3) Carr, A.,1968, Is Business Bluffing Ethical? [Harvard Business Review].

Available at <https://hbr.org/1968/01/is-business-bluffing-ethical > [Accessed 7/1/2021].

4) Fernando, A., C., 2010, Business Ethics and Corporate Governance. India: Dorling Kindersley.

5) Mohamed, Y., 2019, The Ethical Worldview of the Qur’an. [Online Article].

Available at <https://yaqeeninstitute.org/yasienmohamed/the-ethical-worldview-of-the-quran/ > [Accessed 7/1/2021].

6) Seven Pillars Institute, 2017, Buddhist Ethics. [sevenpillarinstitute.org]

Available at < https://sevenpillarsinstitute.org/glossary/buddhist-ethics/#:~:text=The%20common%20ethical%20principles%20of%20Buddhism%20were%20articulated%20by%20Gautama%20Buddha.&text=In%20the%20Five%20Precepts%20Buddha,drugs%20causing%20heedlessness%20(Knierim). > [Accessed 7/1/ 2021].