business ethics

1. Classical Ethical Philosophies:
An Introduction
L e s s o n 5 :

2. Ethics And Philosophy
One of the meanings given to the dictionary Ethics is "the
principles of conduct governing an individual or a group".
As an individual sometimes we use the term Personal
ethics, pesonal ethics are ethical principles that a person
uses when making decisions and behaving in both
personal and professional settings.
These ethics influence various aspects of a person’s life
and help individuals develop their work ethic, personal
and professional goals, and values.
Personal Ethics are important its Improve the decision-
making process:

3. Ethics And Philosophy
Also we use Accounting ethics, it refers to following specific rules and
guidelines set by governing bodies that every person associated with
accounting should follow to prevent misuse of the financial information or their
management position.
More important meaning of ethics according to the dictionary is this "the study
of morality"
Although ethics deals with morality, it is not quite the same morality
Philosophy comes etymologically from two Greek words phillia, which means
love and sophia , which means wisdom. It is the study 'study of fundamental
nature of knowledge,reality and existence" (New Oxford American
Dictionary,2005) .

4. Three Branches of Philosophy
Metaphysics
Epistemology
Axiology

5. Metaphysics
Metaphysics is concerned with reality and existence. It can be
divided into two: ontology and cosmology.
Ontology deals with the nature of existence.
Cosmology it inspects the origin and organization of the universe.
Epistemology
It raises questions about the nature of knowledge
Deductive reasoning, also deductive logic, is the process of
reasoning from one or more statements (premises) to reach a
logical conclusion.
Inductive logic that is from specific to generalization.

6. Axiology
It explores the nature of values.
This can be subdivided into;
(1) Ethics which studies human conduct and examines moral values.
(2)Aesthetic which values beauty, nature and aesthetic experience as well
as the philosophy of art.
Ethics involves a disciplinethat examine good or bad practices within
the context of a moral duty.

8. Strands of Philosophy
1. Idealism - This is considered the oldest philosophy of Western
culture. It refers to the world of mind and ideas, where reason is
primary.Leading proponents of idealism are:
Socrates
Plato
Augustine
Rene Descartes
Immaanuel Kant
George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

9. 2. Realism - This can be consideredthe antithesis of idealism,
whereby "The universe exists whether mind perceives it or not".
Leading proponents of reaslism are:
Aristotle
Francis Bacon
JOhn Locke
Comenius, Rousseau and Pestalozi
3. Neo-theism - This would date to the time of Thomas Aquinas
(1225-1274), and is also known as theistic realism, whereby
"God exists and can be known through faith and reason".

10. 4. Contemporary Philosophies
a. Pragmatism - also known as experimentalism. Leading proponents were:
(1) Auguste Comte
(2) Charles Darwin
(3) The Americans: Charles Peirce, William James and John Dewey
b. Existentialism - appeared as a revolt against the mathematics, scientific
philosophies that preceded it. Leading proponents were:
(1) Soren Kierkegaard
(2) Martin Buber
(3) Edmund Husserl
(4) Martin Heidegger
(5) Jean-Paul Sartre

11. c. Analytic Philosophy - It sought out to clarify and define
philosophies.This began in post World war I era and studied
alienation between philosophy and science .

12. T hank
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S inc e!
2012