MORAL PHILOSOPHY

is the area of philosophy concerned with

theories of ethics, with how we ought to live
our lives.
Areas of Moral Philosophy

O Metaethics
O Normative Ethics
O Applied Ethics
Metaethics
O A classification within western philosophy that
attempts to discover the origin or cause of right and
wrong.

O Meta-ethical theories are meant to explain moral

psychology, moral reality, and moral reason.
Related Questions concerning
Metaethical Positions:
O What exactly are people doing when they use moral
words such as “good” and “right”?
O What precisely is a moral value in the first place, and
are such values similar to other familiar sorts of entities,
such as objects and properties?
O Where do moral values come from-what is their source
and foundation?
O Are some things morally right or wrong for all people
at all times, or does morality instead vary from person
to person, context to context, or culture to culture?
 5 Metaethical Theories
O Moral Naturalism
-states that moral facts are ordinary facts of the same physical
reality described by scientists (biology, psychology, and physics).
O Moral Intuitionism
-the observation is insufficient to explain all of our moral
knowledge at least some of our moral knowledge is based on intuition
or contemplation that enables us to know self-evident facts.
O Emotivism
-is a form of “non-cognitivism” because it claims that moral
judgments aren’t ultimately meant to be true or false. Instead, moral
judgments are expressions of our emotions and moral arguments are
meant to change someone’s emotional attitudes towards certain moral
judgments.
O Moral relativism 
-is the view that moral statements can be true or false,
but the truth of a moral statement depends on the moral
tradition of the person uttering it.
O Error theory 
-states that all ordinary moral judgments are false.
Normative Ethics

is the attempt to provide a general theory

that tells us how we ought to live.
 
O Normative theories of ethics or “moral
theories” are meant to help us figure out what
actions are right and wrong
Normative Ethics Theories
O Utilitarianism is a very simple view that matches common sense
– right and wrong can be determined by a cost-benefit analysis
O Categorical imperative asks us to act in a way that we can will to
be a universal law. In other words, it asks us to behave in a
rational way that would be rational for anyone
O Aristotelian Virtue Ethics  First, Aristotle argues that our
personal happiness  is the ultimate goal that we should
promote. Second, he argues that we should learn to have
habits and behave in ways that lead to our personal
happiness. 
O Stoic virtue ethics is a theory that true moral beliefs and
thoughts tend to lead to appropriate emotions and actions.
O Ross's Intuitionism
- W. D. Ross's theoretical understanding of morality
explained in The Right and the Good was not meant to be
comprehensive and determine right and wrong in every
situation, but he doesn't think it is ever going to be possible to
do so. He denies that there is one single overarching moral
principle or rule. Instead, he thinks we can make moral
progress one step at a time by learning more and more about
our moral duties, and do our best at balancing conflicting
obligations and values.
Ross argues that we have (at the very
least) the following duties:
O Duty of fidelity – The duty to keep our promises.
O Duty of reparation – The duty to try to pay for
the harm we do to others.
O Duty of gratitude – The duty to return favors and
services given to us by others.
O Duty of beneficence – The duty to maximize the
good (things of intrinsic value).
O Duty of noninjury – The duty to refuse to harm
others.
Applied ethics 

is a field of ethics that deals with ethical

questions specific to a professional,
disciplinary, or practical field. Subsets of
applied ethics include medical
ethics, bioethics, business ethics, legal ethics,
and others.
LEVELS AND STAGES OF
COGNITIVE MORAL
DEVELOPMENT
Level 1: Preconventional Morality
O The first level of morality, pre-conventional morality, can be further
divided into two stages: obedience and punishment, and individualism
and exchange.
Stage 1: Punishment- Obedience Orientation
Related to Skinner’s Operational Conditioning, this stage includes the
use of punishment so that the person refrains from doing the action and
continues to obey the rules.
Stage 2: Instrumental Relativist Orientation
In this stage, the person is said to judge the morality of an action based
on how it satisfies the individual needs of the doer. For instance, a person
steals money from another person because he needs that money to buy
food for his hungry children. In Kohlberg’s theory, the children tend to
say that this action is morally right because of the serious need of the
doer.
Level 2: Conventional Morality
O The second level of morality involves the stages 3 and 4 of
moral development. Conventional morality includes the
society and societal roles in judging the morality of an action.
Stage 3: Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation
O In this stage, a person judges an action based on the societal
roles and social expectations before him. This is also known
as the “interpersonal relationships” phase.
Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation
O This stage includes respecting the authorities and following
the rules, as well as doing a person’s duty. The society is the
main consideration of a person at this stage.
Level 3: Postconventional Morality

O The post-conventional morality includes stage 5 and stage 6. This is

mainly concerned with the universal principles that relation to the
action done.
Stage 5 : Social Contract Orientation
O In this stage, the person is look at various opinions and values of
different people before coming up with the decision on the morality
of the action.
Stage 6 : Universal Ethical Principles Orientation
O The final stage of moral reasoning, this orientation is when a person
considers universally accepted ethical principles. The judgment
may become innate and may even violate the laws and rules as the
person becomes attached to his own principles of justice.
 ORGANIZATIONAL
FACTORS: CORPORATE
CULTURE
O Culture represents the beliefs, ideologies,
policies, practices of an organization. It gives
the employees a sense of direction and also
controls the way they behave with each other.

O The work culture brings all the employees on a

common platform and unites them at the
workplace.
O The factors that influence the formation of
the organizational culture, in general, and of
the organizational culture of business, are
numerous. From these we have stopped upon
the most important.
The nature of the business 
O Affects the culture of the organization. Stock
broking industries, financial services, banking
industry are all dependent on external factors like
demand and supply, market cap, earning per share and
so on. When the market crashes, these industries have
no other option than to terminate the employees and
eventually affect the culture of the place. Market
fluctuations lead to unrest, tensions and severely
demotivate the individuals. The management also feels
helpless when circumstances can be controlled by
none. Individuals are unsure about their career as well
as growth in such organizations.
 Its Goals and Objectives 
O The strategies and procedures designed to
achieve the targets of the organization also
contribute to its culture.
O Individuals working with government
organizations adhere to the set guidelines but do not
follow a procedure of feedback thus forming its
culture. Fast paced industries like advertising, event
management companies expect the employees to be
attentive, aggressive and hyper active.
The Management and its Style of
Handling the Employees 
O There are certain organizations where the
management allows the employees to take their own
decisions and let them participate in strategy
making. In such a culture, employees get attached to
their management and look forward to a long term
association with the organization. The management
must respect the employees to avoid a culture where
the employees just work for money and nothing
else. They treat the organization as a mere source of
earning money and look for a change in a short span
of time.
Top Leadership Principles 
O How an organization’s leadership team
runs the business affects the policies,
procedures and rules set for employees. Look
at any great leader and you’ll see that the
values and philosophies of that leader trickle
down to employees to deliver end results for
the organization.
Recruitment and Selection 
O Perhaps no factor is more important to
organizational culture than recruiting and
selecting the right types of employees. The
type of employees hired by an organization has
the largest effect on its culture – especially
when a company is in high growth mode and is
rapidly adding new employees.
Individual Working with the
Organization 
O The employees in their own way contribute to
the culture of the workplace. The attitudes,
mentalities, interests, perception and even the
thought process of the employees affect the
organization culture.
Example:
O Organizations which hire individuals from army
or defense background tend to follow a strict
culture where all the employees abide by the set
guidelines and policies. The employees are hardly
late to work. It is the mindset of the employees
which forms the culture of the place. Organizations
with majority of youngsters encourage healthy
competition at the workplace and employees are
always on the toes to perform better than the fellow
workers.