{"id":167,"date":"2014-01-08T16:40:32","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T15:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/?p=167"},"modified":"2015-04-08T16:50:20","modified_gmt":"2015-04-08T15:50:20","slug":"ethics-much-more-than-a-footnote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/2014\/01\/08\/ethics-much-more-than-a-footnote\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethics: Much more than a Footnote"},"content":{"rendered":"

In reading texts, even written by well-intentioned people, I get the feeling that ethics is generally confined to a very limited space <\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 It is as if ethics were simply about avoiding doing wrong and nothing more<\/strong>.\u00a0 Once we rest assured that we are not doing anything \u201cbad,\u201d we can move on to take care of other matters.\u00a0 Viewed this way, ethics would therefore have the sole function of establishing boundaries that should not be overrun.\u00a0 But that would be the end of it. Ethics would then be a border guard; a sour grapes old man scolding you for misbehavior or encroaching upon certain limits.\u00a0 This approach to ethics is bound to inspire no one.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Boundaries,<\/a>
Boundaries, by Kreg Steppe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In academia, the classic Milton Friedman article, \u201cThe Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits\u201d published in The New York Times<\/i> in September 1970 (perhaps the most widely read article of any Sunday paper) embodies this vision. Friedman concludes his article citing his book Capitalism and Freedom<\/i>:<\/p>\n

“There is one and only one social responsibility of business–to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.”<\/p>\n

Friedman was quite clear in the article that business should act within the boundaries of the law and customs of the times and society <\/b>in which it exists.\u00a0 It is not about getting rich at all costs; there are limits that are not to be tread upon: no cheating, no fraud, etc.<\/p>\n

Acting according to these norms is already a great step forward.\u00a0 If everyone were to comply with these minimal ethical standards and abstain from lying, cheating and committing fraud – all done to land contracts, generate sales and value – the world would certainly be a better place.\u00a0 But is that it?\u00a0 Is ethics really only about this?<\/p>\n

According to Friedman<\/strong> and followers of his philosophy, ethics has no role at all beyond these minimal ethical standards.\u00a0 It is as if businesses were to respond, \u201cOK, we heard you and have been well-behaved.\u00a0 Now leave us alone.\u00a0 We have many more important things to worry about.\u201d\u00a0 For them, ethics is a mere footnote or disclaimer to protect themselves against accusations and liability suits.<\/p>\n

Yet ethics is much more than that.<\/strong>\u00a0 At the heart of ethics lies the principle of doing good.\u00a0Avoiding acting badly is a consequence <\/span><\/a>\u00a0of this basic principle.\u00a0\u00a0 So in fact the important thing is actually to do good, not to avoid doing wrong.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ethics then is not a policeman controlling our activity, but rather a personal trainer that encourages us to strive towards doing better each time.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Ethics is not interested in discussing what is right and wrong (although this is what most people are drawn to), but rather between what is good and what can be done better.<\/p>\n

Viewing ethics in this way<\/strong>, its beauty and significance are much more apparent, not to mention its practical relevance.\u00a0 For ethics is not a footnote or afterthought; it is not a disclaimer, but instead is at the center of discourse, anchoring our reasoning. \u00a0Ethics therefore does not constrain action, but promotes creativity <\/span><\/a>, prompting us to ask ourselves, \u201cWhat else can we do instead that is better or that will help us improve?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently Alain de Botton<\/b><\/a> <\/b>published an article in the Financial Times<\/i><\/a> in which he proposes the idea of philosophers taking a seat on the board of directors of companies<\/strong>, using similar arguments as the above.\u00a0 The philosophical question about what makes a life a good one is not so far from asking how to satisfy people\u2019s needs.\u00a0 Ethics, understood from this positive point of view, helps to focus problems using a new perspective:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWith a proper philosophical perspective on the needs of customers, businesses can start to see new market opportunities, rather than being left to fiddle with margins, wages and logistics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that a new year begins, let\u2019s set the bar higher.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not settle for fulfilling minimal goals.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not limit our struggle to what is right and wrong, what is legal or illegal.\u00a0 Let\u2019s make these minimum standards a given and dedicate our energy to striving to do things better and above all, to doing better things<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In reading texts, even written by well-intentioned people, I get the feeling that ethics is generally confined …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":867,"featured_media":172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[618],"tags":[76059,91591,76058],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethics","tag-better-things","tag-ethics","tag-improve","megacategoria-mc-business-ethics-and-corporate-social-responsibility"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/867"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions\/175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}