IIDE

COLLOQUIM ON ETHICS
AN INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Dave Lubbe

PRESENTER
PROF. DAVE LUBBE

Ethical dilemma
You are practicing as a medical doctor.
Mr. Slow Puncture visited you complaining of stress
and burn out because of his work load.
You send him for blood test it turns out that he is
HIV positive.
He demand you not to tell his wife Beauty she is
also your patient.
You try your best to persuade him otherwise but he
does not want to change his viewpoint.
Beauty informed you two weeks ago that they use
condoms as precaution and that they wants to start a
family within six months.
What will you do, and why?

CONTENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.

WHY ETHICS AND WHAT IS ETHICS?

THE HISTORY OF ETHICS AN OVERVIEW
MYTHS/ARGUMENTS ON ETHICS
PRIMARY CHARACHTERISTICS OF GOOD
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
5. ETHICAL DECISION MAKING
6. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO ETHICAL PROBLEMS

1. WHY ETHICS AND WHAT IS

ETHICS?

Life is full of ethics/ moral decisions

Ethics more than professional ethics (slide 5)
Ethics morality as synonyms
Ethics religion influence
Ethics concerns itself with what is good/ right in human
interaction one of many definitions (slide 6)
Interaction two parties or things
Good/ right - ???????
Ethics and the law (slide 7)
Apples and barrels

ETHICS
Ethics
Business ethics

Professional ethics

Ethics / Morality
Good

Self

Other

Relation between
ethics and law

Ethical Unethical
Legal
Illegal

Apples & barrels

Good
apples
Good
barrels
Bad
Barrels

Bad
apples

2. THE HISTORY OF ETHICS AN

OVERVIEW
Classical antiquity

From myth to logos

Origins of western philosophy

Middle ages

Union of philosophy and theology

Faith and knowledge

Universities

The renaissance

Printing
Reformation
Humanism
Man, history, nature

The 17th Century

Modern territorial states

Rationalists
Natural Law
Mathematical and natural research
Rationalists

 Enlightenment

American revolution

Age of reason

Civil and political law

Rejection traditional authority

Scientific development human progress

The 19th century

European nation states

German idealism

Materialism

Industrial revolution

Evolution theory

Natural vs. human sciences

The 20th century and postmodernism

Age of extremes

Communism and Fascism

World of wars

Borderless world

Relativity and quantum theories

Environment

 Some philosophers and main aspects

Socrates dialogue with CRITO
Knowledge from discussion and arguments
Ask questions
Refuse traditional answers
Once know who are behave well
Inner eye
Plato
Philosophy ethics - footnotes of Plato
Aquinas
Natural law by God
Hobbes
Social contract
Adam Smith
Invisible hand

 Karl Marx

Class economy

Class consciousness
Kant

Morality sticking to compulsory rules

Who, how, what

Moral law of duty/ moral action

Postmodernism

Post war

Uncertainty

Freud/ Jung unconscious

Skeptical objective reality

Ecology long march to prison

Environmental ethics

Lack universally shared moral values

3. MYTHS/ ARGUMENTS ON ETHICS

Introduction
Africa fraud endemic, etc
Rest world Enron, etc
Myths
Dog eat dog
Survival of the fittest
Nice guys come second
It is not serious
When in Rome
The bottom line is all that matters
Ethics is not a business issue
Unethical behavior pays
Justice system failed

4.

PRIMARY CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Discipline
Transparency
Independence
Accountability
Responsibility
Fairness
Social responsibility

Professor Dave Lubbe.

5. ETHICAL DECISION MAKING

(One of many)
Eight steps to sound ethical decision making

Gather the facts

Define the ethical issue
Identify the affected parties (stakeholders)
Identify the consequences for them
Identify their claims or rights
Identify the obligations to them
Consider your own character and integrity
Think creatively about potential actions
Discuss your decision with others
Check your gut feeling

6. SOLUTION TO ETHICAL PROBLEMS

Ethical code in organization

Corporate governance
More ethical training
Most difficult problems in business world
Not a clear right or wrong - (not soft option)
Principles and not just rules
Ethics is
A state of mind
Not a checklist
Tone at the top

 Not just one-size-fits-all

Intellectual honesty (ethics)
I have no problem with ethical issues - I merely
ask myself whether I would mind if my old
mother read about this in the press.
The only thing required for evil to triumph, is for
good men to do nothing.