Ethics and politics

Niccolò Machiavelli

n He was born in 1469 in Florence

n Was a Second Chancellor of the Republic of Florence

n “Teacher of evil”= politicians should not have moral values and norms

The Prince (1513)

No moral basis on which to judge the difference between legitimate and illegitimate uses of power

à Authority and Power are coequal: “Since there cannot be good laws without good arms, I will not consider laws but speak of arms”

à Power defines political activity and the real point is HOW to use power

- The Highest Good: A free and well ordered state

- The need for stability in a prince’s state: at stake is its preservation

n The concept of virtue refers to personal qualities that contribute to the success of the prince and that are necessary to maintain the state à a moral vice can well be a political virtue (for example, cruelty)

- Prudence: considering not only the short period, but the long period as well

n The wise ruler should possess the following

1) an ability to be both good and bad, both loved and feared

n 2) boldness, independence and self-control

n 3) a reputation for generosity, mercy, trustworthiness and piety

n The rule has to be independent of custom, nature, etc.

n The virtue of “liberality” (taking little from the population)

n Difference between cruelty and mercy

n Cruelty can be well used and badly used

Good cruelty is done once for self-defense, turned to the benefits to subjects

Perhaps there are two different kind of morality: one for common citizens (as private individuals) and another one for rulers

Varying her/his conduct from good to evil and back again “as fortune and circumstances dictate” à The Prince should be both a Lion and a Fox because different enemies require different skills

a prince may be perceived to be merciful, faithful, humane, frank, and religious, but he should only seem to have these qualities. A prince cannot truly have these qualities because at times it is necessary to act against them

Emmanuel Kant: Perpetual Peace

Morality is practical: the totality of unconditional mandatory laws à duty

“There can be no conflict of politics, as a practical doctrine of right, with ethics, as a theoretical doctrine of right.”

It is a duty of the moral politician to correct the defects in the constitution of a state, even it costs self-sacrifice, but slowly and carefully

First right means than good ends will follow, or in other words, only through the right means it will be possible to achieve good ends

STRENGHTS: Belief in a better world à idealism pushes toward action in order to improve conditions. Moral clarity and “objectivity” à because ordinary values and principles are a duty also for politics.

WEAKNESSES: Rigidity à once rights are in force they can not be taken away even if this means the ruin of the entire community.

Weber: Politics as Vocation

Definition of the state in terms of means: the state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory

Three forms of legitimacy:

- Traditional (patriarch)

- Charismatic (individual leadership)

- Legal (servant of the state)

Three pre-eminent qualities of a politician:

1) Passion: devotion to a cause but not romanticism

2) Responsibility: guiding star

3) Sense of Proportion: distance toward one’s self (politics is made with the head)

Two deadly sins in the field of politics:

- Lack of objectivity

- Irresponsibility

Ethics in the field of politics needs to take into consideration that the means of politics is violence

Absolute ethics does not ask for the consequences

Just War Theory:

An Actual, Intentional and widespread armed conflict between political communities

Carl Von Clausewitz 1780–1831 (Prussia)

CLASSIC WAR

- Norms of War

- Limits In Space

- Limits In Time

- Recognized Actors

- Limited Means

When is it morally acceptable (or even required) to go to war?

Defense against aggression and “crimes against peace”

1) Just Cause:

Recognized as legitimate by its own people and by the international community

It does not violate other states’ rights

It makes efforts in order to satisfy its citizens’ human rights (safety, liberty, subsistence)

2) Right Intention: only for the just cause, not ulterior motives like power, economy, land, revenge

3) Proper Authority and Public Declaration: only a state (?) can go to war and only after a proper declaration

4) Last Resort: since war is the most destructive action (where conflicting interests are resolved through organized violence), any possible alternative solution should be seek before resorting to war

5) Probability of Success: no waste of human lives is permissible. States should not start a war if there is not a possibility (?) of changing the actual state of affaires

6) Proportionality: it is necessary to balance the expected goods against the expected evils

The right conduct during the war

1) Obey all international laws on weapons prohibitions

2) Discrimination and Non-Combatant Immunity: Target only those who are engaged in harm. No civilians.

The Doctrine of Double Effect

Rephrasing Michael Walzer:

The action in itself is good or at least indifferent, for example it is a legitimate act of war;

The direct effect is morally acceptable, for example the destruction of military supplies or the killing of enemy soldiers;

a) Only the good effect and not the evil effect is intended;

b) The good effect is not produced by means of the evil effect;

c) Conscious of the damage he can carry out, the actor tries to minimize it and accepts to personally pay the cost of this minimization

d) There is a proportionately grave reason for permitting the evil effect

3) Proportionality: no overreaction is allowed

4) Benevolent quarantine for POW (Prisoners of War): a fair treatment as recognized legitimate opponents

5) No Means Mala in Se: for example, rapes, genocide or ethnic cleansing…

6) No reprisals: no retaliation violating the jus in bello

The transition from War to Peace

1) Proportionality and Publicity

2) Rights Vindication

3) Discrimination (between civilians, leaders and soldiers)

4) Punishment (a) (punish the defeated country which violated the rights of war) This suppose that the winning country had not violated the laws of war (is this condition possible?)

5) Punishment (b) (punish any soldier who violated the laws of war from all the sides of the conflict) (The USA, Russia and China have not signed the Convention for the institution of the International Criminal Court)

6) Compensation (a small problem of precedents: Germany after the First World War)

7) Rehabilitation à forced democratization???

Business Ethics

Business ethics is the applied ethics discipline that addresses the moral features of commercial activity (e.g., marketing ethics, finance ethics, accounting ethics).

A Minimal Consideration:

We spend most of our time working, is it really possible to rule out ethics from such an important part of our lives?

A Foundational Matter:

Contract

n Remember the Correlativity of rights and duties à The right of a person implies the duties of another person

An incomplete list of some specific rights involved in business:

- Protection of life as employer, employee or consumer

- Opportunity to start a business or to qualify for employment

- Expectations toward the fair execution of a contract

- Employment security

An incomplete list of some specific duties involved in business:

- Truth telling

- Justice

- Fairness

- Honesty

- Privacy

- Respect of Contracts

1) The Competitive Approach:

Laissez-faire, Free enterprise, competition

2)The Government Control Approach:

Government ownership and/or control of all business and redistribution

3) Moderate Approach: a system of checks and balances in order to provide as much freedom as possible, but also to prevent corruption and concentration of power

At law, the corporation is a person, distinct in its personality from the persons who bear ownership shares in it (its shareholders) or conduct activities on its behalf (its directors, officers, and other employees).

Is the corporation a moral agent?

Yes.

Peter French à corporations have corporate internal decision (CID) structures that provide sufficient grounds for attributing moral agency to them.

a) organization chart b) rules

No

Manuel Velasquez à the CID structures are the product of human agency and design. They are rules of cooperation among persons who, given their actions, intentions, and aims.

55mud

How and in whose interests ought the corporation to be governed?

The ‘shareholder-stakeholder debate’

Stakeholder theory: a business firm ought to be managed in a way that achieves a balance among the interests of all who bear a substantial relationship to the firm—its stakeholders.

The firm-state analogy: a firm's stakeholders are like citizens in a polity.

Shareholder theory: “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.” In other words, it refers to legitimate morally managerial duties owed to a corporation's shareholders

At-will doctrine: an employment relation may be terminated by either party for any reason or no reason at all, without notice.

Just Cause doctrine: an employment relation cannot be terminated by either party, without notice unless there is a just cause regulated by law.

Employees can be protected from the ill-effects of arbitrary dismissal in two ways.

(i) favored by just cause advocates: legally.

(ii) favored by at-will advocates: through the promotion of a vibrant labor market in which jobs are frequently created and readily available.

For example, The UN Global Compact enjoins business firms to support and respect internationally recognized human rights, avoid complicity in human rights abuses, uphold freedom of association and collective bargaining, eliminate forced and compulsory labor, eliminate child labor, eliminate all forms of discrimination in employment, support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges, promote greater environmental responsibility, encourage the development of environmentally friendly technologies, and work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

Media Ethics

Dignity: leaving the subject as much self-respect as possible

Reciprocity: treating others as you wish to be treated (positive restatement of the Golden Rule)

Sufficiency: allocating adequate resources to important issues

Accuracy: getting the facts correct, using the right words, and putting things in context

Tenacity: knowing when a story is important enough to require additional effort, both personal and institutional

Equity: seeking justice for all involved in controversial issues; treating all sources and subjects equally

Community: valuing social cohesion equally with individual honor

Diversity: covering all segments of the audience fairly and adequately

It may be illegal to publish certain “classified” (secret) information about a government agency’s mistakes, and yet there are cases where journalists go ahead and publish because they are following their ethical duty

For example, the tendency to emphasize extremely thin and unhealthy body shapes for women is often considered unethical

ASNE's Statement of Principles was originally adopted in 1922 as the "Canons of Journalism." The document was revised and renamed "Statement of Principles" in 1975.

ARTICLE I - Responsibility. The primary purpose of gathering and distributing news and opinion is to serve the general welfare by informing the people and enabling them to make judgments on the issues of the time.

ARTICLE II - Freedom of the Press. Freedom of the press belongs to the people. Journalists must be constantly alert to see that the public's business is conducted in public.

ARTICLE III - Independence. Journalists must avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety as well as any conflict of interest or the appearance of conflict.

ARTICLE IV - Truth and Accuracy. Good faith with the reader is the foundation of good journalism. Every effort must be made to assure that the news content is accurate, free from bias and in context, and that all sides are presented fairly.

ARTICLE V - Impartiality. To be impartial does not require the press to be unquestioning. Demands a clear distinction for the reader between news reports and opinion.

ARTICLE VI - Fair Play. Journalists should respect the rights of people involved in the news

PUBLIC TRUST: Professional electronic journalists should recognize that their first obligation is to the public.

Professional electronic journalists should:

• Provide a full range of information to enable the public to make enlightened decisions.

• Fight to ensure that the public's business is conducted in public.

TRUTH: Professional electronic journalists should pursue truth aggressively and present the news accurately, in context, and as completely as possible.

They should:

seek the truth

Resist distortions

disclose the origin of information

They should not:

Report anything known to be false

Plagiarize

Present images or sounds that are reenacted without informing the public

FAIRNESS: Professional electronic journalists should present the news fairly and impartially

They should:

Treat all subjects of news coverage with respect and dignity

Exercise special care when children are involved in a story

Seek to understand the diversity of their community

Present the opinions, and ideas in context

Respect the right to a fair trial

INTEGRITY: present the news with integrity and decency, avoiding real or perceived conflicts of interest

They should not:

Pay news sources

Accept gifts, favors, or compensation

Engage in activities that may compromise their integrity or independence

They should:

Identify sources

keep all commitments to protect a confidential source

Clearly label opinion

Refrain from contacting participants in violent situations

Use technological tools with skill and thoughtfulness

Disseminate the private transmissions

INDEPENDENCE: Professional electronic journalists should defend the independence of all journalists

They should:

Gather and report news without fear or favor

Resist those who politically influence news content

Determine news content solely through editorial judgment

Refuse to allow the interests of ownership or management to influence news

Defend the rights of the free press for all journalists

ACCOUNTABILITY: they are accountable for their actions to the public, the profession, and themselves.

They should:

encourage adherence to these standards

Respond to public concerns

Explain journalistic processes to the public

Refrain from ordering or encouraging course that force to commit an unethical act

listen to employees who raise ethical objections

THE MEDIA AND TERRORISM:

Дата добавления: 2015-10-28