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ADMINISTRATIVE ETHICS

ADMINISTRATIVE ETHICS. HISTORICAL & PHILOSOPHICAL OVERVIEW. Natural Law Natural Right Utilitarianism. Kantianism Existentialism Nihilism. Philosophical Systems . How to judge an ethical system: . The analogy of a battle group: 1) the well-being of each ship

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ADMINISTRATIVE ETHICS

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  1. ADMINISTRATIVE ETHICS HISTORICAL & PHILOSOPHICAL OVERVIEW

  2. Natural Law Natural Right Utilitarianism Kantianism Existentialism Nihilism Philosophical Systems

  3. How to judge an ethical system: • The analogy of a battle group: • 1) the well-being of each ship • 2) the ability of the ships to work together • 3) a common destination

  4. SEMESTER OVERVIEW: objectives • HISTORICAL/PHILOSOPHICAL OVERVIEW • PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS • CLASS ASSIGNMENTS: participation, readings, book reviews, ethical dilemma paper • better people

  5. NATURAL LAW • Plato (427-347 B.C.) • Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) • Cicero (106-43 B.C.) • St. Augustine (354-430) • Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) • Shakespeare (1564-1616) • Hugh Grotius (1583-1645)

  6. concept of higher or transcendent law in contrast with positive law comparison with physical laws both prescriptive and prohibitive nature v. convention natural law is 1) binding, 2)unchanging, 3)universal Features of Natural Law

  7. self-preservation propagation of the species promotion of community quest for the truth Principles of the Natural Law

  8. Pursuit of the Truth: Plato’s analogy of the cave

  9. Concept of Virtue • A “habit” • “cardinal virtues” 1)prudence 2)justice 3)fortitude 4)temperance • the importance of motivation • principle of double effect • determines character

  10. Virtue as a “Mean” • Defect, excess • E.g.: courage, truthtelling

  11. work play (recreation) leisure contemporary experience Natural Law Concept of Leisure

  12. Psychology • Reasoning (thought) • Emotions (feelings) e.g., anger, fear,shame, affection • Desires and passions: hunger, thirst, sexual craving, ambition, love, hate, honor • What’s the point? The point is that a good moral philosophy must taken into account a true psychology; that is an accurate view of human nature

  13. Implications for Politics (gov’t, mgmt, & policy) • promote morality • encourage, support, and prefer family life • education • in re to leadership, the public & private cannot be separated

  14. too prescriptive for democratic experience misguided conception of human nature there is no reliable generalization that can be made about human nature Too idealistic Criticisms of Natural Law

  15. From The Leviathan by Hobbes: • “Life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

  16. Natural Right • Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) • John Locke (1632-1704)

  17. state of nature man is not sociable by nature negative view of morality Features of Natural Right

  18. Human Nature • Fear • Desire

  19. Tenets of Natural Right • self-preservation

  20. Adam Smith Ayn Rand “Self Interest Rightly Understood” (Alexis de Tocqueville

  21. Fable of the Bees (1732) De Mandeville

  22. political rights minimal government Implications for Government

  23. Doesn’t set high enough standard excessively egocentric at the expense of society Rights, if overemphasized, become confusing and meaningless Criticisms of Natural Right

  24. Jeremy Bentham(1748-1832) James Stuart Mill (1773-1836) John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) David Hume (1711-1776) UTILITARIANISM

  25. The Happiness Principle But … “What is Happiness?”

  26. Happiness is … • The Most Pleasure . . . • . . .and The Least Pain

  27. J.S. Mill and . . . • Liberty • The Subjection of Women

  28. Two Types of Utilitarianism: • act utilitarianism • rule utilitarianism

  29. Machiavelli (1469-1527)

  30. Implications for Government, Policy & Administration • warfare • foreign diplomacy • domestic policy

  31. An unprincipled moral philosophy typical of the U.S.? Alternative approach to military ethics (contrast natural law and Kant) Characteristics

  32. Criticisms • Reduces man to level of animals • what about promises? • Predicting the consequences • What about sanctions?

  33. the question of sanctions • If utilitarianism is criticized for insufficient attention to the need for sanctions, how do the other theories measure up? • That is what sanctions are supplied by Natural law? • Natural right?

  34. Kant Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

  35. A deontological theory

  36. characteristics • Concerned over emphasis upon self-interestedness • replaces natural law & natural right with reason, with rationality • frees ethics from a considerations of human nature • frees ethics from desire & passion

  37. Characteristics (cont’d) • Autonomy (self governing)

  38. The categorical imperative • In his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant formulates the Categorical Imperative in three different ways: • The first (Universal Law formulation): "Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." • The second (Humanity or End in Itself formulation): "Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end." • The third (Kingdom of Ends formulation) combines the two: "All maxims as proceeding from our own [hypothetical] making of law ought to harmonize with a possible kingdom of ends."

  39. “Everyday” value of Kant • Demands a thorough, rigorous approach to ethical challenges • Must distinguish between the rule and the exception in each moral dilemma • Burden of proof is on those who would follow the exception • Emphasis on duty

  40. Implications for gov’t & policy

  41. Criticisms • Emotionless, passionless • overemphasis on reason • over-dependence on predictability

  42. EXISTENTIALISM • Soren Kierkegaard • Franz Kafka • Albert Camus • Jean-Paul Sartre

  43. Characteristics • An emphasis upon: freedom, decision, individuality, responsibility • anguish • despair • absence of God, loneliness • EXISTENCE

  44. Political Implications • In the absence of objective standards, political power is critical • alienation and its affect upon society • religion & government • individual responsibility

  45. May foster passivity in the absence of hope a distorted emphasis upon what is darkest in human beings & society Discourages charity takes individuality to an unworkable extreme Criticisms

  46. Nihilism Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

  47. Characteristics • God is Dead (Thus Spake Zarathustra) • the Overman • Christianity, slave-morality, the “creation o moralities” • the will to power

  48. Characteristics (cont’d) • Beyond Good & Evil • The Will to Power • creation/destruction

  49. Implications for Politics • Individualism • experimentation • “traditional values” • political power

  50. Criticisms • Fyodor Dostoevsky • analogy of play

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