"Read, every day, something no one else is reading "Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity." - Christopher Morley

Business and Management BAM321 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Session 2

Agenda for today The Carr article – a debate Egoism Hedonism Lying – Lafarge cement Your issues

Egoism Psychological egoism Rational egoism People DO pursue the satisfaction of their own wants and cannot behave differently Rational egoism People ought to pursue the satisfaction of their wants

Rational Egoism People should do what they want to do They should pursue the satisfaction of their wants

Life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Thomas Hobbes Life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." (From Leviathan)

Why do people give money to charities for the homeless? Hobbes claimed he gave money to beggars to relieve his own distress

Egoism People should do what they want to do But this need not lead people to behave without regard for other people at all To be unmoved by the distress of another is selfish An egoist need not be selfish in this sense

Egoism But what should you want? Is the conduct of a lying, cheating, corrupt businessman no worse than that of an honest businessman if both are doing what they want to do?

Egoism The problem is that egoism as we’ve described it gives no account of intrinsic value It tells us to pursue whatever satisfies our wants So eating carrot cake has instrumental value because it satisfies my want But it has no intrinsic value And egoism does not explain what is the value of getting what we want

Egoism version 2 People should pursue their own self-interest Our interests are different from our wants/desires Hobbes argued that it was in people’s interests to submit to authority to avoid the state of war that would otherwise exist

Hedonism Offers an answer to the question of what is of value Pleasure is intrinsically valuable It’s not valued because it enables us to achieve something else It’s not of instrumental value We should pursue a life full of as much pleasure as possible

Hedonism We should pursue a life full of as much pleasure as possible And with as little pain as possible And herein lies a problem With the pleasure of fine wine comes the pain of a hangover “Fine wine” – is the pleasure gained by a lager lout equivalent to that of a wine connoiseur?

Inter-session tasks Reflect on session 2 Keep logging! Read the article by Milton Friedman “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits”