1. "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

2. Business and Management
BAM321 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Session 2

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

4. 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

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

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

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

8. 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

9. 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?

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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?

14. 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”