Bev module 2

BEV-Module 2
•Emanuel Kant’s Ethical
Theory(Deontological)
•Comparison 0f Kantianism with
Utilitarianism
•Doctrine of Aristotle
•Indianism Concept

Kantianism
Kantian Theory( Deontological Theory) :
1.We should not do anything that we should not
like to be done to us in similar circumstances.
It is an ethical duty.
2.Kant proposed a simple test for personal duty
to eliminate self interest and self deception.
3.Kantian approach is also labeled as
DEONTOLOGICAL which in Greek means Duty.
It is also called universalism.

1. According Kant , an action is morally right if the
person is motivated by ‘goodwill’
2. Kant preached that ethics has nothing to do
with consequences or human well-being but
comes from a sense of duty and of obedience
of moral law which a rational person must
accept. Kant called this:
• Categorical or Absolute
• Imperative of morality.
3. Only those actions undertaken from sense of
duty, dictated by reason, are moral. Action
dictated by customs or by law cannot be moral.

DETAILS KANTIANISM UTILITARIANISM

Explicit and Direct appeal
to consequences in
Absent Yes

determining the outcome
Motive for Action Sole Importance Incidental
Good in themselves Yes Only as a Means to the
End of maximizing Utility

Matters only in so far as
they are conducive to NO YES
Performing actions which
Maximizes utility.
Consequentialist
Non-consequentialist in
Very Strong Flexibility and Weak(where
utilitarianism is weak and
flexibility Kantianism is strong)
Permit the sacrificing of
individuals or Minorities to
NO YES
collective self Interest

Categorical Imperative or Law of Morality
• In ethics of Kant, there is absolute command
of morality, irrespective of ulterior end or aim.
• Everything in nature works according to law;
only rational beings has the power to act
according to his conception of law.
• Categorical means positive, absolutely or
without exception.
• Imperative means excessive of command
• Kant says there is absolute unconditional
command of moral law.s

Example
1. Employer is silent bout work place hazards in a
job offer and offers a big salary, good benefits,
makes the job attractive. It is hard for the
employee to turn down the job.
• Employer has not treated the employee with
respect.
• Employer has not recognized you as an end in
yourself, with interest of your own and the
capacity to decide what risks you will or will not
take.
• Employer hides important information to ensure
you will do what he wants.
• According to Kant this is wrong.

Doctrine of the Mean of Aristotle
• Aristotle’s ethics is based on the concept of
virtue. Moral character rather than right
action is fundamental.
• Virtue ethics asks what kind of person a
person should be.
• Role of ethics according to Aristotle is to
enable us to lead a rewarding life, what we
call good life

Good Life through virtues
Possible only
for Virtuous Who have Virtue
Good Life person

called

Persons who develop the traits
of characters

Aristotelian moral virtues
• Courage
• Generosity
• Magnificence
• High mindedness
• Gentleness
• Friendliness
• Truthfulness
• Wittiness
• Honesty
• Self-control
• Modesty
• Justice
• Pride and sham

JUSTICE
• Justice like right is an important concept.
• Question of justice arise when there is something
to distribute.
• According to Aristotle’s Neomachean ethics
justice has two meanings. One, it applies to the
whole of virtue of a just or morally upright
person; and in the other it is concerned with
virue in specific situation.
• Distributive justice applies in social, political and
economic situations where the benefits and
burden of engaging in cooperative activities must
be spread over a group.

VARIOUS TRADITIONS OF INDIANISM
There are nine major Indian intellectual traditions.
I. Arthashashtra Tradition(Wealth or material
advancement)-{Kautilya}- Pursuit of Artha is an
important goal of human existence. It contains a
number of management ideas.
• Artha is material well being, specially wealth-
recognizes the rule “Matsa Naya”:Big fish eating the
small fish.
• It provides a systematic treatment of human resources
as early as 4th. Century BC. It provided principles and
procedures in respect of labour organizations such as
SHRENI or Guild System and cooperative sector.

• It has several pragmatic assumptions about
the nature of man, his mentalities and
tendencies. It provides insight into analysis
of power, emphasizes the perfection of self-
leadership.
• Throws light on how to develop good
subordinates, provided ideas that appear to
modern day managers.

II. Vedantic or pshycophilosophical tradition
• Deals with divinity oriented view of human
nature.
• Ramakrishna/Vivekanada are modern day
contributors to psychophilosophy. They said
each soul is potentially divine. Goal of life is
to manifest divinity within through work of
worship, meditations or psychic control.
• Gita provides the Ideal of Karma Yoga- a
basis for human action. Each person has the
potential of infinity and it is possible to
harness this potential.

III. Liberation from Oppression[LIFO]
• Great saints have written about it.
• Concern for the downtrodden is the essence.
• Survival of the weakest and survival of all life
forms is the key concern, reflecting
liberation from exploitation. When work
place becomes oppressive, the need for
liberation from oppression becomes vital.

IV. Multiple perspectives
• A theory of relativity of Knowledge.
• As per Jain tradition the “Syad” or viewing from
a particular view point as related to other view
points is essential for arriving at the final
conclusion.
• Hence a problem should be viewed from
multiple perspective.
• A holistic approach to reality though admitting a
“relativists view of things”

V. Gandhian Tradition
• Based on theory of containment- overall
containment is key to happiness.
• There is enough for every body’s need but not
for every body’s greed.
• He criticized modernization and gave a number
of ideas for humanizing work places
• Faith was based in goodness of human nature.
• Emphasis on humanistic and harmonic
approach to human and social development.
• Swadesi movement for self-reliance and eco-
friendly technology.

VI. Communism
• Considers the common man as the pillar of
social drive.
• World view based on historical
communism( degree of overall happiness)
• Implies changes in solved policies as well as
functioning of the government under the
directorship of the masses.
• Suggests a holistic view of development.

VII. Confluencism
Confluence means a meeting point(Sangam).
• Rigveda says that ‘let noble thoughts come to us
from every direction”.
• Implies a creation of new ideas as a result of
such interaction.
• Emphasis is on the ability to assimilate ideas and
transform them creatively.
• Views history in terms of give and take process
of different cultures without any dominances-a
two-way flow of ideas, rejecting forced cognitive
dominances.
• Integrative indigenization of various social and
management theories.

VIII.Cultural Nationalism
• A social-psychological world view based on
the concept of a nation’s culture and self-
dignity as a basis of societies regeneration.
• Gives prominence to cultural dimensions.
• Argues for restoring self pride and self-
dignity.
• Positive ideas can be brought in and negative
influences must be avoided for achieving
social regeneration.

IX. OSHA Tradition(O=oneness with nature;
S=Spiritual guna; H= Human guna; A=Animal
guna)
• Ideas of Rajneesh, who rejected most of the
current ideas of world views about man, state
and society. OSH model depicts human
behaviour and action
• OSHA model depicts human behaviour and the
actions. They are:
 Level O- Highest and the best form of human
behaviour. It is O-oneness with natureA man
who achieves this can be equated with the giver
of divine energy. This is the stage of ‘Nirvana’

 Level 1: Next alphabet of OSHA is S. It is a
spiritual attribute of an individual’s behaviour, on
the verge of reaching level O. To reach this every
person must make effort with full determination.
 Level 2: H – lower category of human attribute
 Level 3: A – Represents animal attribute(guna)
OSHA model conceptualizes three modes of
behavioral tendencies in terms of:
 Spiritual
 Human
 Animal

• These three tendencies are reflections of the
Indian Psycho-Philosophy which are referred
to the three gunas as:
 Satva(Essence attribute)-refers to purity and
illumination leading to individual bliss.
 Rajas (Energy attributes) Refers to craving and
attachment- Binds individuals to action
 Tamas(Inertia attributes) Arises out of
ignorance and dilution.

An organization can classified as Harmonic(S,S),
Humanistic(H,H) or Animalistic(A,A) based on the
particular type of interaction.
 Holistic/ of organizationHarmonic
Organization(SS dominates)
• People are at peace and things move in perfect
harmony. Self imposed discipline is reflected.
 Humanistic Organization(HH):
• High concern for wellbeing of employees. There
is conscious effort to promote organization
culture and the organization can be a place of
fulfillment.

Animalistic Organization(AA)
• Employees will have high level of frustration,
distrust, low morale and lack of interpersonal
relationship. There may be transference of
market violence to work place.
It is essential to promote SS or HH type of
interaction to maintain harmony.

Illustrative Ethical Values in Business from Ancient
Texts
• From time immemorial man has tried to achieve
excellence in endeavors.
• Vedantic genius grasped long time ago that
problems springing from secular pursuits cannot
be resolved by pressing forward on the secular
route.
• It was equally perceived that answer to growing
complexity is not to invite a greater tangle of
complexities.
• The solution lay in the conjunction of their
opposites: sacred and simple.
• This insight was formulated into a four-goals
system view(chaturvarga) of human existence.

CHATURVARG OF HUMAN EXISTENCE
DHARMA ARTHA KAMA MOKSHA

Rectitude and Money and Desire and Liberation of the
righteousness wealth Needs spiritual core.

• The secular goals of artha and kama are
integrated into the models within the bounds
of dharma or ethico-moral propriety and
moksha or liberation of the inner spirit core.
• Modern interpreter like Vivekananda sums up:
‘every act is a spiritual prayer and every step
is a pilgrimage'. In other words key task of
management of any secular aspect of life is to
transform and elevate it into sacred process.
• The principles of Chaturvarga can be applied
to business.

Making Vedantic Spirionomics a Reality
1. Most insistent principle and goal of human
existence is to aim and strive for a pure
mind(chittasuddhi)-emotions, feelings and
matters of the heart always take precedence
over intellect-sharpening. Emotions and
feelings are the first to make secret choice.
We use words such as broad-minded and
large hearted. Christ tell us “ Blessed are the
pure heart, for they shall see God”.
Vivekananda said each morning we start or
work we should clean our mind.

2. Vedantic thought is equally emphatic on law:
the subject is the cause, object is the effect.
Whether one paints beautiful painting and
another commits a murder, both these
object events spring from subjective source
harboured within. In management, the crux
lies in the decision maker, who makes the
structure and the system and not in what is
created. Launch any rational new system
today, tomorrow it will be mnupulated.

3. The vedantic thought offered a general theory
and method of work who are capable of
reconciling short-term and long term goals and
at the same time enhancing the purity of mind.
4. Vedas explain that universal problems with
humans at work is inner turmoil accompanying
external work. This happens because individual
motives in work life measures success in terms
of relative, competitive comparisons with
others, which dissipates energy.
5. Resolute practice of nishkama karma will
enhance the spirit of work is worship.
6. This leads to ‘ego-less’ work.

Bev module 2

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