Vicente Mayamaya
IT-ETHICS
Professor Paul Pajo Jr. II
Book Title : The Essence of Business Ethics
Author : Peter Pratley (Edited by: Adrian Buckley)
I used to think that Ethics is a rule of conduct that guides us to what is right and wrong. It acts as a guide for you to know if you are doing something that benefits more people with minimal risk of conflict. But I turned out to be missing some parts of its definition to make me realize that ethics is not just that.
Ethics, as defined by Pratley, is a branch of philosophy that aims to study both moral and immoral behavior in order to make well-founded judgment and to arrive at adequate recommendations. It has twofold objective namely: (1) to evaluate human practices by calling upon moral standards; and (2) it gives prescriptive advice on how to act morally in a specific kind of situation.
“… Moral behavior must only be judged according to its proper cultural standards…” (pg. 11)
Each nation has their own set of cultures and traditions, and each has their own set of moral values that govern them which is mostly religion or their ancestral customs and traditions. For example, you cannot sue a Muslim for having many wives nor blaming a Christian for hurting himself in “penitence” every celebration of the passion of Christ.
In support for that quote, another quote from the book, “… habit makes the man…” (pg. 12) say that we, as person are defined by the moral values that are taught during our childhood years, and as we grow old, we are used to that values and make it a habit, a habit can be defined as either: (1) a thing done often and hence, usually, done easily; practice; custom; or (2) a pattern of action that is acquired and has become so automatic that it is difficult to break (definition of habit taken from: and that habit will be carried out until you are old. If you are used to “mano” to your grandparents or elderly during your childhood years as a sign of respect to them as taught by your parents, you will carry it until you are an adult. You’ll learn to respect the elderly and it will define you as someone who gives importance to the elderly. As to our professor in Vertical Solutions subject, he told us that “your character defines you as a person, and in the corporate world, it is not your great knowledge that matters, it is your attitude”. That attitude, for the example of respecting the elderly by “mano”, as what you are used to is now your moral behavior which was taught by your parents from your religion and that is one of the cultures of your family and therefore, you are not to be judged by other cultures as immoral for that act.
“… A general scan of what really makes the difference between humans and other animals may help to understand what abilities really make the difference…” (pg. 63)
We gauge on how we differ from animals for us to know that we are human and what makes us human. It’s not just because we think is that we are higher than animals because animals can think too, we, as human can think freely and decide consciously. We are responsive to where we are standing and status in life and we strive to learn in order for us to be competent to other people in a way that we do not hurt them. We have choices and we think about things before we make that decision.
“…people always have a choice…” (pg. 75)
Every people has their choice when they are making a decision, there is no such thing as “you don’t have a choice” because you still have the choice to do it or not. You decide or you make a choice on what you know will be beneficial to you or to most of the people without hurting anybody or if really inevitable, you minimize the risk of hurting somebody or doing something that would harm them or their reputation as a person.