Values such as loyalty and fairness are often perceived as a paradox…an either/or value involving trade-offs. Often when people make unethical decisions they are able to rationalize, justify, or find a causal connection between the means and ends of their decisions and actions.

The article “27 Psychological Reasons Why Good People Do Bad Things” addresses some of the most common reasons behind unethical decision making and behaviors.
My question is this…

Which of the five reasons do you believe are most commonly used and offer an example of each that could happen (or has happened) in YOUR personal or professional lives? With each example, offer what values (from the list contained in the article “What are your values?”) could be used to justify the decision and what values would be compromised (or ignored)?

Topic #3

Norman Bowie’s article “A Kantian Approach to Business ethics” promotes the preface that Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative can be universally applied as a test or measure to any business decision. The three formulations of his categorical imperatives are:

Always act out of duty, in accordance with a good will (I.e. One does the right thing because one recognizes that it is the right thing to do, not because it pleases you to do it or will promote good consequences.).
Always act as if the maxim of thy action were to become by thy will a Universal Law of Nature (i.e. Are you willing to allow any other rational being to act on the same reasoning you used to justify your action?)
Act as to treat the capacity for rationality, whether in thine own person or in that of any other, in every case as an end withal, never as a means only. (i.e. Never treat a rational being as a mere means to an end.)
Kant had many critics such as Schopenhauer’s criticism of the Kantian philosophy was due to the absence of egoism (or an individual’s sense of self) and therefore Kant’s categorical imperative is actually hypothetical and egotistical. Kierkegaard also believed people tend to be lenient when it comes to evaluating their own decisions and behaviors relative to others.

If Kant’s premise truly was universally accepted and applied in the paradigms and behaviors of people would codes of conduct, training, attitudinal reframing (or even the study of ethics) even be necessary?

The question is this…

Would universal acceptance and application of Kant’s three formulations of his categorical imperative preclude the need for codes of conduct? Using the list of suggested code content (in the link below), which of the following suggestions for the content of a code do you think could be eliminated or unnecessary. Which suggestions do you think will still be required no matter how ethical people and the organization has become?

https://www.ethics.org/resources/free-toolkit/code-provisions