BUSINESS ETHICS & SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Quarter 3 – Week 4
PHILOSOPHIES INFLUENCING OUR BUSINESS PRACTICES
Name: __________________________ Grade & Section: _____________

Activity 1: Based on your life’s experiences, cite things/principles you consider in your decision-making in
five aspects below.

Life

Education

Family

Friends

Money

THE CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHERS AND PHILOSOPHIES AND

THEIR IMPLICATIONS ON BUSINESS

1. Socrates (469-399 BCE)- “The Gad-fly at the Marketplace” is one of the few individuals whom one
could say have shaped the cultural and intellectual development of the world for without him, history
would be profoundly different. This is Socrates’s philosophical idea:

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates pointed out that human choice was
motivated by the desire for happiness.

Socrates thought of the Entrepreneurs. The Socratic Method is a way of thinking that
allows individuals to define their own purpose of learning and exploring its purpose through open-
minded questioning of what they hold to be true. Socrates insisted on a right to think of ourselves by
introducing the philosophical concept, “Dare to Disagree”.

2. Plato – “The Philosopher-King” is one of the world’s best known and most widely read and studied
philosophers. He was the student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle. He wrote in the middle of the
4th Century BCE in ancient Greece. This is Plato’s philosophical idea:

“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a
way around the laws.”

Plato maintains a virtue-based eudemonistic conception of ethics. That is to say, happiness or

well-being (eudaimonia) is the highest aim of moral thought and conduct, and the virtues (aretê:
excellence) are the requisite skills and dispositions needed to attain it.

3. Aristotle – “All or Nothing” (384-322 BCE) is a towering figure in ancient Greek philosophy,
contributing to logic, metaphysics, mathematics, physics, biology, ethics, politics, agriculture,
medicine, dance, and theater. These are some of Aristotle’s philosophical ideas:

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim, and end of human
existence.”

“Let people seek fulfillment.”

The word happiness in ethics is a translation of the Greek term “eudaimonia” which connotes
success and fulfillment. For Aristotle, this happiness is our highest goal. In relation to business,
Aristotle concludes that the role of the leader is to create an environment in which all members of an
 organization can realize their potential.

4. Immanuel Kant (1724–1804). “Duty based Ethics”. He is one of the most influential philosophers in
the history of Western Philosophy. He was not concerned with the consequences of one’s actions or the
harm caused to one’s individual interests. Instead, he is focused on motives and the willingness of
individuals to act for the good of others, even if the action might result to personal loss. Doing
something for the right reason was more important to Kant than any particular outcome.

For example, business ethics is littered with cases of companies that have suffered damaging
crises due to their leaders’ lack of commitment to act based on goodwill and about what benefits others.

5. Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill- “Utilitarianism” revolves around the concept of “the end
justifies the means”. It believes that outcomes, as a result of an action have a greater value compared
to the latter.

Utilitarianism is a philosophy or belief suggesting that an action is morally right when the
majority of people benefit from it. Also, the doctrine that an action is right as it promotes happiness, and
that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the guiding principle of conduct.
Utilitarianism is a moral theory that advocates actions that promote overall happiness or pleasure and
reject actions that cause unhappiness or harm. A utilitarian philosophy, when directed to making social,
economic, or political decisions, aims for the betterment of society.

Activity 2: Choose 2 philosophies and give situations that show the implications of each philosophy
in business.

1. Aristotle’s philosophy
2. Plato’s philosophy
3. Socrates’ philosophy
4. Immanuel Kant’s philosophy
5. Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill’s philosophy

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Activity 3: Write a reflective learning on the (topic) by answering the questions inside the box. You may
express your answers in a more critical and creative presentation of your great learning. Have fun and enjoy!
ASSESSMENT:

A. Directions: Create a graphic organizer about the famous philosophers and their philosophies
you have learned (10pts).

B. Directions: Identify whose philosophy is described in each number. Choose your

answers from the box.

a. Aristotle b. Plato c. Socrates

d. Immanuel Kant e. Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill

11. Motives and the willingness of individuals to act for the good of others, even
though that action might result to personal loss.
12. The role of the leader is to create an environment in which all members of
an organization can realize their own potential.
13. Happiness or well-being is the highest aim of moral thought and conduct.
14. Utilitarianism is a moral theory that advocates actions that promote overall
happiness or pleasure and rejects actions that cause unhappiness or harm.
15. We have the right to think of ourselves.