Deidre Mccloskey, the Bourgeois Virtues: Term Paper

them" principle exemplified in Scott Adams' "Dilbert" cartoon. (Borowski, 1626-30).

Actions must be directed towards the common good, not just toward the profit of the corporation. (1628).

"An ethical relationship between managers and employees is due to the fact respect should govern all human relationship. . . . there is nothing in a 'morally correct' relationship between managers and employees that goes against the company's desire to make a profit -- on the contrary, such a peaceable relationship can help to meet this desire." (1631).

The Malden Mills plant dramatically increased production after Feuerstein's benevolence. (1631).

Child Labor from the Perspective of Virtues Ethics & Kantian Ethics

Anscombe criticized the rule-based ethics associated with the ideas of J.S. Mill and Kant. She thought it made no sense to rely upon a rule-based ethics which commanded a particular course of action for any situation on the basis of universal principles applicable everywhere. According to Anscombe, modern culture had given up on the idea of a single, universal "lawgiver" who would prescribe a single set of rules for all of humanity. In the absence of a god-like lawgiver, ethical judgments could not be so universal and had to account for the findings of modern moral psychology.

Anscombe contended that ethical judgments should be made with reference to ideas about character, virtue, and the promotion of human flourishing. (cite).

Eudaimonist virtue ethics promotes the idea that virtues are those characteristics and impulses that contribute to human flourishing and social happiness. Those who adhere to a eudiamonist perspective believe that ethical judgments should be made by employing reason to determine the best way to serve virtues in a particular situation.(get cites)

Tim Scanlon argues that virtue ethics is dangerous because it is too easy to confuse self-interest with the objects of virtue. He contends that moral principles guide individual reason about ethical problems. (Wallace, 450-51). Individuals don't reason from their desires; they reason on the basis of the moral rules that they observe. (Id). Some individual, subjective desires, shape reason. (Wallace 434; Scanlon, What We Owe, 40-45). but, in general, moral reasons are not contingent upon subjective facts. (Wallace 434). Individuals want to develop reasons that will win the approval of others and that will not seem purely subjective. (Wallace 434). Individuals achieve social standing when they do the right thing, as defined by others. (Wallace 455)

A viture ethicist thinks that an action is right when it is the action that a virtuous person would perform under the circumstances. What makes the person "virtuous" depends upon what characteristics are valued. (Hursthouse, 239).

The question is whether differences about ethical decisions depend upon a different understanding of facts or a different set of values that are applied to the facts (Hursthouse, 241)

Utilitarianism and Maximizing Utility

Utilitarianism puts and equal value on self-interest and social interest (Slote, 105)

Bentham believed that all virtues could be combined into one that maximizes "utility." (McCloskey, 338)

Utilitarianism reduces human virtues and emotions too much -- so much that the pursuit of utility can hardly be used to explain any decision. (McCloskey 338-39).

Human behavior is not as rational as….....