code of ethics - underlying philosophy

Are you called upon to prepare or understand a new code of ethics? and are wondering what you could possibly base such understanding on? and how it differs from legalese and jargon and codes of conduct, etc? This video discusses a useful underlying philosophy for ethics. It is flying a kite to those technical writers at present being called upon to write company codes of ethics for corporations, govt depts, or NGOs. You can't just sit down and write down what you reckon will be "correct" or "right and wrong"; you need a notion of what "right" and "wrong" is. But where does this notion come from? Some initial ideas. See also www.docDownload.com.au : Corporate : Mission, quality, and ethics

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• code
• of
• ethics
• philosophy
• existentialism
• humanism
• steve
• irons
• conduct
• legal

[steveirons1]

My position is that the key question is not what is right and what is wrong; there is a huge historical basis for questions that don't really need debate, a moral framework, its there whether you like it or not. Its what you do with it that matters. My work on ethical framework gives an inkling into this question (see my dictionary). If you have a discussion video on this, i'll be happy to consider it for publishing on my website docdownload - code of ethics, it could be an interesting debate ..

[steveirons1]

Interesting questions and imply someone who understands the question at least. But the problem you have with me seems to have come about because you think my quest is to determine what is right and what is wrong and then limit my life to what is right. The focus on the personal quest for morality is promoted by those who taken it upon themselves to tell us what is right and what is wrong & 'is' mundane and uninteresting, they ask us to limit our moral choices while the world collapses around us.

[alphaferrari]

thanks for your reply, sir.

[steveirons1]

Pleasure, a very important question and one which creates confusion and lots of other questions. Any time.

[alphaferrari]

are code of ethics legalistic documents?

[steveirons1]

no, they are what is generally referred to as a policy statement, agreed by the board and made freely available to the workers and the clients and even the general public. They dictate terms for other legal documents such as the code of conduct which is agreed to by the worker and included in the contract of employment, or the supply contract to the customer, or the supply contract with the supplier. Managers and workers are encouraged to see it as binding by the board.

[johnsammyanfal]

Started off well - 'a code of ethics needs to be informed by a coherent moral position, otherwise it becomes a just a cluster of normative statements'.The problem is the vacuous moral position you appear to have arrived at. If I may paraphrase; human beings have an existential duty to choose the 'good'. The good is not absolute, but instead can only be found in the social conventions that have historically developed. We are therefore required to make mundane moral choices. Was it worth it?

[makeiteasyable]

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[makeiteasyable]

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