#7 Ethics in the time of COVID-19: How to be good at the end of the world

I had an engaging conversation with Schalk Engelbrecht. We discussed ethics in the time of COVID-19. 

Schalk is an ethicist, the Chief Ethics Officer at KPMG in South Africa, and a student of philosophy. He is responsible for KPMG’s internal ethics programme, and assists client companies to identify ethics risk, develop Codes of Ethics, design ethics management programmes and facilitate ethics training.

Schalk is also a research associate with the Centre for Applied Ethics at Stellenbosch University. In 2010 he completed his PhD in Philosophy with a thesis on the need to revive utopian thinking in an anti-utopian age. He has presented papers at national and international conferences on topics that include "radical business ethics", "the problem of the commons in organisations", and "ethics and utopian thinking". He is published in academic and popular journals and has been an invited speaker at conferences and provincial Anti-Corruption events.

Before joining KPMG Schalk lectured Philosophy and Ethics at the University of Stellenbosch and North-West University. He has lectured Business Ethics as part of the University of Stellenbosch Business School's MBA programme, and was the previous editor-in-chief of the African Journal of Business Ethics.

Notes & Resources:

Defining Ethics: “Rules for the human zoo” - Peter Sloterdijk

Dictionary definition: “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation”, “a set of moral principles: a theory or system of moral values” - Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

The Framework:

Key point: Context matters. The framework for being ethical has stayed the same, but the content has changed (changes over time) – for example, comparing ethics in the Victorian era and the era of climate change.

Main ethics theories/frameworks:

1. Deontology (Duty)
2. Utilitarianism (Consequentialism) (Maximising happiness for the world)
3. Virtue Ethics (character)

Also see:

Blackburn, S. (2002) Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

https://www.oxford.co.za/book/9780192853776-being-good-p-a-short-introduction-to-ethics#.XsowcGgzbIU

Bregman, R., & Manton, E. (2018). Utopia for realists. New York: Bloomsbury.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/utopia-for-realists-9781408893210/

Bregman, R., & Manton, E. (2020). Humankind: A Hopeful History. New York: Bloomsbury.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/humankind-9781408898932/

Dalio, R. (2017). Principles: Life and Work. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2017.

https://www.principles.com/

Painter-Morland, M., & Ten Bos, R. (Eds.). (2011). Business Ethics and Continental Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139013338

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/business-ethics-and-continental-philosophy/34A80BD91724193969CA10EF86D675A4#fndtn-information

Rachels, J. & Rachels, S. The elements of moral philosophy (9th Edition), New York: McGraw-Hill https://www.mheducation.com/highered/product/elements-moral-philosophy-rachels-rachels/M9781259914256.html

Raworth, K. (2017) Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-century Economist. London: Random House.

https://www.kateraworth.com/

Skidelsky, R., & Skidelsky, E. (2013). How much is enough? Money and the good life. Penguin Random House.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/216918/how-much-is-enough-by-robert-skidelsky-and-edward-skidelsky/

Van Niekerk, A.A. (2002) Can more Business Ethics Teaching Halt Corruption in Companies? Ethics thought pieces, The Ethics Institute. Available Online: https://www.tei.org.za/index.php/resources/articles/business-ethics/2219-can-more-business-ethics-teaching-halt-corruption-in-companies-prof-anton-a-van-niekerk

Van Niekerk, A.A. (2011) Ethics theories and the principalist approach in bioethics. In Medical Ethics, Law and Human Rights: A South African Perspective, ed. K. Moodley. Pretoria: Van Schaik Publishers. https://www.vanschaiknet.com/book/view/394