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Ethical consequences of bribes
Immanuel kant theory reflection
Immanuel kant theory reflection
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To start with, the term ‘bribe’ implies one person’s (firm, company, etc.) act with giving gifts (which can be described as money, some luxurious foods, documents, entertainment, or other) to another person to make everyone better off. This act is illegal since those gifts are given frequently under the law: one person wants to achieve his or her own profit by escaping some measurements that are not allowed in this case. The procedure of giving and taking bribe is called ‘corruption’, and almost in all countries around the world it is forbidden; as a result, participating in this procedure leads to some punishments. Kind of punishment may vary depending on countries’ law; therefore, in one country it can be some monetary fine, while in other …show more content…
One more bribe will not change and fix the overall situation and it is not necessary to avoid bribery.
However, in moralistic view, it is completely wrong to continue giving and obtaining bribes even in case, where this phenomenon is widespread. Corruption stays illegal and immoral even despite the fact that it is not taken into account by government; thus, it should be not permissible to participate in bribery.
Firstly, according to the Immanuel Kant’s approach on the moral decision making, some actions are always considered as wrong, since they are not under the universal law. The action of bribe taking can be viewed as stealing; therefore, even without thinking about the consequences that this action will produce, bribery will remain immoral even if given money goes to producing some goods.
The typical example of bribery in countries, where it is seems to be normal, is paying for vote on elections. Political party in this situation offers some amount of money to citizens in exchange of their vote for this party. In this case, self-interest of people to a new government is distorted, because some destitute are rather to receive gift and vote for politician, who participates in
When dealing with corruption, first question to ask or to clarify is what corruption is. NSW Research (2002) describes corruption anything from gaining materialistically by virtue of position (for eg. getting a special discount at stores) to engaging in ‘direct criminal activities’ (eg. selling drugs). Newburn (1999) believes that there is a thin line between the definition of ‘corrupt’ and ‘non-corrupt’ activities as at the end, it is an ethical problem. For common people, however, bribery generalises corruption.
Corruption is an individual and institutional process where there is a gain by a public official from a briber and in return receives a service. Between the gain and the service, there is an improper connection, (Thompson p.28). The two major categories of bribery is individual and institutional corruption. Receiving personal goods for the pursuit of one’s own benefit is personal fraud. An example of individual distortion is the financial scandal involving David Durenberger. Organizational corruption involves “receiving goods that are useable primarily in the political process and are necessary for doing a job or are essential by-products of doing it,” (Thompson p.30). An instance of institutional fraud is the Keating Five case. There are also times where there is a mixture of both individual and organizational corruption in a scandal. An example of this diverse combination is James C. Wright Jr. actions while he was the Speaker of the House.
Politicians many times have been found guilty of corruption. They use unethical techniques to get higher positions in an election, to gain more money, votes or to lay hands on ungotten wealth. Corruption exists in the police force, in law and order and even in the management of the Olympic Games.
Immanuel Kant is steadfast in his belief that before anyone can do anything absolutely moral, they must reason what would occur if every person on Earth did this exact thing, or as he puts it, “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” (Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, 30). This philosophy seems sound, but is actually inherently flawed, as when it comes into conflict with his opinions on lying, it makes both points to be somewhat impossible to live by. It also does not account for different people operating in different situations all over the world, instead opting for some sort of absolute, infallible morality. This casts ethics in a disturbingly black and white
Some people may think that money doesn't corrupt people and that corruption is something that can be controlled by human choice, but money affected the social acceptance of people, it corrupted the thought process of the upper percentage of people, the wealthy people that don't accept the less wealthy because of a social barrier they feel can't be passed, the younger brother that gets rich and feels like his whole family is trying to take his money, the greed that comes along with wealth causes corruption.
Immanuel Kant is a philosopher of the early centuries, one of his well-known works is his moral theory which can be referred to as Deontology. The moral theory arises from the principle behind Deontology which is derived from -deon which signifies rule or law and -ology which means the study of. Kant designed his moral theory to be contradictory to utilitarianism which is a moral theory that focuses on the outcomes of an action. Beside other factors the moral theory is a non-consequentialist moral theory which in basic terms means the theory follows a law based system of making judgements and disregards the consequences. Kant once said “Actions are only morally good if they are done because of a good will” however, for Kant a good will is complex
Philosophy is the study of knowledge, reality, existence and thought processes. Immanuel Kant from Prussia, (currently Russia) for whom was influential during the Enlightenment period; and John Stuart Mill from Great Britain whom was present during the Romantic era, explored ideas that they believed would create a more fair and just society, by trying to legislate morality. Morality cannot be legislated because it is a concept of right and wrong created by each different religion, region and culture; issues are not black and white.
According to Chang, C., Chang, A., and Freese (2001) gifts and bribes are distinctly separate and while gifts are ethical, bribes are considered unethical and illegal. In some cultures particularly South Korea business practice such as the concepts of gifts and bribes are not distinctly separate. The problem is that gift giving can overlap into bribery which is both ethical and unethical at the same time (Chang, C., Chang, A., & Freese, 2001).
With the development of international business, more and more companies get large profits in multinational cooperation, also led to a serious corruption problem at the same time. One of the most famous is the Siemens scandal. Although there are many laws to stop transnational bribery, many companies have to rely on bribes to win contracts. Some managers consider the social resources are limited and the distribution exist competition. A bribe is the easy way to obtain the resources that the companies original may not get. Furthermore, some of the company 's products have serious quality problem, the leaders of production will bribe prosecutors. Then the products into the market smoothly, however, this behavior will lead to unfair competition
In Immanuel Kant’s Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, he discusses his fundamental principle of morality. This is also known as his “categorical imperative”. His principle of morality basically states that all actions are moral and “good” if they are performed as a duty. Such an idea is exemplified when he says, “I should never act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law” (Kant 14). Kant also seeks to apply his principal to suicide, as well has helping others in distress. Kant is seemingly successful regarding both issues. Because he succeeds, it means that categorical imperative can plausibly be understood as the fundamental principle of all morality. Kant’s categorical imperative is written in a way that makes it out to be very plausible.
Known as a period of political scandal, many politicians engaged in bribes, lies, and abuse of power to further a political, social, and often personal agenda. The typical corrupt leader "will sell his vote for a dollar [...] turns with indifference from the voice of honesty and reason [...] his unalienable right may be valuable to him for the bribe he gets out of it" (166). Such politicians are an injustice to society because as they are elected by the people, they must act towards the betterment of the people, rather than for themselves. Furthermore, those who elect this politician to office merely underestimate their political and social responsibility because they "want the feeling that their own interests are connected with those of the community, and in the weakness or absence of moral and political duty" (167). Thus, under the control of the ruthless politician and the reckless voter, the true essence of democracy is
The word “bribe” is shown throughout the Old Testament several times. In Exodus 23, while miscellaneous laws are given to the people, in verse 8 the following law is given: “You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just” (NASB Exodus 23:8). In this passage, “bribe” is referred to as something corrupt, as something that harms the just. In 1 Samuel 8, after Samuel appoints his sons as judges over Israel, his sons do not walk in his ways, but instead “turned aside afte...
In conclusion, in failing to pass both Kantian and consequentialist formulations, bribery is morally wrong. Pragmatically, long term solutions sanctioning bribery are likely to result in public officials changing their decision making in the absence of bribery, and economic models and research on the whole predicts that the results will be costly in terms of economic efficiency, political legitimacy, and equality.
Bribery is one of the most serious police corruption which, involved regular payoffs to protect illegal activities. Also, officers can be bribed to sell information about criminal investigations either before or after arrests. Corruption also includes theft from arrested people or theft of drugs, money, or property from crime
This essay will attempt to explore the relationship between the two from the definitions, causes, consequences and the solutions. Corruption can be defined as the abuse of public power for private gain. (World Bank, 2004) Corruption is attracting a lot of attention around the world, and is a growing international and regional concern. According to Corruption Around the world (Tanzi, 1998), in its end-of-year editorial on December 31, 1995, The Financial Times characterized 1995 as the year of corruption.