According to the article “The Irrelevance of Ethics” by Maclntyre (2016), moral virtues oppose ethics to what is necessary for the success of people that trade in financial markets. The author contends that moral virtues are in opposition to the ethics that traders in securities and currency in the financial sector need to succeed in their careers and that ethics are irrelevant to business education. He claims that the inculcation of traits or ethical quality is not a manner of preparing a person for a successful profession in the monetary area. Morals is both inappropriate and an insuperable demerit. The author concentrates on four qualities and claims that prosperous businesspeople do not have any. These include self-understanding, trying good with a certain set of common goods, courage, and taking long-standing views. Nevertheless, this argument is false. Regardless of their normative evaluation, self-knowledge and bravery are characteristics of prosperous traders. However, being concerned about the general wellness is usually counterproductive in many for-profit businesses, encompassing business, and hence distinguishing businesspeople is not apt.
In the first fallacy of self-knowledge, the author starts by stating that self-assurance is a vital character attribute of a victorious dealer. However, self-possession does not include self-knowledge. This point brings overconfidence to trades because it necessitates them to be self-confident to succeed. The argument makes the article charitable since if it were factual that prosperous dealers should be full of themselves, it would truly support the author’s claim that prosperous business is anti-ethical to having the trait of self-knowledge. The author also states that it is challenging not to say that the capability to view things, encompassing ones, as further hopeful than they are is a crucial feature in business prosperity (MacIntyre, 2016). However, this argument is false since overconfidence is a dangerous characteristic for a business person that wants to be prosperous. There is sufficient proof to back up the argument that self-knowledge and evading overconfidence are both essential for a prosperous business person regardless of whether brash dealers have under-differentiated assortments or do many business activities than are required (Beabout, 2020). Hence, divergent to MacIntyre’s argument, the ethical value of self-understanding is essential to business and not detrimental to the prosperity of business.
Secondly, MacIntyre (2016) rightly argues that frequently business people do not see the general wellness as indivisible from their achievement. However, this claim is false because even though speculative business people add to the general wellness by giving markets more required liquidity, they possibly do so inadvertently. If business people considered the common good more seriously, it would be better, though some researchers can oppose it. However, the business people’s failure towards extreme selfishness that MacIntyre (2016) claims is also very prevalent in other areas. Normally, to be prosperous in many for-profit businesses, a trader should separate and concentrate on their good and the firm’s good instead of the common good (Hersch, 2018). Such actions are not even restricted to for-profit businesses. In the civil segment, a well-deliberated civil worker would put their welfare and the wellness of their nation above the good of many people that are not their nationals. In education, it is simple to draw numerous instances of academics who are regarded as prosperous in spite of thinking less for their learners, equals, and career in general. This is true since some businesses are such that the general and private goods are unswervingly connected. However, these are the exemption instead of the law. While business people do not excel in this regard, distinguishing them for something not exceptional is not apt.
Lastly, McIntyre (2016) claims that the ethical asset of bravery necessitates traders to compute risk perfectly and to take a risk when it is apt. Nevertheless, the author also emphasizes that brave traders put themselves on the line in any circumstance. If things fall apart, they will be among the ones that lose. The best way to understand the author’s argument concerning business people is that while prosperous businessperson computes risk correctly, which is admirable, they do so to lessen their exposure to risk and push it to others. By targeting at-risk avoidance instead of taking it, the prosperous businessperson acts gutlessly and fails as a brave and virtuous risk-taker (Sinnicks, 2021). Hence, it may appear that businessmen that want to be prosperous should not have courage. MacIntyre (2016) is also wrong about businesspeople because, from different perspectives, markets give a platform whereby risk can be either reduced or raised according to one’s requirements and objectives. Still, markets require liquidity to operate. By merely doing business and augmenting their risk, speculative businesspeople generate chances to make a profit and give the markets more necessary liquidity. A trader who avoids risk and hence fails as a brave risk-taker would shun business and get into the market. According to Ferrero, Roccella and Rocchi (2021), the food market must be extensive and sufficient to attract and hold a vast body of non-hedging businesspeople so that the market’s liquidity and business continuity can be upheld. Those who engage in speculative business receive this service in exchange for possible gains. Businesspersons prosper in profiting because they are neither rash nor cowardly. They do not assume too little or too much risk, contrary to what the author describes as courageous.
In conclusion, McIntyre (2016) argues that his thesis works for businesspeople and any person in the financial segment. The article’s flaws are on traders, specifically the speculative future businesspeople. Among the problems with the author’s claims is his readiness to make sweeping arguments about a entire employment segment. Due to the intricacy of the segment and the several diverse responsibilities, it is hard to view how such arguments can be true. MacIntyre (2016) argues that just like the prosperous training of a fighter will damage his expectations as a violinist, moral training will also damage a person’s expectations as a businessperson. However, this paper has argued the contrary. The author conveys ethics as essential for prosperous trading. The flaws in his arguments are on self-confidence, the common good, and courage. If the author would consider the moral relevance of these aspects, it would help improve his argument on the requirements for success of traders.
References
Beabout, G. R. (2020). Macintyre and business ethics. Learning from MacIntyre, 246-272. Web.
Ferrero, I., Roncella, A., & Rocchi, M. (2021). A virtue ethics approach in finance. Handbook on ethics in finance, 77-96. Web.
Hersch, G. (2018). The Irrelevance of Unsuccessful Traders. Business Ethics Journal Review, 6(8), 41-46. Web.
MacIntyre, A. (2016). The irrelevance of ethics. In Virtue and economy (pp. 19-34). Routledge.
Sinnicks, M. (2021). In defence of wish lists: business ethics, professional ethics, and ordinary morality. Business and Professional Ethics Journal.