Ethics and

Happiness
DR. YEH, HUEI-CHING

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What is the ULTIMATE goal of every
human being?

We all differ in our specific

goals, but what do our
specific goals tell us about
ourselves?

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 Psychologists, philosophers, even political
scientists, who have studied our specific goals,
seem to agree that we all want

TO BE HAPPY

AND WE TRY TO HOLD ON TO OUR HAPPINESS

FOR AS LONG AS WE CAN

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If happiness is our ultimate goal, HOW can
we SECURE our happiness?
Many of the greatest thinkers
across ages believe that ETHICS is
the only way of securing our
happiness. Aristotle went as far as
to say that happiness is EQUAL to
ethics.

Why is ETHICS – which has to do

with duties and obligations –
CONNECTED with HAPPINESS?

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Why is ETHICS connected with happiness?

ETHICS creates the FOUNDATION for ALL

human beings to be happy.
• I can only be happy if I let others be happy and vice-versa.

• This means I can not experience unrestrained or unlimited

pleasure because this would negatively affect not only other
people’s happiness but also my happiness.

•Ethics creates some essential rules to follow so that everyone－

DIFFERENT kinds of human beings －can experience the
MAXIMUM happiness POSSIBLE.
Thus, ethics is the foundation of human happiness.
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If ETHICS is connected to human happiness,
how about BUSINESS HAPPINESS?
ETHICS also creates the FOUNDATION for ALL BUSINESSES to
be HAPPY.
• One company can only be happy if it lets other companies be happy.
• This means every company can pursue its own happiness BUT within
RESTRICTIONS. NO company can be allowed UNRESTRICTED POWER OR
INFLUENCE in the market because this would lead to tremendous
unfairness and a WAR BETWEEN BUSINESSES, which would negatively
affect not only other companies happiness but also one’s own
company’s happiness, and eventually lead to ECONOMIC COLLAPSE.
•Ethics creates some essential rules to follow so that ALL businesses－
DIFFERENT kinds of businesses －can experience the MAXIMUM
HAPPINESS POSSIBLE.

Thus, ethics is the foundation of business happiness.

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Company workers and customers
In the same way, ETHICS creates the FOUNDATION for ALL
WORKERS－DIFFERENT kinds of workers－ in a company to
be happy. Because one worker can only be happy if he lets
another worker be happy. Thus, no worker can be allowed
unrestricted power or influence over another worker.

And ETHICS also creates the foundation for different kinds of

customers to experience the maximum happiness possible
by placing rules on how businesses serve their customers.

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In conclusion, ETHICS leads
to the MAXIMUM
POSSIBLE HAPPINESS for
ALL different kinds of
human beings, businesses,
employees and customers
by PLACING some
RESTRICTIONS on how
each one of us pursues our
individual happiness.

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We can put all this quite simply as:

I can only be happy if you are happy, but you

can only be happy if act justly to you.

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In the next ppt, you can learn about OMAK, a particular
model for promoting ethics and happiness in the workplace.

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