1. Ethics Theory and Business Practice 6.2 Ethical Relativism – Part Two Friedrich Nietzsche: Morality And Power

2. aims to explore Friedrich Nietzsche’s ideas about the relationship between power and morality to introduce the idea that personal interests and power agendas might influence our the way we think about business ethics

3. Friedrich Nietzsche’s (2003/1887) refutation of ethical absolutism 1.masters and slaves 2.will to power 3.morality as an expression of the interests of dominant groups

4. 1. masters and slaves masters: physically or intellectually superior elites, who tend to occupy dominant roles within society slaves: the less-capable and less-privileged masses, who occupy subservient roles www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq- uMIZGETs&list=PLFC0EB75314EE3AE4

5. 2. will to power all living things are fundamentally motivated by a desire to assert themselves over everything and everyone around them will to power as a prime mover of human activity which cannot be denied www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7DAt-TKcQo

6. 3. morality: an expression of the interests of dominant groups early supremacy of ‘master morality’ recent triumph of ‘slave morality’

7. Nietzsche’s call for a return to master morality not only does slave morality have no absolute legitimacy it also constrains gifted elites from achieving the full potential and thus inhibits human progress

8. two insights that Nietzsche’s work offers to business ethics 1.it offers a justification of competitive, meritocratic elitism www.youtube.com/watch?v=elrnAl6ygeM 2.it encourages us to reflect on why we believe what we do about ethics

9. key points by suggesting that all morality is linked to personal interests, Nietzsche casts doubt on the existence of absolute standards of business ethics Nietzsche seems to offer a justification for competitive elitism in business he also encourages us to reflect on the influences that may have shaped our attitudes to business ethics

10. references Nietzsche, F. (2003/1887) The Genealogy of Morals. New York: Dover.