Explain how Aristotle and the religious philosophers (Augustine and Aquinas) would respond to this case if they were confronted with this situation. How might they apply fairness and compromise to illustrate their philosophy?

QUESTION

Step 1: Case Scenario

Read the following case first; then proceed to the next steps.

Thomas is a new addition to your company. He is an excellent worker and has been named employee of the month four times, and just this past week he was named employee of the year. Thomas is up for his first yearly evaluation; and as part of the process, the human resources department reviews his employment file. Upon reviewing Thomas’ file it comes to light that he was not completely truthful on his resume. The inconsistency does not involve his work history or the training he has to make him qualified to do his job. What the human resources department discovers is that Thomas claims some educational success that is untrue. The policy of the company is “Any employee that has been found to make false or misleading statements to the company during the hiring process in order to obtain a position within the company shall be terminated.”

Step 2: Reflection Part

Think about the following:

• If you are in charge of Human Resources for this company, what would you do?
• Does it matter if you know Thomas personally?

After you have thought through your position on this scenario, apply your thinking to this week’s philosophers and complete Step 3 – the writing part of this assignment.

Step 3: Writing Part

In 2-3 pages, explain how Aristotle and the religious philosophers (Augustine and Aquinas) would respond to this case if they were confronted with this situation. How might they apply fairness and compromise to illustrate their philosophy? Support your analysis with quotes or paraphrases from the philosophers. Use APA format and citation when writing your assignment.

ANSWER

Case Scenario Assessment

The case scenario is about a newly hired employee, Thomas, who is an excellent worker within a company. Thomas has been able to achieve great success, including being named the company’s employee of the month for four months. He was recently awarded for being the company’s employee of the year and is now up for his yearly employee evaluation. His employment file is being reviewed by the Human Resource personnel, who come to the realization that Thomas was not completely honest or truthful in the development of his resume, which got him hired at the company. Some inconsistency is noted in his resume, even though the inconsistency does not involve his training or work history, which means that he is indeed qualified for the job he holds. The department discovers that Thomas had lied about some educational success in his resume.

According to the company’s policy, any worker that is found to have made misleading or false statements to the company during the process of hiring to ensure that they get a job position is immediately terminated. In this paper, the case scenario is analyzed in the eyes of Aristotle and the religious philosophers Augustine and Aquinas. Western philosophers such as Aristotle regard justice as the most important of all virtues that control interpersonal relations and maintain stability in any community. Religious philosophers such as Aquinas also advocate for justice in any community.

Aristotle

Aristotle is an advocate of habit in one’s conduct. According to Aristotle, virtue usually manifests itself in one’s actions. An individual’s actions count as virtuous when they hold themselves in a stable equilibrium of the soul, enabling them to choose their actions knowingly. Aristotle holds that this stable equilibrium of one’s soul is what makes an individual’s character. According to Aristotle, Thomas, the employee who provided untruthful information during the process of hiring at the company, did not act in a virtuous manner. Aristotle states that “…virtue is not merely a state in conformity with the right principle, but one that implies the right principle” (Reeve, 1998). In addition, Aristotle maintains that character makes one inclined to desire justice and practice it. He provided a discussion of what should be considered fair and what is lawful.

Any action that is in accordance with the law ( in this case the policy of the company) is considered to be conducive to the common good of the company’s leaders. Employees are expected to obey company policies to be just. However, Aristotle notes that the law, or policy, can be unfair to some individuals, which brings in the question of special justice – a function of fairness. In the case scenario, the employee was expected to obey the guidelines provided by the company and provide truthful information. The human resource personnel who discovered the inconsistency should obey the company policy and terminate the employee. By terminating the employee, the HR personnel would be serving justice to the errant employee.

Aquinas and Augustine

According to St. Augustine, even though humans are free to make their own choices in life, they experience a tendency to disregard what is good. Augustine believed that humanity’s true nature includes a disregard for good and that all people are sinners whose only hope for salvation or redemption rests in the love of a merciful deity, such as God. Any action by a human being is bound to be wrong, according to Augustine, and can only be right when performed by God through the individual (Augustine, 1993). On the case scenario, Augustine would argue that the employee acted in accordance with the true nature of human beings, using falsified information to benefit (get the job position). The HR personnel, in terminating the employee would also be acting in accordance with the true nature of human beings, disregarding good. Any action taken would be wrong, according to Augustine.

Aquinas, on the other hand, allowed human beings to have some secularity along with their faith (Aquinas, 1988). He believed that while the actions of human beings should be guided by their faith, they should also be guided by the natural law, which is found in the hearts of men. He believed that the habits of an individual should be virtuous based on common ethics. It would be just to terminate the employee who lied to get the job, according to the beliefs of Aquinas.

References

Aquinas, T. (1988). On Law, Morality and Politics. eds. William P. Baumgarth and Richard J. Regan.

Augustine, S. (1993). On free choice of the will. Trans. by Thomas Williams (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1993).

Reeve, C. D. C. (1998). Aristotle: Politics. Indianapolis: Hackett.