Types of ethical viewpoints

In my previous post  (An explanation of how I see things), I talked about how I don't partake in political partisanship; I try to remain as apolitical as I can, and instead focus on outcomes.

My approach is the same when it comes to religion: I try to keep a secular stance.

In the most recent degree in which I participated, the topic I looked into for my research is how social corporate responsibility of firms affect their profitability. This is colloquially known as environmental, social and governance (ESG), which has become the rage, it seems. Basically, it is research looking into variation in profitability from how much positive and/or negative externalities a firm and its product(s) generates. Where ethics comes in, is the claim that as an economy, benefits to society should be encouraged, and unintended costs to society should be minimised. Reasonable. We should want to get to a situation where life and the quality of our surroundings are better.

The problem with trying to inject ethics into economic research, is that the layman tends to think of ethics from a religious perspective. This probably derives from the fact that it is predominantly organised religion, which has ingrained the idea of morals and ethics in society. Therefore, there is a hazy grey area between economic morality (externalities) and religious morality (following the rules delineated by religion). The two aren't necessarily the same, and in certain circumstances, economic morality can be incongruent with religious morality.

Take women's rights issues, for example. ESG includes scores for workplace discrimination based on demographic characteristics; religions tend to be stickler to gender roles. Another example is, if health providers are penalised for refusing to provide necessary services for patients, because it goes against religious rules.

An example which doesn't necessarily have to do with ESG, is pro-birth religious rules and the quality of life. Rather a pertinent contradiction, given the years of debates about wages and affordability.